The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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michigan basketball Michigan-Louisville A Hit With Fans, Critics M ichigan and Louisville not only entertained more fans than have ever witnessed an NCAA championship game live, they even wowed basketball style scrutinizers. Seeing the game in person proved to require an incredibly tough ticket to attain, but nobody came away feeling cheated. The Cardinals battled to their 8276 championship game victory over the Wolverines before 74,326 onlookers at the Georgia Dome, an all-time NCAA title game record. The mark surpassed the 72,922 that showed up for the Michigan State-North Carolina championship contest at Detroit's Ford Field in 2009. Meanwhile, the Atlanta-based Final Four as a whole featured an attendance of 149,676, a new record topping the 145,797 who showed up at Reliant Stadium in Houston in 2011. ESPN analyst Andy Katz seemed particularly taken with the finale, noting Michigan and Louisville put on the sort of show college basketball should be all about. He's echoed the call for more unfettered movement in the game. "There was no slogging through 40 minutes," Katz wrote. "The clutching and grabbing wasn't the norm. Players ran, pushed tempo, forced turnovers and raced down the other end. "'I enjoyed it,' Michigan head coach John Beilein said. And that was after his team lost the national title game. "Beilein was thoroughly entertained and said that college basketball continues to sustain itself. It reinvented itself again for 40 minutes on Monday night." Michigan just needed a different result out of the spectacular setting. The loss represented U-M's fifth in six national title games, including the following: UCLA 91, Michigan 80 in 1965; Indiana 86, Michigan 68 in 1976; Duke 71, Michigan 51 in 1992; North Carolina 77, Michigan 71 in 1993 and this year's contest. Michigan's only national championship occurred in 1989, culminating with the 80-79 overtime victory against Seton Hall. The only schools to lose more title games than Michigan are Kansas and Duke, which have each dropped six. The Wolverines hadn't lost to a nonBig Ten team all season, and came within a handful of plays of making that record 19-0 this season. As it was, the Wolverines reestablished themselves on the national stage, and in a way that brought many to their feet. "Coaches, players and officials unite," Katz wrote. "Watch what occurred in the Georgia Dome on Monday night. Build off it. Believe that it can be possible. Finish the shots that must be made, look for the opportunity to run when it's available,