Brendan Coyle validated his hometown career by winning the MAAC Tournament as a senior. Now, he's back for year five. He's the conduit between the championship culture and the new era. My column for @mid-majormadness.bsky.social www.midmajormadness.com/metro-atlant...

INDIANAPOLIS — Ten days before the Division III National Championship Game, Colin Mitchell was at his grandfather's funeral. The next time he saw his family, they were in Indianapolis, watching him become Mary Washington's unlikely buzzer-beating hero. www.midmajormadness.com/general/3534...

INDIANAPOLIS - There are so many storylines after Michigan's national championship win. I collected quotes on many of them from Warde Manuel, Dusty May, three assistant coaches, Elliot Cadeau, and five other players For @basketunderreview.bsky.social www.basketunderreview.com/the-victors-...

Last media timeout of the season. Michigan is up 60-51 with 3:48 to play and the Huskies have had so many opportunities.

A cosmic relief cheer from the Michigan fanbase -- which is incredibly loud inside Lucas Oil. Stadium Pulse is bumping. Elliot Cadeau drills Michigan's first three. Wolverines take their largest lead at 11. 48-37 Michigan with 12:47 to play

HALFTIME: Michigan 33, UConn 29 UConn is winning the 50-50 balls, Michigan hasn't made a shot outside the paint, and the Wolverines are still up by 4. But on the other hand, UConn got killed by foul trouble, and will get Ball/Demary back. Interesting swings coming up.

Solo Ball did his absolute best fronting Morez in the low post, and held him for a second, but Johnson got enough space to receive the pass in drop in the game's first points. Tarris responds with a hook. 2-2

Lander scores first 4 Gannon scores next 5 Lander scores next 5 Gannon scores next 15 Lander scores next 6 Gannon scores next 8 The teams have not traded baskets once today. 28-15 Gannon

INDIANAPOLIS — Yaxel Lendeborg wanted to make one thing clear in his locker room scrum “I’m playing Monday night regardless.” Much much more on that and more from Michigan’s postgame locker room on Saturday for Basket Under Review www.basketunderreview.com/yaxels-injur...

FINAL: Michigan 91, Arizona 73 Wow. Michigan with an all-time performance. The Wolverines led by as many as 30 and never trailed. Michigan vs UConn on Monday night.

HALFTIME: Michigan 48, Arizona 32 Michigan is just punking Arizona. Playing at their pace, dominating in so many departments even with Lendeborg hurt. Cadeau is 2-14 but controlling the game. Aday Mara has 15 points. Can't think of a bigger deficit Arizona has faced all year

Jaden Bradley has three fouls in the first half. Big 12 Player of the Year called for an offensive foul and then Trey McKenney cans a trey on the other end, and Michigan goes back up by 12. 35-23

Krivas 0-2 from the line. Kharchenkov misses a front-end. Arizona will probably regret that.

And there's a touchdown for Arizona. 7 points in a row and it's down to a 28-21 game. Dusty May calls a timeout. Ivan Kharchenkov drills a three, and then the Cats force a Mara 3PA -- not a good shot in Michigan's shot diet. Krivas scores on the other end.

Michigan 10 Arizona 3 15:59 | 1H (so close) Jaden Bradley finally gets Arizona's first field goal with a jumper, and then Mo Krivas shadows Aday Mara and stops him from an easy layup after a long touchdown pass. Can the Wildcats settle in?

This game is being played at Michigan's pace, and now the Wolverines force a turnover and turn it into a Morez Johnson and-1. There feels to be a speed gap right now. 8-0 Michigan run. It's 10-1 Wolverines.

Two fouls on Yaxel Lendeborg within five seconds. First Team All-American goes to the bench just over a minute into the game. Gayle in.

Ben Humrichous with a huge play on the offensive glass, but couldn't convert. Stojakovic could though. Had the lane even in a crowded paint. It's an Illini #killshot with 5:01 to play. Underwood timeout 57-53 Huskies

Illini in the double bonus

The iron KIND for Solo Ball. A major friendly roll from the top of the key after Illini fans had gotten loud after a bucket. UConn back ahead by 12, 52-40

HALFTIME: UConn 37, Illinois 29 Big defensive play by Ben Humrichous to get a hand on Ross' dunk on the final play of the half. Forced a tie-up. Also Wagler has made a few key plays to keep Illinois from falling way behind. Mullins 12p to lead the way. Demary 7r/5a

Solo Ball drove into a little bit of space created by Illinois' coverage, kicked to the corner as the defense sucked in, and Karaban drilled a three. Largest lead for the Huskies. UConn 34, Illinois 24

That's an unreal play by Braylon Mullins to eurostep Humrichous and draw the foul on Mirkovic with the and-1. 9 for Mullins. UConn by 4

UConn has only scored three points in the last 6:56. The Illini are on a 13-3 run as well, and have started to assert their size in the paint. Reed had 7 early ones, but nothing since. Teams are a combined 6-24 from deep. Illinois 22, UConn 21, 6:25

First lead of the game for Illinois as Tomislav Ivisic connects from the top of the key on a wide-open look. Seems like UConn is okay giving him a look like that every once in a while, just like November. 22-21 Illini

Keaton Wagler from downtown and the Illini are on the board from deep. But the Huskies respond. Jayden Ross with his second triple.

UConn 18 Illinois 12 11:25 | 1H Andrej Stojakovic is the only Illini to have scored in the last five minutes. Huskies doing a good job forcing the looks that they want Illinois to take, just like the first game.

Big Red time. Tarris Reed is cooking. UConn 18, Illinois 9

UConn continues to generate good looks from beyond the arc. Even though Karaban couldn't connect on that one, the Huskies grabbed the offensive board. Then Demary missed from the corner, and Reed put it back with the and-1. Huskies good on the glass right now. Ahead 10-7

The Indiana kid has a hot start. Braylon Mullins comes off a screen on the left wing for his second triple of the game already. The Huskies take an early 8-2 lead.

Starting lineups for Illinois/UConn Illinois: Keaton Wagler, Kylan Boswell, Jake Davis, David Mirkovic, Tomislav Ivisic UConn: Silas Demary, Solo Ball, Braylon Mullins, Alex Karaban, Tarris Reed

Officials for Illinois/UConn: Ron Groover, Paul Szelc, Marques Pettigrew Greg Nixon is on standby

Obligatory “that’s a foul, ref” tweet Extremely grateful to be in the building as always. Covering college basketball games never gets old. Especially on this stage. Let’s have a night.

Hello from Indianapolis! I’m here at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Final Four. The Road Ends Here. It’s Game #121 and Game #122 of my season, covering for @mid-majormadness.bsky.social 6:09 UConn vs Illinois 8:49 Arizona vs Michigan We’ll have our finalists tonight.

You probably won't see Alec Millender, Dwayne Koroma, or Evan Nelson on the floor tomorrow, but that's all good with them. On why former mid-major starters chose to take this path, and why it's all validated: www.midmajormadness.com/ncaa-tournam...

This has become a rout. Tahaad Pettiford drills an open three and Auburn goes ahead by 20. Hall's got 22. 61-41

HALFTIME: Auburn 51, Illinois State 38 Keyshawn Hall scored 15 on 7-9. ISU went zone, didn't help. Auburn just drove right through it. ISU being kept in the game by some outside shooting and a strong Tyreek Coleman half with 8 points including a scoop buzzer beater

With the ISU crowd chanting defense, Kevin Overton connects for another three. Doesn't seem like either team is all that interested in getting stops tonight, as Boden Skunberg responds from deep. 36-31 Tigers. 6:54

Auburn 10 Illinois State 9 15:08 | 1H Tigers are 4-6 from the field, Overton and Hall have hit threes. Redbirds have hit three threes as well. Lots of shooting early.

Starting lineups for Illinois State/Auburn Illinois State: Johnny Kinziger, Landon Wolf, Mason Klabo, Boden Skunberg, Chase Walker Auburn: Tahaad Pettiford, Kevin Overton, Elyjah Freeman, Keyshawn Hall, Filip Jovic

Tomislav Buljan drills his eighth three of the season to keep New Mexico alive. Just a three-point game with under a minute to play. Timeout Eric Olen. 69-66

Those shots never fell for New Mexico. Hall now 1-10, team 5-27. Tylen Riley to the line for 1n1, Tulsa ahead 65-59 with 2 minutes left.

Jake Hall misses an open look from three and Tylen Riley goes the other way to score on him on the break. Tulsa 61, New Mexico 59. 3:45

Tyler Behrend drills an open three and then dunks one home, but JT Rock is answering him. Some late-game trading buckets from the big men. 5:34 to go, Tulsa ahead 59-57

Really feels like New Mexico is on the verge of breaking through. Jake Hall is still just 1-8 from three, but has 13 points in the second half thanks to free throws. Lobos just need a three or two to fall and open the floodgates, only down 52-50 with 7:53

Tulsa 46 New Mexico 42 11:27 | 2H Somebody is going to make a run here. Don't know who yet.

HALFTIME: Tulsa 36, New Mexico 29 Tulsa catches fire and hits 9 first-half threes. New Mexico was 3-14 from deep. Jake Hall an uncharacteristic 0-6. Golden Hurricane finished on an 8-0 run.

Tulsa 25 New Mexico 24 3:40 | 1H

New Mexico snags the lead on back-to-back threes from Uriah Tenette. Tulsa hasn't scored in over 2 minutes, and it's 24-22 Lobos.

Tulsa 16 New Mexico 9 11:17 | 1H Lobos still haven't hit a three. Tulsa has taken 11 and hit four. Only 3 attempts inside the arc from the Golden Hurricane.