Michigan basketball’s X-factor to beat Arizona in Final Four tilt

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After dominating throughout the 2025-2026 college basketball season, Michigan and Arizona meet in the Final Four with everything on the line. Led by their frontcourt tandem of Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara and Morez Johnson Jr., the Wolverines will meet their match against the equally physical Wildcats.

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Michigan struggled some at the end of the regular season after losing backup point guard L.J. Cason, but it has been smooth sailing in the NCAA Tournament. Dusty May has his team in the Final Four in just his second year in Ann Arbor, with dominant wins over Howard, Saint Louis, Alabama and Tennessee to win the Midwest region.

The Final Four appearance is Michigan’s first since 2018, but May’s second in the last three years. The 49-year-old head coach memorably put himself on the map when he took Florida Atlantic to the Final Four in 2023.

Now with Michigan, May continues to prove himself as arguably the best coach in college basketball, going 122-26 in the last four years since the Owls’ Final Four run. May’s success with the Wolverines stems from the college basketball transfer portal, where he snagged Lendeborg, Mara, Johnson and Elliot Cadeau in the 2025 offseason.

While May’s last Final Four run ended in heartbreaking fashion, he has a golden opportunity to right the wrong with his new squad. If Michigan is going to return to the National Championship Game, it is going to have to top Arizona the same way it has won every other game and beat the Wildcats at their own game.

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Michigan vs. Arizona will be decided in the paint

Candice Ward-Imagn Images

Michigan’s veteran team will meet its match against Arizona, a significantly younger team that is equally as physical. The battle in the paint will be a full-scale throwback to 1980s basketball, playing directly into the hands of what both…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/michigan-basketball-x-factor-beat-041522077.html

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Publish date : 2026-04-01 04:15:00

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