The Michigan Wolverines are finally national champions once more in men’s basketball, taking down the UConn Huskies, 69-63, to finish a thrilling NCAA Tournament in style at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday night.

This is the first time Michigan has won since 1989, and just the second time in program history they’ve called themselves champions.

Meanwhile, the Huskies were looking to win their third title in the last four tournaments, but their shooting failed them in the end.  

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While both team’s offenses came into this game working like a machine, it was a low-scoring affair to kick off this game. Michigan only owned a 33-29 first-half lead by the buzzer, but it wasn’t Yaxel Lendeborg leading the way in the points department for the Wolverines.

The Michigan star, who is playing on a sprained left MCL and left ankle, which came during the win over Arizona in the Final Four, was just 1-of-5 shooting for four points in the first half. It was Morez Johnson Jr. (10 points) and Elliot Cadeau (seven points) finding some rhythm for the Wolverines.

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But it didn’t help that Michigan was scoreless from beyond the arc and shooting just 37% from the field. Meanwhile, UConn wasn’t doing themselves any favors either.

The Huskies shot just 33% in the first half, with Alex Karaban hitting two of his five three-point attempts. Solo Ball, who was spotted in a walking boot entering the game with “some type of foot sprain,” according to head coach Dan Hurley, had eight points on 3-of-4 from the field.

While they were down, UConn was certainly playing the type of game they wanted against Michigan – a rugged battle, especially on the glass. Michigan has shown its prowess of taking momentum and sprinting with it offensively, dominating opponents all year long, including this NCAA Tournament.

However, the Huskies know their scratching and clawing abilities for 40 minutes allows them to never let an opponent feel comfortable. Just ask the Duke Blue Devils what happened in the Final Four.

The Huskies had that same demeanor in the second half, though it didn’t help they took a page out of the Wolverines’ first-half playbook – they couldn’t find the stroke from range. UConn was desperate to hit a three-pointer, but despite open looks, they couldn’t get one to fall as the Michigan lead eventually got to 11 points after Cadeau finally broke the seal for his squad on the opposite end, burying a three-pointer to get to a double-digit lead.

But Hurley was firing up the crowd as the Huskies never quit, cutting the lead to five with less than nine minutes to play in the game. Lendeborg, though, after shaking his head on the bench as he wasn’t having the game he hoped in the national championship, stepped up when he checked back in.

Lendeborg saw a sweet pass from Cadeau in transition and got the lead back to 11 with a tough layup, making it 56-45 with less than six minutes to play. He would also come in clutch with another two points following a Braylon Mullins three-pointer.

Once again, the Huskies wouldn’t quit, as Mullins finally found his shot beyond the arc, knocking that Michigan lead back to single digits with a follow-up three-pointer again to Lendeborg’s layups. But, just as gritty as the Huskies played, the Wolverines seemed to always have the answer in this hard-fought contest.

A key example of that was, after Karaban buried a three-pointer to cut the Michigan lead to six, Trey McKenney stepped back and drilled a 26-footer with 1:49 left in the game to get the lead back to nine points. The Wolverines faithful in the crowd went ballistic, knowing how much that basket meant considering what UConn has been able to do in this tournament.

With 37 seconds left in the game, Ball got some help from the backboard, making a three-pointer to cut the lead to 67-63 for the Wolverines. Roddy Gayle Jr. made things more interesting in this game, as he couldn’t knock down his two free throw attempts for Michigan. But Karaban didn’t have another clutch three-pointer in him, coming up short with 13 seconds left.

That was it for UConn’s desperation attempt, and Michigan celebrated their win.

In the box score, Cadeau led all scorers with 19 points on 5-of-11 shooting and 8-of-9 from the free throw line. Lendeborg was just 4-of-13, though he still had 13 points. Johnson had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolverines as well.

Cadeau was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.

Michigan was just 2-of-15 from the three-point line, and head coach Dusty May even noted after the game getting dominated on the glass, as they were out-rebounded by UConn, 46-39.

The Huskies, though, couldn’t find it offensively. Karaban finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, but shot just 4-of-14 and 3-of-10 from three-point territory. Tarris Reed Jr. had a double-double as well with 13 points and 14 rebounds, while Mullins, the hero against Duke with his half court shot, was only 4-of-17 for 11 points.

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NBA champion or not, legendary Duke Blue Devils head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski isn’t too worried about Michael Malone, who was reportedly hired to replace Hubert Davis with the UNC Tar heels, getting the program back on track.

After all, Krzyzewski’s biggest rival during his illustrious Duke tenure was UNC. And he invoked Bill Belichick when asked about the Malone hire during his appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday.

“They had an NFL champion hired as the coach, and Duke beat Carolina football this year,” Krzyzewski told McAfee and A.J. Hawk with a smirk on the program. “That doesn’t mean coach Belichick isn’t a great coach, but there is time for adjustments. It takes longer coming from the pros to college.”

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Belichick learned that firsthand last season, his first in college football with the Tar Heels. While Duke finished with a 9-5 overall record, and won the ACC title, UNC was a paltry 4-8 with a 2-6 ACC record.

Also, as Krzyzewski mentioned, Duke defeated Belichick’s UNC crew, 32-25, to end his first season with a loss.

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Of course, the college game has completely changed now, with name, image and likeness (NIL) deals paving ways for richer programs to pay for the cream of the crop in the transfer portal as well as out of high school.

Belichick and his staff will need to be more creative, and perhaps open the checkbooks more, as this new college system continues to stay in place.

But football isn’t king at Chapel Hill – basketball reigns supreme. Krzyzewski knows this, as the Blue Devils were usually pitted against the Tar Heels as top teams in the country fighting for not just bragging rights, but national titles.

Malone coached the Denver Nuggets for 10 seasons, which included an NBA title in 2023. However, he was fired in April 2025, quickly taking a sports media role with ESPN one month later.

The Tar Heels, who fired Davis following UNC’s crushing loss to VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, are taking a similar route as the football program – a coach with a great track record in the pros, but no head coaching experience in college.

Malone was an assistant at Oakland, Providence and Manhattan before transitioning to the NBA with the New York Knicks in 2001. His first NBA head coaching gig came with the Sacramento Kings before cementing his spot in Denver.

“Mike is a terrific coach and a terrific guy, there’s a learning curve,” Krzyzewski added. “Whatever the reasoning is, maybe they’re changing; they now have two pro coaches coaching in college. The infrastructure of their athletic department is now going to become more of a pro-organization, which I think everybody should be doing that. He knows how to do that, and so does coach Belichick. Maybe it’s a sign that they’re moving in that direction organizationally.”

Malone is hoping for a better inaugural season in Chapel Hill than Belichick, who returns for another football season looking to turn the tides on the gridiron.

Boxer and influencer Jake Paul mourned the death of TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk in a new interview, saying that he would have inevitably been elected president someday if he had lived.

Becoming President someday, for Kirk, “was like his job and his purpose and all of that,” Paul told Theo Von, suggesting it would have made more sense than he, a boxer, aiming for the same position. “Charlie Kirk was clearly going to be the next president.”

Paul is an influencer with tens of millions of subscribers, and is noteworthy for having converted his online fame into a boxing career, real-world business ventures, and possibly a future career in politics. Paul has also been a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, and during a March 13 rally in Hebron, Kentucky, Trump offered him a “complete and total endorsement” should Paul choose to pursue political office.

Paul spoke with Von about his concerns about getting involved in politics, noting in today’s environment, assassination is a legitimate concern. Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.

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Nonetheless, he noted that he has been flirting with politics, saying, “I think it goes back to Marcus Aurelius, of, like, helping society and like that’s the number one thing you can do.” Aurelius has numerous quotes about how it is the duty of the powerful to be involved in politics for the public good.

He went on to argue that if there is a “dumb— running and opposing, I will enter the game and risk getting assassinated, but I don’t want to.”

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“I could see you running. I could see something like that,” his interviewer said. “It does take something inside of people. I feel like they feel a sense of purpose and a calling to something. And if they can make sure that that’s not just attached to their own ego, and they can make sure that there is a sense of like, ‘I can do something better, and I’m willing to put myself out there to do that.’”

Paul credited Trump for being such a person who has not only signed himself up for such a demanding job, but noted this is also a job one burdens their families and all of their loved ones with.

“Like Charlie would have been the guy,” Paul lamented. “It’s f—ing sad, bro. He’s so f—ing awesome.”

Paul noted that he did not spend time with Kirk personally, but followed all of his social media, and his takeaway was, “He was like aiming for it, though.”