ATLANTA >> Louisville and Michigan will play for the national championship on Monday. Louisville came from behind with solid defense to defeat Wichita State on Saturday, while Michigan held on to beat Syracuse (so sad).
On a night when the stars did not come out, it was role players who led their teams to victory. In the first game, Peyton Siva went 1-for-9 for Louisville, and Malcolm Armstead was 1-for-10 for the Shockers. Russ Smith had a solid game for Louisville, however, and led his team with 21 points. Cleanthony Early had 24 for the Shockers. But it was Louisville’s second team that propelled the Cardinals to victory.
In the second game, Syracuse’s leading scorer, James Southerland, had just five points on 2-for-9 shooting, while Michael Carter-Williams had two points. C.J. Fair kept the Orange in the game with 22 points. For Michigan, player of the year Trey Burke had seven points and Tim Hardaway Jr. was 4-for-16 from the field, but some big first-half 3s from bench players gave Michigan an 11-point lead at halftime. Michigan made the last minute exciting by missing free throws, but a charge and then a missed layup led to a dunk at the buzzer and a five-point Michigan victory.
The Michigan students are something else. They didn’t stop bouncing all game. As a Syracuse alumnus, I wished they had bounced themselves out of the arena. By the way, Saturday was the first time a team coached by Michigan’s John Beilein beat a Jim Boeheim team in 10 tries and the first national semifinal loss for Boeheim in four games.
I sat in the upper press box next to a crew from Sports Illustrated right at midcourt. The NCAA has taken most of the courtside press seats away. But I was really lucky, as most of the media was relegated to watching the game in the press room (about half the size of a football field).
I spent some time with former UH assistant Eran Ganot, who is now at Saint Mary’s. The Gaels will be coming to the Diamond Head Classic in December.
Today I will be at the Atlanta Braves vs. Chicago Cubs game. Good to get away from basketball for a day, now that my beloved Orange are going home.
But the final has the two best teams and the semifinal games were competitive.
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Jeff Portnoy’s blog, Hoops Talk, can be read at staradvertiser.com.
