NCAA Championship Review

Louisville wins title

• After all the hype and plenty of nailbiters, the 2013 NCAA tournament concluded Monday Night with Louisville knocking off Michigan 82-76 behind a monstrous game (his second in a row) from reserve Luke Hancock, solid play from star PG Peyton Siva and unquestioned motivation stemming from the injury sustained by teammate Kevin Ware last weekend.  
• Michigan was playing in front of their most famous basketball alumni, the Fab Five, who last led the Wolverines to the Final Four, back in 1993.
• In the first half, Michigan raced out to a 12-point lead on the shoulders of little used reserve point guard Spike Albrecht. Albrecht played about 15 minutes in the first half in place of National Player of the Year Trey Burke, who had to sit because of foul trouble. Hancock helped Louisville respond with 4 straight made three pointers leading to a 14-3 run closing the lead to 1. 
• In the second half, Siva and Louisville forward Chane Behanan took Michigan inside and exploited the team's biggest weakness, their size and strength. A short spurt in the middle of the second half gave Louisville a lead that they never gave up. Hancock was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four by scoring 42 points during the weekend.

Title game's NBA prospects?

• Even though the Michigan Wolverines did not win the game Monday, the two (arguably three) best future NBA players wore maize, not red.
• Michigan Forward Mitch McGary is a freshman but has sky high potential. He needs to lose some weight and add some muscle and fine tune a large portion of his game, but the raw McGary shows lots of potential and proves why he was a highly sought after recruit. His NCAA tournament (championship game not withstanding) shows what he is truly capable of. He needs another year or two in college, but should be a dominant all-around NBA player, potentially like another star who played his college ball in the state of Michigan, Zach Randolph.
• Michigan Point Guard Trey Burke was the most NBA ready player on the court Monday Night and is probably the most hyped. Burke, a sophomore, should be one of the first point guards drafted this summer (assuming he does declare). Burke is a passing point guard who is also an incredible scorer. He is in the frame of a Chauncey Billups. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Glenn Robinson III will also likely to eventually follow their fathers into the NBA. They are both extremely athletic scorers who should be able to do their family names proud.
• Louisville will send a few players to the NBA this season as well. Star Point Guard Peyton Siva is a senior and while he is very small, he is extremely fast and almost impossible to keep from penetrating into the lane with the ball in his hands. He can pass and score against much larger players. His size will definitely put a ceiling on his career, but he has the ability to become a Ty Lawson type player. Russ Smith’s father has claimed he will declare for the NBA draft. Though Smith had a dreadful championship game, he could be a decent NBA player. He is also small, but is a good ball handler and scorer and could be a contributor on a good team.