Latest / Bleacher Report / Michigan Dominates Arizona, UConn Beats Illinois in Final Four | Inside March Madness
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Michigan.
- 0:00Speaker 2: Welcome everybody Inside March Madness, presented by Lily, Ernie Johnson,
- 0:04Speaker 2: Clark Kellogg, the coach, Bruce Pearl is here, Ken You,
- 0:07Speaker 2: the Judge Smith and Charles Barkley. Nobody saw this coming, well, Ernie.
- 0:15Speaker 3: In Arizona, we said, bear down. We just saw a
- 0:18Speaker 3: beat down. That was impressive. Nobody saw this coming. But man,
- 0:25Speaker 3: you this team is their impressive. I mean Arizona had
- 0:30Speaker 3: to raise their level. This is the level Michigan's played
- 0:33Speaker 3: at every game, and Arizona did not meet the challenge.
- 0:36Speaker 3: I thought they panicked in the first half. When Cadot
- 0:40Speaker 3: came out, My good, my man. Clark is Flowers. He's
- 0:43Speaker 3: been talking about Mara all. He says he's the cheat code.
- 0:48Speaker 3: Tell you what, man, that get That guy got hands
- 0:51Speaker 3: like Jerry Rice. He catches everything. He is, uh and
- 0:55Speaker 3: Clark you've been saying. He says he's the cheat code
- 0:58Speaker 3: to Michigan. Everybody talk about those other guys, but he's
- 1:01Speaker 3: the one guy who makes everything go. That was impressive.
- 1:05Speaker 3: I'm proud of the season Arizona had, but man, that
- 1:09Speaker 3: was a beat down.
- 1:10Speaker 4: Playing and simple, yeah, wire to wire, they dominated the game.
- 1:13Speaker 3: Cadou was just as significant, I think at the beginning,
- 1:16Speaker 3: maybe even more so than a Diemarra. But the two
- 1:19Speaker 3: of them really were the catalysts. And Cado's aggressiveness and Kenny,
- 1:23Speaker 3: you talked about it at halftime, is aggressiveness looking for
- 1:26Speaker 3: his shot, getting into the paint, creating pressure on the
- 1:30Speaker 3: opposing perimeter really created the tone of the game.
- 1:34Speaker 4: And then it was just pretty much a mismatch. After that.
- 1:43Speaker 2: Celebration continuing for Michigan, still work to be done.
- 1:47Speaker 4: How did this happen?
- 1:48Speaker 3: Well, I think once you get down also in the
- 1:53Speaker 3: environment like this, and I thought Arizona got deflated, but
- 1:57Speaker 3: you know they so maybe the score ran up, but
- 2:02Speaker 3: Michigan was just in terms of aggressiveness on the perimeter,
- 2:07Speaker 3: they had to guard five people, and the ability to
- 2:09Speaker 3: guard five made open open avenues for everyone. And then
- 2:14Speaker 3: what it really does, even though because they were also
- 2:17Speaker 3: defending on the other end Ernie. So now even though
- 2:21Speaker 3: they weren't, Cadeaut wasn't scoring, neither was Arizona, but now
- 2:25Speaker 3: you have to guard him and then all of a
- 2:27Speaker 3: sudden we could drop it intomorrow and then he could
- 2:29Speaker 3: go to work. So to me, it was a combination
- 2:33Speaker 3: of both like we've been saying, and the spreading of
- 2:35Speaker 3: the wealth. Because Yaksa, who's been their best player, first
- 2:38Speaker 3: team All American guy, you know, player of the Year caliber,
- 2:42Speaker 3: didn't even really have to contribute much. Just he just
- 2:45Speaker 3: have to be timely in those moments.
- 2:47Speaker 4: And that's the thing.
- 2:48Speaker 2: He starts the game with a couple of quick fouls
- 2:50Speaker 2: in the first minute and a half, and he gets
- 2:52Speaker 2: an ankle and a knee and his status is in question.
- 2:55Speaker 2: He comes back, it's a couple of threes early and
- 2:58Speaker 2: then then he just ran away from him. You know,
- 3:00Speaker 2: everybody watching the game is going.
- 3:01Speaker 1: To ask why, I mean, how did this happen? One
- 3:05Speaker 1: team came here to guard an the other team just
- 3:08Speaker 1: didn't or couldn't. I mean, Michigan guarded Arizona. They took
- 3:13Speaker 1: their guards away from everything they wanted to do. You
- 3:16Speaker 1: couldn't score inside the paint because they had too much size.
- 3:19Speaker 1: But the biggest thing I was disappointed was was Ellie
- 3:22Speaker 1: Caudeo could get downhill any time he wanted, anytime he
- 3:24Speaker 1: wanted to go by Arizona's guards, couldn't stay in front
- 3:26Speaker 1: of anybody. That's gonna be the biggest thing that Yukon's
- 3:29Speaker 1: going to have to do better than this Arizona team
- 3:32Speaker 1: is sit down and stay in front of those guards
- 3:34Speaker 1: and stop all out all that penetration.
- 3:35Speaker 3: The coach, you know, there's no way coach early doesn't
- 3:39Speaker 3: make you defend.
- 3:40Speaker 4: Let's start there, and I.
- 3:42Speaker 3: Just we're already moving on sin since you said that, Yeah,
- 3:45Speaker 3: I don't think that there's a difference of playing Arizona
- 3:49Speaker 3: then you play Ukon because the wealth of the way
- 3:51Speaker 3: they moved to basketball and share it.
- 3:54Speaker 4: You're not honing in on one or two things.
- 3:57Speaker 3: So but defending that that's the one thing I wouldn't
- 4:01Speaker 3: worry about. If you're a you confidd they will defend,
- 4:04Speaker 3: for sure, to defend, but.
- 4:05Speaker 1: You know, Kenny, defense and rebounding wins championships. That's what
- 4:09Speaker 1: wins championships. And even though Michigan did so many amazing
- 4:13Speaker 1: things offensively, they guarded. I mean they sat down and guard.
- 4:17Speaker 1: They turned the Arizona over. Arizona had like one assistant
- 4:20Speaker 1: nine turnovers in the first half and it never got
- 4:22Speaker 1: any better.
- 4:23Speaker 4: Clark go ahead. The defensive We talked about this at
- 4:27Speaker 4: the top.
- 4:27Speaker 3: The defensive versatility of Michigan is superb because they can
- 4:34Speaker 3: play a lot of different ways with a lot of
- 4:37Speaker 3: different people, even without Yaxle, who was not and he's there.
- 4:43Speaker 3: Really he's their Swiss Army knife defensively. But they got
- 4:46Speaker 3: other guys, Roddy Gale, They've got Cadou who was putting
- 4:49Speaker 3: ball pressure. They've got Mara who protects the rim, Morez
- 4:53Speaker 3: Johnson can move his feet and guard the perimeter. I mean,
- 4:56Speaker 3: they've got great defensive versatility and to nasty and size
- 5:02Speaker 3: and they can shut you down.
- 5:03Speaker 4: And that's what they.
- 5:04Speaker 2: Did and hitting their stride at just the right time.
- 5:06Speaker 2: We talked about it at halftime. Alabama shot thirty six percent,
- 5:10Speaker 2: Tennessee thirty two. Arizona high powered Arizona who gets so
- 5:14Speaker 2: much insight they shoot thirty seven percent of the night.
- 5:17Speaker 3: Ernie, you asked me first question, did you see this coming? No,
- 5:22Speaker 3: no one, I'd be lying up I say I was coming.
- 5:24Speaker 3: But this is the same Miscontine we've seen every game.
- 5:28Speaker 3: You gonna have to raise your level. They have played
- 5:32Speaker 3: the same way in every game.
- 5:35Speaker 4: Uh, like I bet.
- 5:36Speaker 3: Like I said, No, I didn't think they were gonna
- 5:37Speaker 3: blow Arizona out, but.
- 5:39Speaker 4: That's the way they played in every game.
- 5:41Speaker 1: In this tournament.
- 5:42Speaker 3: So now you have to understand, if you're a Yukon whoever,
- 5:46Speaker 3: you gonna have to up your game because they have
- 5:50Speaker 3: they they have been driving the same speed limit, maybe
- 5:54Speaker 3: a little of a speeding, not accept the speeding, but
- 5:58Speaker 3: they have been a flat lined same thing.
- 6:01Speaker 4: And you a coach.
- 6:02Speaker 3: Hurd is a terrific coach, and I think he can
- 6:04Speaker 3: win one game. But they gonna have to raise their
- 6:07Speaker 3: level because when Arizona was acted today to raise their level,
- 6:13Speaker 3: they couldn't do it. And these boys are they They're not.
- 6:16Speaker 3: They're gonna go there. We're gonna play at our pace,
- 6:20Speaker 3: our level, defensively, whether we're making shots or not. We're
- 6:24Speaker 3: gonna play defense like mad men. And if you gonna
- 6:27Speaker 3: beat them, you're gonna have to raise your level. That
- 6:29Speaker 3: was an impressive win.
- 6:30Speaker 1: Hey, Kenny, did you just hear him say we? I
- 6:32Speaker 1: thought he was saying we about Arizona like the whole time.
- 6:36Speaker 3: I hear, hey, I told you, and Clark gave me
- 6:40Speaker 3: some flowers. He says, you know you've been on Arizona
- 6:43Speaker 3: the whole time. But I said, yeah, I don't think
- 6:45Speaker 3: they can beat them. I didn't think it was gonna
- 6:47Speaker 3: be a beatdown. You got worried when you say yeah.
- 6:51Speaker 3: I said, no, man, that's that's the best team. I
- 6:53Speaker 3: told you, I've only seen two teams that were unbeatable
- 6:55Speaker 3: since we've been doing this with double edd years. This team,
- 6:58Speaker 3: like I said, I don't know what's gonna have, but
- 7:01Speaker 3: if you you con you're gonna have to raise your
- 7:03Speaker 3: level to another level.
- 7:04Speaker 4: Well, the one thing.
- 7:06Speaker 3: Again, when we're gonna talk a lot about it, but
- 7:10Speaker 3: one thing that Yukon does is they have you running
- 7:13Speaker 3: around that perimeter and you got Mullins and you got
- 7:17Speaker 3: Caravan that really if you leave them open, they shoot.
- 7:20Speaker 3: So you chase extremely hard on them to get them
- 7:24Speaker 3: to run them off the line, and then they pull
- 7:25Speaker 3: back and they drop it in the tarrass Reid and
- 7:28Speaker 3: then he has one on one and as good as
- 7:30Speaker 3: mar Is, he ducked Taris, Reid doesn't get.
- 7:34Speaker 4: Bothered by length.
- 7:35Speaker 3: Physicality can slow him down, but length has not slowed
- 7:39Speaker 3: him down at all in this tournament. And so I
- 7:42Speaker 3: don't I don't see a difference, and I see a
- 7:44Speaker 3: very close game, and this is game that's gonna be
- 7:47Speaker 3: down to the One thing I would push back on
- 7:49Speaker 3: is that Michigan is so much better on the perimeter defensively,
- 7:55Speaker 3: even though Yukon does a lot of movement, runs a
- 7:58Speaker 3: lot of good stuff. I think the game plan adjustment
- 8:01Speaker 3: Michigan will make because of the versatility and athleticism on
- 8:05Speaker 3: the perimeter, then they won't be bothered as much by
- 8:09Speaker 3: that movement, Coach FORDI that's all I'm saying. I'm just
- 8:11Speaker 3: saying I don't think they'll be as bothered.
- 8:13Speaker 1: What are you doing the Lindeborg situation now? Well, right now,
- 8:16Speaker 1: I mean everything they were doing in the second half
- 8:18Speaker 1: is just getting rehabbed. Right off the back. You'll keep
- 8:20Speaker 1: it moving, get ice on that thing. You know, he's
- 8:23Speaker 1: gonna be taking some medicine, so on and so forth.
- 8:25Speaker 1: But he steps on the foot right there, kurtz his
- 8:29Speaker 1: ankle and hurts his knee. But you talk about a
- 8:32Speaker 1: tough customer. He said, Look, I'm playing in this game
- 8:35Speaker 1: Monday night. I don't care if I can't walk. I'm
- 8:39Speaker 1: coming out and I'm gonna plan. So he's gonna be iced,
- 8:41Speaker 1: he's gonna be elevated. They're gonna be They're gonna be
- 8:43Speaker 1: He gonna go to bed tonight with all the equipment
- 8:46Speaker 1: on him and everything raised up trying to take that
- 8:48Speaker 1: swelling down. He's gonna be sore tomorrow, Kenny, he gonna
- 8:51Speaker 1: be way sore tomorrow right than he is right now,
- 8:54Speaker 1: one hundred percent.
- 8:55Speaker 3: And that and and that is a big thing because
- 8:59Speaker 3: you say they switch switch Tommy Knights, they switch, but
- 9:03Speaker 3: he's the guy who he gives him a huge advantage
- 9:07Speaker 3: when you got him on the floor floor offensively, no,
- 9:09Speaker 3: that defensively, he could be like Scottie pippenhesque Yeah when
- 9:13Speaker 3: he does that. But then the other thing is if
- 9:16Speaker 3: he's playing at times, Mullins or guard would have to
- 9:20Speaker 3: guard him. Yeah, and so that works both ways. Words worth,
- 9:23Speaker 3: So he has to be healthy to have this type
- 9:26Speaker 3: of effort.
- 9:27Speaker 2: I think if you're Michigan, Uh, time now for the
- 9:30Speaker 2: relentless pursuit presented by Lily and we focus on what
- 9:34Speaker 2: Michigan did in the assists column tonight, coach, yet they
- 9:38Speaker 2: had twenty two on their thirty three.
- 9:40Speaker 1: Makespect the paint golly balls in the middle of floor
- 9:43Speaker 1: and Kudo's hands and he's just dropping knimes to everybody
- 9:46Speaker 1: moving without the basketball. I love how Mauer sets a
- 9:50Speaker 1: screen and runs to the rim, put pressure on the
- 9:52Speaker 1: rim and the floor is it's it's just five out.
- 9:56Speaker 1: It's spread, drive downhill, drive, draw audash. Michigan is in
- 10:00Speaker 1: the basketball better than they shot all year long. Here
- 10:02Speaker 1: in the NCAA tournament. They run really good stuff and
- 10:05Speaker 1: they were lead in transition. They're firing all soldiers both
- 10:08Speaker 1: ends of the floor.
- 10:10Speaker 2: Largest one versus one margins in history. And you see
- 10:16Speaker 2: Michigan by eighteen tonight over Arizona and the Wildcats, who
- 10:22Speaker 2: won their first three games of this tournament wire to wire,
- 10:26Speaker 2: never led tonight down by as many as thirty, their
- 10:29Speaker 2: first double digit deficit, not just of the tournament but
- 10:33Speaker 2: of the season. Brad Underwood the first time in the
- 10:36Speaker 2: final four, not the first time for this guy at
- 10:39Speaker 2: any early in Yukon and Braylan Mullens.
- 10:41Speaker 1: The guy who hit the big shot against two right
- 10:45Speaker 1: out of the gate.
- 10:46Speaker 4: That was a huge deal for Yukon to night.
- 10:48Speaker 3: The three point shot Terris Reed Junior was excellent again
- 10:52Speaker 3: seventeen points. He's been dominant in the paint, but it
- 10:55Speaker 3: was the shot making. The defense was solid for both teams. Really,
- 10:59Speaker 3: when you look at shooting percentages, Eva sits knocking down
- 11:04Speaker 3: the three, back and forth early in the first half.
- 11:06Speaker 4: Midway through that first half, but then a.
- 11:08Speaker 3: Little surge late Alex Caravan knocking down the three but
- 11:12Speaker 3: his first bucket of a game.
- 11:14Speaker 4: Yeah, you got me twelve threes to night.
- 11:18Speaker 2: Thirty seven. Demogram was your halftime score. Yeah, so silas
- 11:21Speaker 2: memory solo ball.
- 11:23Speaker 4: Yeah, Braylen Mullins, they got contract boy. I said it earlier.
- 11:26Speaker 3: Forty five of the seventy one points came from folks
- 11:29Speaker 3: other than Reed Junior and Alex Caraban and.
- 11:33Speaker 4: That was huge.
- 11:34Speaker 2: Jalen Stewart connected there. They were up fourteen, but here
- 11:37Speaker 2: comes a ten to nothing run for the ALIGNI Sriyakovich
- 11:42Speaker 2: and then.
- 11:44Speaker 4: Solo ball.
- 11:46Speaker 2: Just as Illinois making their run. But the ALIGNA you
- 11:51Speaker 2: know they're not going to just fold up the tents.
- 11:54Speaker 2: Look at this' so I've shot by Keaton Wogler.
- 12:00Speaker 3: This was huge right here they had They get a
- 12:03Speaker 3: bucket off this offensive rebound when Illinois had cut it
- 12:07Speaker 3: to four. Not only do they get a bucket, they
- 12:09Speaker 3: actually had a chance to milk some clock as well.
- 12:13Speaker 3: And then they're gonna knock one down. I think it's
- 12:15Speaker 3: Brayln Mullin's gonna shake free.
- 12:18Speaker 2: There's only bucket of the second half right there, and
- 12:21Speaker 2: it was fitting back and as they say, Chuck, they
- 12:25Speaker 2: just tased Ryan. This ball game over over seventy one
- 12:30Speaker 2: sixty two. That's your final scorers. Yukon advances to the
- 12:34Speaker 2: championship game. Yet again, here's Danny Hurley.
- 12:40Speaker 5: You know, we're a tough program. We're a group of fighters.
- 12:43Speaker 5: You know, it's not appealing to everyone. I'm sure there's
- 12:45Speaker 5: some people in here you know that it's off putting
- 12:48Speaker 5: for you know, but we are a group of fighters.
- 12:52Speaker 5: We're incredibly tough, We've got incredible will, and we go
- 12:58Speaker 5: into these games we're ready for back again. For us,
- 13:01Speaker 5: it's not you know, a game that was just kind
- 13:03Speaker 5: of running around in uniforms, throwing the ball around hoping
- 13:06Speaker 5: it goes in. That's not what we're doing out there.
- 13:09Speaker 5: You know, We're we're fighting. It's a life and death
- 13:12Speaker 5: struggle for us to get to Monday night, for the
- 13:15Speaker 5: opportunity to win a championship. Uh and then just to
- 13:18Speaker 5: be able to prolong this this season with each other.
- 13:23Speaker 2: You heard you heard Iron Eagles say it when that
- 13:25Speaker 2: game they just.
- 13:26Speaker 4: Win, Yeah, they just win.
- 13:28Speaker 3: Well, they're terrifically coached, They got good players. Uh, they
- 13:34Speaker 3: don't make men and mental mistakes. You know, Bill Belichick
- 13:39Speaker 3: always says, getting to know him and some of his players,
- 13:43Speaker 3: he says, you know, Chuck, more games are lost in won.
- 13:47Speaker 3: More games are lost in won, aren't most most people?
- 13:51Speaker 3: You know, if you go back, you know, go back
- 13:53Speaker 3: to last week against Duke, everybody's going to talk about
- 13:58Speaker 3: that one turnover. They blew a nineteen point league like
- 14:04Speaker 3: that was unfortunately he turned that ball over, but those
- 14:08Speaker 3: other nineteen points really really that was the difference. And
- 14:13Speaker 3: to your point, sixteen points Duke gave up off turnovers
- 14:18Speaker 3: in the second half. Yes, sixteen zip points off turnovers
- 14:22Speaker 3: in the second half. So that was part of the
- 14:24Speaker 3: equation for that dramatic shot to send Yukon to Indianapolis.
- 14:29Speaker 3: But is Oh and Hurley to me, probably the two
- 14:34Speaker 3: coaches they coach. They teams played like their coaches personality.
- 14:41Speaker 3: They play like maximum effort energy. I think Hurley is
- 14:46Speaker 3: great at that. I think Isoe is great at that.
- 14:49Speaker 3: There's no disrespect to any other coaches, but they take
- 14:53Speaker 3: on the personality of their coach, and Hurley's a hell
- 14:56Speaker 3: of a coach and he gets to be a little
- 15:00Speaker 3: low dramatic. Nobody dislike him or his team. We don't
- 15:03Speaker 3: give a damn who wins these games. Uh he but
- 15:07Speaker 3: I understand he uses his fuel and they're gonna show
- 15:10Speaker 3: up to win a champions They championship, culture, championship, history,
- 15:15Speaker 3: championship mindset, championship grit.
- 15:18Speaker 4: That'll all be on display on Monday Night.
- 15:21Speaker 3: And I do, I do think that in college basketball,
- 15:24Speaker 3: if you have a correct system and you you're able
- 15:28Speaker 3: to recruit and go into the portal and get identical pieces.
- 15:32Speaker 3: It's very similar to football. With the NBA at times,
- 15:36Speaker 3: there's guys who are just so good that they can
- 15:39Speaker 3: there's no game plan for them. There's no game plan
- 15:42Speaker 3: for Winben Yama. You can't even mimic that in practice.
- 15:45Speaker 3: You don't have a seven foot guy, five guy who
- 15:47Speaker 3: can shoot threes on your team and dribble the basketball
- 15:50Speaker 3: like him, So you can't even mimic it. But you today, Okay,
- 15:55Speaker 3: but we will see him in the playoffs.
- 15:58Speaker 4: He'll see them too, exactly.
- 16:00Speaker 3: But I but I, But my point is their system
- 16:03Speaker 3: is so intact, between himself and his staff, they've they've
- 16:08Speaker 3: done a great job. I know he has one coach
- 16:10Speaker 3: leaving going to Boston College. He's got his associate head coach,
- 16:14Speaker 3: Kamana Young that's been with him since he's been there
- 16:16Speaker 3: as well.
- 16:17Speaker 4: But those guys have gotten it done. Oh yeah, this.
- 16:23Speaker 2: Is a Yukon team that holds Illinois to sixty two.
- 16:25Speaker 2: They've won seventy five straight games when they hold teams
- 16:29Speaker 2: to sixty six or fewer points. Now you face a
- 16:33Speaker 2: team that scores ninety plus and they've done it five times.
- 16:38Speaker 2: That's a record in the tournament. How do you slow
- 16:41Speaker 2: Michigan down if you are Yukon, Yukon will slow Michigan down.
- 16:45Speaker 2: But they're not holding him a sixty six. That's not
- 16:48Speaker 2: going to happen. It starts at the guards we don't get.
- 16:51Speaker 2: We don't talk about. Saylos Demery near enough. He was
- 16:53Speaker 2: one of the best guards in the portal, and Yukon
- 16:55Speaker 2: got him.
- 16:56Speaker 1: He is gonna guard Cadou different than Cado's was guarded tonight,
- 16:59Speaker 1: and that's going to be where the defense starts. Solo
- 17:01Speaker 1: ball as well, Malakai Smith. They've got Yuka's got three
- 17:05Speaker 1: guards and get out there and guard and bother Michigan
- 17:08Speaker 1: from driving downhill. They got to rebound the basketball. They
- 17:11Speaker 1: pride themselves. They put bodies on Illinois. They didn't get
- 17:13Speaker 1: out rebound about the aultar.
- 17:14Speaker 4: They did a nice job on the boards tonight.
- 17:16Speaker 1: The other thing that Yukon's got to do is they
- 17:17Speaker 1: got to control the game with their offense. Can you
- 17:19Speaker 1: talk about all that movement. They got to control the game,
- 17:21Speaker 1: not turn them all over. And they have to make
- 17:23Speaker 1: perimeter shots because the closer you get to the basket
- 17:25Speaker 1: against Michigan, the.
- 17:27Speaker 4: Better you do.
- 17:27Speaker 1: Not look but you don't, you don't look better. But
- 17:31Speaker 1: if they can bang some open shots, Mowen's got to
- 17:33Speaker 1: shoot it like you did ball shoot it better. Those
- 17:35Speaker 1: guys came into the in the tournament, into this game
- 17:38Speaker 1: not shoot it well. They shot at lights out here
- 17:40Speaker 1: in Indianapolis.
- 17:41Speaker 2: Caravan won for eight in this game and still Yukon
- 17:45Speaker 2: over Illinois and.
- 17:46Speaker 1: Six different guys made threes for Yukon.
- 17:49Speaker 3: We talked about that at the top of the show,
- 17:51Speaker 3: that they needed other guys to support and they found
- 17:54Speaker 3: a way. They'll have to do it again and maybe
- 17:56Speaker 3: even at a higher level. On Monday Night,