A worthy national champion is crowned

What else is left to say?

It struck me last night, as I sat alongside the Lucas Oil Stadium court and recorded the postgame Basket Under Review Podcast with Tate (with a cameo from Will Warren) …

… that there was only so much to discuss about the national title game. For all of UConn’s heart and effort and intelligence, for all of the sporadic glimpses of where they were one or two or three sequential second half plays from jolting the whole thing to life, the feeling of Michigan’s inevitability was always overwhelming. The Wolverines didn’t make a single 3 in the first half and still felt in control of the game, because sooner or later the floodgates would open.

They never really did. Yet even that was a symptom of their dominance. Dusty May built a machine so devastating, so defensively sound, that it was able to take a lot of the variance that kills great teams in the NCAA Tournament out of the equation entirely. Dan Hurley said it after the game: His team had 22 offensive rebounds. It played as well as he could have possibly asked. It held Michigan to one of its least inefficient shooting nights of the season. It did everything UConn’s staff would have set out to control.

Michigan’s ceiling was awesome to behold. It was historically great. We saw it Saturday against Arizona. It was terrifying:

Monday night was Michigan’s floor. There were interesting tweaks May made Monday, including a switching defensive scheme that chewed up some of UConn’s movement, and a real full court press that put the Huskies guards under real stress. But the tactics felt a little beside the point in the end. May built a team so good it could win in its best form or its base case, where beating it required not just skill but supreme luck. The outcome was as impressive as it was predictable.

One more thought, and without jumping too far ahead, I already find myself fascinated by how May’s accomplishment will impact the meta going forward. Is everyone now going to desperately overpay for every portal big? Is the sudden size trend here to stay? Is that the only way to compete at the very top of the sport? Or will the really advanced coaches try to go in their own direction again? Will the roster meta begin shifting on an almost yearly basis?

That’s the first thing I’m keeping an eye on as the transfer portal opens today. There are already more than a thousand kids in the portal. There will be a lot to keep an eye on the coming months.

In the meantime, here’s a coda to the 2025-26 season. It was a wonderful one, which is how we’ll remember it, even if the Final Four didn’t deliver an individual classic. Thanks to everyone who has been reading along, commenting, subscribing and live-chatting. It was another great year for Buzzer, and we’re already ready to do it all again, as the process of building next year’s rosters officially begins.

Thanks to all of you for being here. Much more where that came from.