(4) Michigan Wolverines vs. (1) Louisville Cardinals
Time: 9:23 PM (ET) | Tonight
Network: CBS
The grand stage is set for the 75th annual Division I Basketball Tournament tonight, with the championship game broadcasting live from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA. We witnessed many upsets during the madness of March, with most of our brackets being deteriorated within the first two weeks of action, but we’ve managed to get the best possible match-up in the championship game that we could’ve gotten this year.
The fourth-seeded Michigan Wolverines, led by All-American guard Trey Burke (who’s been the standout player of the tournament thus far), will face the number one-seeded Louisville Cardinals, led by Brooklyn’s own Russ Smith. The Cardinals will definitely be trying to bring the trophy back home to Louisville in tribute to their inured teammate Kevin Ware, but it’s not going to be easy guarding the spread offensive of Michigan, who can make outside shots from long distance at will.
The Cardinals have pretty much ran through every opponent in their way, up until Saturday’s Final Four meeting with the “Cinderella” story of the tournament, the Wichita State Shockers. Louisville had to rally back down 12 points in order to advance to the Finale avoiding the shocker (pun intended).
OS REWIND: Kevin Ware Interview With ESPN
The talk of the last 48 hours has definitely been Michigan defeating Syracuse in controversial fashion for the nightcap of the Final Four, due to a late charge, which some felt was a foul on the Wolverines. The Orange’s zone defense was the highlight of the game, holding Trey Burke to a season low of only 7 points —going 1-8 from the floor, with role players and the bench helping fill the void in the points department.
We don’t expect a repeat of the Final Four from Burke tonight at all, but that doesn’t mean the fierce defense of Louisville will be a push over either. They key to this game will come down to Louisville stopping Michigan’s outside shooting, since the Cardinal control their own fate on the offensive side of things, with their size advantage at every position. It’s a nightmare of miss-matches for their opponent.
Michigan’s looking to evaporate the 20-year curse of Chris Webber’s infamous timeout call for the Fab Five, as they look to win their first title in over 24 years. The Cardinals are looking to cement themselves as the new number one team in Kentucky, one-upping their rival-state Wildcats, who were last year’s tournament winners. Rick Pitino leads the Basketball Hall of Fame 2013 class and is also looking to add to history, becoming the only Men’s Division I head coach to win a National Championship with more than one basketball team and joining Nick Saban as only the second in sporting history.
In the words of the Magic Man, “get ya popcorn ready and don’t move” because this is a game you truly will not want to miss a second of.