Michigan basketball finally celebrates Final Four run
CHICAGO — There were hugs and high-fives, laughter and tears. It was less than three minutes after Michigan basketball finished ripping through Tennessee, 95-62, in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight at United Center to advance to the national semifinal. There was celebration, but also focus. This mixed reaction stems from a lesson the team was taught this offseason: When he was at Florida Atlantic, coach Dusty May told his team it needed to have March habits.
Only when he got to April did he realize there was another level. Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning. So, from the moment this season began with offseason conditioning and summer workouts, May, now Michigan’s boss, has had the Wolverines eyeing April as theirs for the taking. Hence, the reaction as the players hugged in line, yet hungered for something more.
“We got two left,” Roddy Gayle Jr. said as he embraced a staffer who then echoed, “two more, baby.”
The Journey to the Final Four
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There will be time to analyze what’s sure to be a heavyweight matchup between Midwest 1-seed Michigan and West 1-seed Arizona scheduled for Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. But this point in the journey deserves its own moment, even a brief one.
Will Tschetter certainly thinks so. He was brought to tears as he held the regional championship trophy, teammates all waiting in line to hug the fifth-year veteran who has been through more than any other person in this program.
Not far behind him, Nimari Burnett, who came to Ann Arbor and then immediately endured the program’s worst season in its modern era. Both could’ve left. But Dusty May felt their spirit and saw their work ethic as key pieces to what he promised anybody who would listen — fans, administrators, alumni — would be a quick turnaround.
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That turnaround is now complete. Michigan is back in the NCAA’s final weekend, ready to show that although it might not be a historical blueblood — even if its ninth Final Four appearances (one more than Indiana) are the eighth-most ever — it is a modern day behemoth, built for the moment ahead.
“From 8-24 to Final Four,” Burnett said on the court. “There’s going to be T-shirts with that someday.”
A Dream Come True
The scenes postgame will live in photos for years to come. Tschetter wore a massive Final Four banner as a cape when he walked up the ladder to cut off his piece of net. Elliot Cadeau, who conducted a masterful performance from the offense in amassing 10 assists, wore the net around his neck − he liked it better, he said, than any jewelry he’s ever put on.
When May walked up the steps to snip the final piece of twine, the thousands of Michigan fans who remained in the crowd erupted, chanting “DUS-TY! DUS-TY!” as he held up the symbol of U-M’s hard work for all to see.
But the man of the hour was Yaxel Lendeborg, the top transfer who opted out of the NBA Draft to return to college. All he did was average 25 points, 9.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists in two regional games to earn Midwest Regional MVP.
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“I took a big risk coming back here; I worked super hard to get here,” Lendeborg said, standing on the court while wearing his Final Four hat sideways. “Super-happy this is possible. Super-proud of these guys too, man. I tried not to get emotional, but my mom gave me a hug and ruined everything I had going on. This is a dream come true.”
He sparked the 21-0 run that turned a rock fight into a track meet: A reverse layup. A kickout for a Roddy Gayle Jr. 3, his own 3 from the left wing. The shots all built in a crescendo, the team as the conductor, the crowd as the chorus, roaring for the Wolverines and their beautiful music.
Runs to the Final Four aren’t supposed to be easy, but Michigan sure made it look that way. The Wolverines have won their first four games of this NCAA Tournament by an average of 23 points, leading assistant coach Justin Joyner to agree on the court postgame that U-M is back at the level it played at while sweeping through the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving week.
Burnett admitted he was thinking exactly that midway through Sunday’s game. “It honestly was kind of reminiscent of that,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to tell that to my teammates and let it get to their head, but I definitely felt those vibes. I feel like this is a notch above [Vegas level], this is Chicago-level basketball.”
Don’t Want to Be Cliche, But…
Despite their locations scattered throughout U-M’s locker room, Cadeau, Gayle and Tschetter unknowingly echoed one another when asked what the win meant. Cadeau called it “a great accomplishment” before pointing out this was not the end of the road. Gayle called it “a relief” that the Wolverines won the Final Four, given the weight of the expectations they’ve faced all season. Tschetter walked from the postgame media table back into the room with his name plate wedged into his shorts, the trophy tucked underneath his right arm. Two years ago, his odds of this moment “didn’t look good,” he said. Now, he can see his ultimate prize in sight.
“Obviously we’re super-excited to make it there,” he said. “We know that, not to be cliché, the job’s really not finished. There’s still two more games to play and two more times to put the jersey on.”
May changed his catchphrase from “March habits” to April for a reason. The Wolverines are already set to hang a piece of court, representing the Final Four in Indianapolis, on the walls of their Player Development Center in Ann Arbor. But to add the second national championship in program history would mean so much more.
U-M has grinded for this moment. It was telling that the roar for L.J. Cason − the guard injured just before this postseason run − was as loud as anybody else; the team has sacrificed for one another since Day 1. It’s all part of the buy-in to a formula to go from a talented summer group to one of the last standing in the spring.
“Daily growth,” May explained. “This journey started back in June. If you’re not getting better every day spiritually, mentally, physically − and sometimes there can be bad days mixed in − but as long as you’re learning from that experience … you’ll be better for it. I think we’ve had a really strong growth mindset all year, never got too high, never got too low. This was one of our goals, but this wasn’t the pinnacle for us. We still have work to do.”
