The national championship game went the way Vegas prognosticators predicted: with Louisville standing above the field, nylon net firmly in hand. They beat a feisty Michigan team, 82-76, in a game every bit as competitive as the score would indicate.
The game started in Michigan’s favor. Spike Albrecht (who, let’s be honest, possesses the best white-boy names in basketball, nudging TSS favorite Chandler Parsons) was particularly deadly; he dropped 17 in the half, thanks in large part to a perfect 4-4 from three. The 12-point lead wouldn’t last, though; thanks to a varied attack, the Cardinals were only staring up at the Wolverines by one.
This attack would, eventually, lead the Cardinals to victory. Small deficits became larger, and even when Michigan brought the game within four with a minute to go, one just never got the feeling that the Wolverines were safe. Louisville outmanned Michigan on the boards, providing deflating second chance buckets when not hitting timely jump shots, eventually winning by six. Paced by Luke Hancock (22 points off the bench on 5-5 three-point shooting) Payton Silva (18 points, six rebounds and five assists), the Cardinals proved why they were the odds-on favorite to win the national championship.
Hats off to Michigan, though. Trey Burke battled his ass off (24 points on 7-11 shooting), Spike did his thing and Tim Hardaway Jr. provided some awesome highlights. If the NCAA somehow found a way to make this a best-of-three series, you wouldn’t hear me complain.
And just because, here’s Coach Pitino ducking the celebratory fireworks.
