April 7, 2026 • 50 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon bring you the Best Of, highlighting all their biggest takes from the NCAA Tournament Final! The guys break down Michigan’s championship win, what it means for the program moving forward, and how it all unfolded on the biggest stage. Plus, they dive into Dan Hurley’s role as college basketball’s ultimate villain and explain why, win or lose, he remains one of the sport’s most compelling figures. All that and more in the Best Of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon! 🔥🎧
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live
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Speaker 2 (00:20):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Hello, Welcome inside, Happy National Championship Monday, The Jason Smith
Show with my bas friend Mike Harmon. Where we are
at halftime of a game. That what we like to
say on the show. If it's not a great game,
at least it's close, and that's what we have right
now with Michigan leading Yukon thirty three to twenty nine.
(00:51):
It was a very physical first half, not a lot
of offense, which has kind of been the theam of
the both men's and women's Final four past few days.
But again, it's not great basketball, but it's close, so
the second half has the possibility for it to be
good television.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
But Dusty May told me he had it all figured
out when they rolled a basketball out at the Big
House and said, hey, we can get our depth perception.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
They're zero for eight. Yeah from a three point age
a half three gold, I need to do that.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, twenty two to eight points in the paint, which
is what you expect. But the rebounding margin is all
of one, so scrappy, kind of crazy, chaotic first half.
But as long as it's close late, we all win.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Now where it sits right now, how do I think
the second half is gonna go? Now, forget for a
second that the beginning of the bracket, I picked Michigan
and win it all. I can finish third if Michigan
wins tonight. Uh, just to for just put that out
of your mind from it, just put the medal three.
That's good that I I had Michigan winning it all
coming into the brack. They might big bracket, okay, mission
will uh. I expect that this first half went about
(01:57):
as well as Yukon could have possibly helped. He even
saw Danny Hurley a lot of truth in his mid
game interview where he said, hey, look, this is the
kind of game we can win because as good as
Yukon is, Michigan talent they put out there, They're deep,
they're better, they are the better team.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
And you're talking about making its sloppy, extending shot clocks
and just slowing the game down.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And Yukon has done the best job they could to
turn this into a game where they have a shot in.
But this needed to be a game where the first
half was so slow and so muddy and so a
slog fest where it's a seven to ten point Yukon lead,
because I have to think in the second half it's
gonna be lende Borg and Mara who Michigan is going
(02:39):
to continue to go to them underneath, and they were
playing very well in the first half. They started to
kind of hit a stride a bit. I feel like
this is where you're gonna go. If you're not gonna
get a lot of offense getting it downloaded them, you
are going to see them start to take over in
the second half. And this is what's gonna push Michigan
to a win. It's been a great it's a great
run for Yukon. And look, you know the coach Danny
Hurley is and you know you see him on the
(03:00):
sideline here trying to make every single call like he has,
you know, the past few years at Yukon, But overall,
I would be really surprised if this second half was
a carbon copy of the first. I have to think
Michigan is going to understand that, Okay, this is our
way to win the game, because when Mara and Linda
Borg get the ball underneath, it looks like a mismatch
almost especially Mara. Every single time he gets the ball,
(03:21):
it's like, Wow, he just take the ball to the
hoop like he's, you know, a bigger brother playing against
little brother. You know, like I'm three feet taller than
you because I'm eighteen and you're nine, doesn't matter. I'll
kick your ass and he kicks you in the shin
ou what are you doing? But that's kind of what
it looks like, and that's how I expect second half
to go.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, I mean, we looked at coming into the game,
a couple of injuries of notes solo ball on the
Yukon side. He's played half the minutes, ten minutes, played
eight points, including two three point makes for him. Linden Moore,
who you bring up? He played all twenty minutes but
just one for five from the field. So we'll see
if he can get it going in the second half,
(03:57):
missed both this three point tries again and oh for
eight as a squad. But you're also at the point
where every starter, you got three or five starters already
with two fouls, so keep dumping the ball inside.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And we saw it. You can have a bit of
a congo line going to the free front line, but
you don't have enough guys, right, You're gonna run out
of bodies at this rate if they can slow it
down and get the dump in inside. So yeah, the
as strategical as it is, and it's fun, you know.
The thirty thousand foot view of what does it mean
if Danny Hurley wins has been a fun topic. Oh yeah,
(04:31):
because he is so polarizing.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Add to the stuff that you know, with his wife
on the CBS Morning Show and everything she had to
say about you know, how she has to take care
of things form andal. It is a fun theatrical thing.
But for the next twenty minutes of game time, you
want to talk about pulling every string possible, taking the
air out of the ball and keeping it from becoming
(04:55):
an athletic competition. I use that term specifically because that's
where they can get run out of the gym if
this starts to go a certain way.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
See, but here's where Isaagrea think I'm gonna zag on
Danny Hurley. If they win, of course, it pushes up
his legend. Three titles in four years. Is he on
the Mount Rushmore of all time college basketball greats? Where
is he? Is he just behind Wooden? Is he ahead
of Bobby Knight? Is he ahead of Coach k Like
you've already seen the discussions that are out there. It
(05:27):
for Bobby Hurley. Bobby hill is a bad coach, better player,
bad coach. Danny Hurley bad player, better coach. So you've
seen the conversation with Danny Hurley. But something even more
important has happened, even regardless as to the final result
of this game, because Danny Hurley has gone from a
guy three years ago who bursts on the scene Yukon
(05:48):
wins it all. Wow, look at the job Danny Hurley's done.
He's intense. He loves his guys. Boy, what a great
the lineage of the Hurley line, his dad being the
legendary coach and he was, you know, the playing career
that Bobby had, still coaching at Arizona State, all of this. Well,
then they win again, and it's whoa Danny here? Okay, man,
this is what we need, man, Maybe a new kind
(06:09):
of many dynasty going on. They went back to back
and they blow teams out and they win. But not
even in the last two years, but really in the
last few months, Danny Hurley has gone from hey, boy,
Danny Hurt's kind of fun too. I hate Danny Hurley,
and Danny Hurley has become the villain that college basketball
(06:30):
needs because we had the retirements and walking away of
the great rock star coaches. Right, Coach k always made headlines,
even though it was always in a very buttoned down
way that even though he wasn't very controversial, he came
to court storming, you gotta get this guy off. Jim
behon the last few years of his career when Syracuse
was relevant in the mid teens, Hey, all of a sudden,
(06:52):
he would, you know, his unfiltered way of talking was fantastic.
But you see all the rock star coaches that were there,
all the legends that you know, from Dean Smith to
Roy Williams at North Carolina, even Tom Izzo. Tom Izzowa
hasn't won in a long, long time. Man he might
have won in a long time. College basketball needs the
(07:12):
next great head coach that gives reaction and and evokes
a reaction from other teams, players, coaches, fans. And Danny
Hurley's that guy. He's in his early fifties, He's got
another fifteen or twenty years to coach with the with
the energy that he has. College basketball needs a villain,
(07:34):
you need you need the big time coaches because the
players just don't have the types of personalities that they
used to, right You guys that leave and go to
the go to the NBA early. Now maybe some will
stay a little bit more for nil, but overall, yeah,
the great coaches were the ones that sparked all the conversation,
especially when he got to March. And now here's Danny
Hurley who has said, yeah, I want the spotlight. This
(07:54):
is not I have the spotlight because my team is good.
It's no, I'm desiring this spotlight. And he's become that
lynchpin and the guy that will help usher college basketball
into the next phase of Hey, whether he wins to Night.
If he wins to Night, of course it makes it bigger.
But even if he doesn't, it doesn't matter. Because Danny
Hurley has become that every year villain that we love
(08:15):
watching love ruty against love, watching him argue. I don't
know anybody that likes him anymore. Everybody told Danny or
just has to shut up. Every single time he's complaining
to a roof, he's complaining about a call they show
him on TV. He's yelling all the time. Not that
anybody is wrong about this, but like that's that's the
general perception of Hurley that's taken over over the course
of the past few months in the year, and that's
(08:35):
invaluable to college basketball.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
I mean, we've talked about it the last couple of years,
the rise and fall of a lot of these guys,
and even those that were super villains. Guess what, The
rules of the game change. So there's no longer the
what's behind door number two that's making them so successful.
We can't even have that speculation and hate anymore. It's like, no,
they they Now we just pay guys and here we go.
Right Calaberry sits as part of a dais. Everybody just
(08:59):
kind of goes whatever. He was fun Patino, he's the
lovable guy at Saint John's. Now he's no longer he was.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
He wins the white suit. Look at Patino. He's fun.
He's gott St.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
John's batters again. But like all these other guys, remember
the other we talked about it. You you were out
out of town right the Shire, and he's getting all
the run of uh and people are starting to say, hey,
in his first couple of years, look at the stats
or whatever alongside coach k and then they lose in
the tournament. He slid into the frame on McAfee's show
like he was Chris Collinsworth on Sunday Night Football, like
(09:35):
all right, let's have that conversation now, shall we. So
like they're still around the game is oh as much
as I love them to your point, he won that
one title along.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
I mean, he's got a lot of run out of one.
And you know and and uh matteen Cleves that's a
long time ago. Yeah, no long time.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
But it's just that you need the the villains fuel
all of these games, and players really can't do it.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I mean because they don't stay. I mean, we're talking
about Michigan for this game. They're all five for transfers,
so there's no holy power of like, hey, this guy
is identified with that program. Now, if these guys finish
the job over these next nineteen plus minutes, then yes,
they become Michigan legends and everybody remembers them and everybody
loves them outside what he got Yukon and Caravan our
(10:22):
friend of the show. Yeah heiny not controversy.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
He'll like, you know, he's a legend in Yukon. We'll
talk about all time wins, whatever else. But it's not
something that permeates across the threshold, like we don't have
that guy, that hateable player. So yeah, it goes to
the coaches and Hurley. As long as you don't get
called for skull budding and official to that could have
cost you a.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Game, everything's all good. None where'd you go? Well but that,
And that's what people misunderstand about the NIL era because
they've heard a lot on the radio and TV the
last few days about how what a great era college basketball.
The good players stay more, it's more popular. Okay, the
great players still leave as early as they can. They
still need, they still take the If you're a great player,
(11:04):
I am spending the absolute minimum time I can at
Duke at North Carolina Roe. Okay, God, I am gone right,
as great as it was, as much money as Cooper Flag.
What's gonna make Uh yeah, I'm going to the NBA.
So the best players, the ones that are going to
gain our attention. Yeah, they're on a year to year thing.
It's like, okay, every year the big superstars. We then
(11:25):
have to go look for new ones in next year
the big superstars. Now, now where the nil era works
and where is that? Now? You are gonna see more
of these teams, more Michigans and Yukons and Dukes in
North Carolinas and Kansas's and UCLA's and all these are
the teams that are going to see more of over
the course of March because they have the money to
keep the good players, the ones that the average college
(11:46):
basketball fan doesn't know unless you're watching the game in March,
because you know your team, you know that you know
some of the players in your conference. But overall, what
what the nil ERA does is that it's gonna keep
the heritage teams good, which is gonna be good television,
because hey, you would like to see Michigan and Yukon
in a national championship game, whereas you want to see
San Diego State, right, do you want to see it's hard.
(12:08):
You don't want to see Butler in a national title
game anymore. Those days are kind of gone. So when
when the nil era, when you when you're trying to
break down what that's gonna mean for the for the sport. Yeah,
the good player are still gonna go, but not the superstars.
So the coach is the ones that are more important.
And we're we have been in a changing of the guard.
It's almost like it's I almost felt like the college
(12:28):
basketball is like the PGA Tour after Tiger Woods, right, like,
after all the legendary coaches left right, Coach k left
and Roy Williams left and Dean Smith all the you
saw all all the guys leave. I was like, Okay,
who are the next guys? Well, you had Patino, but
then he found his way out, Beheim didn't win near
the end. You still had some rockstar kind of guys.
But boy, you're still waiting for Hey, who's gonna be
(12:50):
that next coach? Who going to be that next couple
of teams? And like the PGA Tour is still waiting
to say, can we ever talk about somebody close enough?
How we talked about Tiger Woods? The answer is gonna
be no. But Danny Hurley in college basketball, this is
the closest thing. And you know, look, Yukon, is he
going to stay there and be alleged? You want to
think for the rest of his curer will. But at
some point, if the duke job opens, if North Carolina
(13:12):
opens again, or something else happen, It's like, Hey, I
kind of want to go there. I've scratched the itch,
I've won. How many titles I've won here at stores?
I want to go here? Want to go someplace else? Yeah,
I could see that. But that's the thing is that
it doesn't need to be likable. He just needs to
be someone that you care about. And you know, it's
like being the Yankees of college basketball works. And the
way more people seem to notice all his antics on
(13:34):
the floor now, not just once in a while, tells
you they've dialed into him. They've dialed and they care
about what happens. Whether they're rooting for or against it.
Most people are rooting against yukoncy' rooting against Danny Hurley
because he just has that way. Every time they show
him on TV. He's pissing me off. Ah, this upsets me. Oh,
this kind says me. He's the biggest in college basketball's
going for But it's like.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Anything, right, we talk about the Cinderella in the first
couple of days, was a lot of limits and folks
having their violins out. Oh we don't have Cinderella. Well,
they hate the Juggernauts too, Right, You hate it at
both spectrum as much as it's both ends of the spectrum,
as much as you don't want to admit it. Right,
as soon as the team's really good. Hate watching is
a real thing, and you'll lean into it until you don't.
(14:18):
But that's certainly where we're at with Yukon. Maybe he
wants to take a look at the NBA at some point,
maybe there's a change in how this all gets adjudicated.
Maybe he has a geno orm a crash out moment
in his future as well. But all of that, we
need storylines, right, You need a story that gives us
that thread line from the opening of March all the
(14:40):
way through. And Danny Hurley has been fantastic. I'm sure
plenty of fan fiction is being written. We had all
those NFL draft movies that we all love so much,
and we'll be watching over the next three weeks. Pete
Bell and blue Chips is a long time ago. It's
been a minute since we've had one of those.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
So Danny Hurley, congratulations the one man Yankees evil empire
that he has become. Hopefully we see some points here
in the second half. No, we are three minutes in
and Michigan leads Yukon thirty five thirty one. That's right.
In the first three minutes you have mister grand total
of two baskets.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
So is it a repeat of what we saw Friday night,
which was nothing? We're gonna die in the women's final four.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
We're gonna find out somebody went to the final four
of both men's and women's bet the under on every
game and is gonna be a billionaire. You were gonna
find out. I just kept doubling down here, betting the unders,
betting the unders, betting the undersea.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I was waiting for you to go dot dot die,
and then you're trying to find a commonality between the
officiating hews.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Look at what you were doing there. So thirty five
thirty one, Michigan with the lead over Yukon coming up
on the sixteen minute mark of the second half of
More on this take you throughout. It obviously the biggest
story of the night, but we have other huge stories
out of college basketball and a big trade that's got
everybody talking. It's coming up next right here, Jason and
Mike Fox Sports Radio.
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Speaker 1 (16:38):
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(17:01):
Mike and I love putting this content out for you
every single night. Well about three minutes to go in
the National Championship game, Michigan with the basketball and a
seven point lead following a turnover, it has not been pretty.
Michigan is shooting thirty seven percent from the floor. You
can thirty seven in a row. Yukon is shooting thirty
(17:23):
two percent from the floor again with the theme of
boy boy take the under in the final four of
both men and women. So it's not been great, but
it is close. I will say this the final three minutes.
The only way Yukon makes it back is if somehow
Caravan and Mullins get hot from the outside. Right, It's
(17:45):
not gonna be suddenly a game where hey, because Michigan's
gonna get to the free throw line. Michigan's gotta sell
out to stop those points from outside the ark. And
those are the only two guys that are really taking
the threes, and no Caraban is two for eight, Mullins
is three for nine. So it's not like it's it's
been great for both of them, but these are the
guys gonna take these shots, laid Caravan being the upperclassman leader,
(18:05):
and Mullen's after his heroics, he's not shooting well. But
that's the only way back for Yukon in these last
three minutes is if they start hitting a couple of threes.
And on the flip side of this, to think about this,
you want to talk about craziness. Michigan could win the
national championship in a game in which they hit one
three point shot. Yeah, they are right now from beyond
(18:29):
the arc, one for fourteen, Cadot hitting that big three
we talked about. It was a big three game, an
eleven point lead timeout Yukon. But just in an era
in which college basketball has become about the three and
everybody hits threes, every team hits them, if you can
win a game without hitting a three, with hitting one three,
I mean that's something you'll you'll never see that again.
(18:51):
I feel pretty good saying the way college basketball is going,
you're you're not gonna see a team win with only
hitting one three pointer.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
No, mighty impressive, no question about it, hanging around making
just enough threes of their own. I mean it's an
eight to one lead and that margin. Yet you're still
talking about a six point game. But the defense ratcheting
it up for Yukon Michigan. The one thing they have
done well living at the foul line. They're twenty one
of twenty two tonight. So the one thing that they've
(19:20):
done well time and time again. Well, and I say that,
and it well, they're gonna have at least two threes
time time out on the floor board.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I'll tell you. That's that's what you call stones, my Carmen,
the vessel stone.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
You see the ball get kicked back out, it's like
you're doing uh.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yukon had cut the lead to six. Mullins hits a
three from about three feet behind the three point line
to make it a six point game. Michigan misses down
the other end, Yukon misses, Michigan gets the ball and
Cadeau hits another three that gives them the I'm sorry.
McKenny hits the three, so now two threes he and Cadeaux.
(20:04):
The ball comes out after it looks like Michigan's gonna
go down low either you know, either to marrow or Hey,
we're gonna try to work this down. But mcknny backs out.
He's played twenty eight minutes off the bench, and it's
one of those.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
No no, no, no, no no no.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Oh great shot, great shot. He hits a three, the
second three of the night for Michigan. Now it's a
nine point lead with a minute fifty left to go, but.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
You have the prior possession, a big defense and play
read with the steel. Solo Ball misses a layup that
would have cut it to four, and then they get
back out the.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
First mislayup not the last mislayup of this guy.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
But just stay a moment where it's like, Okay, the
pressure is on, and oh, we've got some frenetic pace.
Instead we've got solo ball sliding towards the end line,
getting absolutely lost, giving McKenny uh the extra second to
load up on that three point shot. Back to a
nine point game.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Hey, listen, the threes aren't going. I don't care give
me the ball. I'm taking the ball. I feel like it.
I'll take first three of the again. Now Michigan is
two for fifteen from three point range. And now it
really has to be a little bit more of a
sense of urgency from Yukon. With facing a nine point
deficit with a minute forty left to go, they got
(21:16):
to be able to try to find some way to
hit from long distance. And Michigan's defense has just been
so good on this last possession, killing all kinds of
time off the clock, and Yukon throws up a three
that doesn't go. Michigan will take the trade off because
Yukon's going to the free throw line now, but a
minute fifty, it's a nine point lead. Now down to
a minute twenty and it's still a nine point lead. Look,
(21:38):
we've said this from the beginning. Michigan is the better team.
They are deeper, they are more athletic. It's a great
run by Yukon, and somehow they can pull this out.
This is a tremendous achievement because this is not one
of the top three or four teams in college basketball
that can win the tournament. But Michigan is showing you, hey,
we're still we still have the staminant late because Mullen's
(21:59):
not getting Caravan's not getting free. They are giving you
on the ball outside the arc. And thirty seconds come
off the clock before Yukon finds a way to dent
the scoreboard. Again, that's a huge win for Michigan.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, you see the big guys extending the perimeter defense
and really causing the extra pass, keep swinging around trying
to find that sliver of space, and then eventually throwing
up a prayer. Now this one got answered because you
have the rebound under the bucket that gave them the
second chances. But I love the graphic that they threw up.
As we're talking about the Michigan three point proficiency. They
(22:33):
were zero for ten to start. Hey, they're two of
their last five. I'll have you know shooting their last
five attempts. Both free throws are are good. So back
to a seven point game, extending trying to play some defense,
get called for a little bit of a touch foul
out beyond the perimeter. So that is one thing I'm
sure we'll hear from Danny Hurley in the post in
(22:56):
terms of file discrepancies, free throw shooting, et cetera. But
we've also seen Yukon trying to make their mark from
beyond the arc. They've hoisted thirty three point shots over
the course of this game, double what Michigan has.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
I mean, that was such a huge defensive possession by
Michigan because that's where, Hey, if you want to go
down there in the first couple of seconds and see
if you can free up for a three, I get
it right, because Bone's just hit one from the parking
lot caravan. He's hit big three's the entire tournament. But
you can't spend all that time looking for the three.
This is where if it's not there, get to the hoop,
cut it. Make Michigan make free throws, press them defensively,
(23:33):
make them continue to do this right. You got to
You got to extend the game. And all you did
was just hand Michigan thirty seconds. You say, hey, take
thirty seconds. Yeah we can't, we can't get free Yeah,
you gotta make that. Okay, let's get to the basket
now like that. That to me, that's the biggest possession
of the last few minutes. Yes, you have the big
three McKinney hit, and that you can't get along with that,
But to let thirty seconds go off the clock and
(23:54):
the score stays the same, I mean that you're basically
just handing Michigan the National champions.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Oh, it's like going to the other end and then
trying to play. You play defense for twenty five and
then commit a silly foule. Right, It's it's that same
part of the equation as we draw in under a
minute now, but when we've watched them play and the
free throws of evened out a little bit as the
game's going on. But it's just the idea of getting
(24:18):
dominated in the points in the paint, which we would
have expected. Right, check that box. They've been scrappy actually,
with eight more rebounds in Michigan. That's a If you
look at a bi just doing some box score reading,
you'd be like, what the hell happened there? But you know,
trading training and giving out those precious seconds trying to
find the perfect shot. Eventually you got to get your
(24:39):
deuce and move on.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yeah, and uh, what just happened? It looked like that
might have been lights out. Mullens gets free for a
three from the corner, but it's a bad miss. Alex
Caravan somehow gets the whistle to go to the free
throw line where I didn't see a foul. He gots
three guys falling away. He just he jumped in the
air and NFL down and smart play by Caravan right
(25:02):
drew the foul. But that was not a foul by
Yuka on Michigan. That was basically, we're gonna help Yukon
here stay in the game because I don't know how
you blow the whistle on that. That was. That was.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
It seemed to be a whole lot of contact unless
someone was giving them some kidney punches or something that
we couldn't see. But yeah, it's been uh it's been
a scrappy game. I mean, I give you got all
the credit in the world. Right, you talk about taking
on the personality and energy of your coach, I mean
they're gonna give you forty minutes a hell, there's no
question about that.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Uh So time out on the floor. It was a
held ball possession. McKinney gets in trouble in the back court,
slips and falls, possession, arrow goes to Michigan, so they
will have the ball again with a seven point lead,
forty eight seconds left to go, trying to hold onto
this national championship. And just for a second, on the
(25:54):
physical play tonight, right, if we've seen the physical play,
take it, take it outside of this and take a
bigger macro look at it. You know that there's been
a lot of free throws, but I have it's weird
because I've also felt like the refs have let them play.
I agree, you'd like usually when you see this parade
to the free throw line and go, oh man, the
Red are just blown it. No, I feel like they've
let both teams be physical, and they've blown the whistle
(26:17):
when they've had to, and and you know, both teams
get into the free throw line. So it's a like
I've never really that's that's not a real common thing.
But I feel like, yeah, you've seen a lot of
free throws, and Michigan has made their bones of the
free throw line, right, But I feel like they have
really let both sides play in this and which is great, right,
and you know you want to see a little more offense,
you know, in this I can't believe it's sixty seven
(26:37):
sixty you know, it feels like you know, it feels
like it's like forty to thirty seven. But I mean,
it's a it's a weird phenomenon. But that's kind of
how I feel how this game has gone. Where you know,
the officiator you can say, well, boy, it's been a fit.
You know, what do you want to say about this
in Michigan to the free throw line, Nah, they've kind
of let both teams play. It's it's you got a
total of forty free throws over the course of the game.
(27:00):
Very just one of the worst. Clinically, I don't even
know how to describe this turnover that Yukon just created
on this inbound play. Forty five point seven after that
in after the held ball, that's what you come out
with after a quick timeout. Michigan, it looked like they
had they put the ball in from the side and
(27:23):
it's like an alley oop to Lendeborg about ten feet in.
Remember this is there under their own basket. A guy
who's got one leg. He's like yeah. It looked like
the plan was for him to leap up, grab it
and and flip it to another teammate really fast, except
he wound up flipping it out of bounds because it
was a contested play. So there's two possessions by Michigan
(27:43):
where they couldn't get the ball inbounds and get the
ball up across half court. One turn into a held
ball that goes back to Yukon. There was back to them,
but now Yukon's got the helld ball possession Arrow, and
now this was a turnover that Yukon's able to keep
the ball and they bank in a three with thirty
seven seconds left to go, ball banks in a three
(28:04):
and absolute prayer. I don't know, man, if you're a Yukon,
I think the bottom of your miracle sock drawer is
coming up empty at some point. This is an off balance,
bad shot and it banks in to make it a
sixty seven to sixty two game with thirty seven seconds
left to go, Michigan will be inbounding in possession. Harrow
stays with Yukon.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Danny Hurley laughing his ass off as solo ball came
to the bench like, I don't know, it's living right.
I guess as you go through now he could have
gone back and looked at the video of the held ball.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
You know, did he get slapped a couple of times?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yeah? To your point, and they've let stuff go, which
is why that caravan going to the foul line call
a bit earlier just seems so odd and out of place.
But here just simple inbound plays have gone awry from Michigan,
and some of it we questioned, as we did on
Friday night with the Yukon women's squad, of suddenly you're
(29:02):
getting tested because you've been beating everybody up and down
the court, right and Michigan has been absolutely bludgeting everybody.
So all of a sudden, you're in a tight game
where these possessions are, you know, going old clinical kind
of style of things you would work out in a
practice session. You haven't seen a lot of game experience
this year for Michigan where you suddenly needed to be
(29:25):
pinpoint position in the final minute.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's been. It's been a really,
really difficult last few minutes for Michigan to navigate. And
Dusty May is calling time out and they're looking at
and they're looking at ways for them to get the
ball in bounds, and still they struggle with doing it.
They are looking right now at the basket that was
just made by solo ball. It's a sixty seven to
(29:49):
sixty two game. However, it looks like his three that
went up that banked in it was behind the line.
Both his feet were behind the line. That's going to
add another point to this game. It's gonna make a
sixty seven to sixty three game now with thirty seconds
left to go again Michigan with a four point lead,
(30:10):
and the basketball, I mean, I want to see the
other side of whatever deal with the devil. Yukon made
like I really got a seque, like is Hurley giving up?
Is Hurley giving up his immortal soul? Or is the
other things happening? Because I mean I don't know, man,
Like this is for that shot against Duke and now
this now this shot that that was just made by ball, Like,
what is Danny Hurley giving up? What is he giving up?
(30:31):
He went down to the crossroads. Yeah, he called Bobby, Hey, Bobby, Yeah,
I gave him yours too. You can't do that now,
I do what I want. I'm Danny Hurley.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
I gave him your Soul's Is that how Bobby lost
his job?
Speaker 1 (30:42):
As? How can I be first? You know kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
But yeah, just an absolutely insane sequence of events there
over the last twenty five seconds of game clock, and
to see.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
This game coming down to some makes and some misses.
Gale goes in for the He's seventy six percent from
the line this year, and he gets fouled. Twenty nine
seconds left to go, and he has his first free throw,
looks like it's more than halfway down the cylinder and
it bounces out. So he missed the first free throw,
(31:24):
and he misses the second free throw. Yukon has the
ball again, down by four with less than thirty seconds
left to go, and really is Yukon is not using offensively.
They needed to get to the hoop. They need to
get to the hoop more. They're using up too much clock.
Twenty nine seconds left, they have the ball, they didn't
(31:47):
get a shot until Mullens three with about sixteen seconds
left to go, and Michigan gets the rebound, and now
they're at the free throw line potentially with a chance
to put it away. Not that that Mullens didn't get
a good look, but you're taking too much time off
the clock to try to look for these threes. We're
getting to the hoop. Michigan's gonna let you get to
the hoop. They're not going to put you on the
(32:09):
free throw line for a three point play. Yukhn't has
really failed offensively in these last two minutes. With the
time they have lied, there should be at least another
thirty to forty seconds on the clock. This should be
a four point game with about forty or forty five
seconds left. Instead it's a four point game with thirteen
seconds left to Yeah, it's amazing some of these how
(32:29):
tightly contested each of these possessions have been and looking
for that perfect shot. In this case, you got a
four point game. Get to the rat, get you to
play defense. You've got Michigan rattled, So make them make
the play. You just missed two free throws. They've been
perfect at the line all day long, going back to
(32:50):
the solo ball three point. Make you know when they
went for the look at it, it's like, are they
gonna Can they add the foul because I mean McKenny
was up on his hip and hand checking it in
a highway as I am waiting for the and one
to come out of there. But here we have a
foul call and they're questioning whether it should have been
a held ball or at even a higher level, throwing
(33:12):
the elbow to try to clear space, whether McKenny should
be wrung up for a flagrant Like there's a lot.
So they've gone back to the monitor. You watch the
Yukon bench explode as this play was being adjudicated, so
we'll see what they come back with from the monitor,
but just absolute chaos in the final minute, plus both
(33:33):
sides playing some sloppy basketball and decision making has been
at a premium. Yeah. And the other part of it
is this with the officiating, is that this is a
play where Yukon misses. You know they're gonna foul right away, right,
you know they're gonna foul right away because there's thirteen
seconds left and McKenny comes down with the ball and
Smith and another player just bang into him and there's
(33:56):
no foul call and I'm like, wow, there's letting him
play and I get it, but you know you're looking
for a foul. Yukon's gonna foul right away, and instead
they let it bounty. You know, Smith bounces off of him.
Yukon is appealing the play. They're appealing it to make
it an offensive foul on Michigan, so they're looking at
it right now, but it's still a sixty seven sixty
three lead for Michigan over Yukon. The appeal does not
(34:20):
go through for Yukon, so the call stands. Trey McKenny
at the free throw line eighty nine percent on the season.
Thirteen seconds left, he made the first one, so make
it a sixty eight sixty three game. But wow, man,
that would have been some kind of reversal of fortune. Again.
Sixty eight sixty three, Yukon is without a timeout, so
(34:41):
they're gonna have to get up the court get now.
They have no choice but to get threes because time
is too short for them. And I guarantee you one
of the big storylines McKenny makes the second one sixty
nine sixty three with thirteen seconds left. One of the
big storylines is going to be the last two minutes,
letting so much time come off the clock before Yukon
tried to get to the hoop, and that's gonna be
the big story of how they wound up losing the
(35:02):
national championship. Because talk the clock is ticking down, that's
gonna be it. Michigan are your national champions. Sixty nine
sixty three is the final. A frenetic final few seconds.
Yukon goes in for a layup that misses, Michigan gets
the rebound, they throw it down court. Chrysler Center is
in absolute bedlam right now in ann Arbor and Dusty
(35:25):
May and the Michigan Wolverines have the Big Tens first
national championship in college basketball since two thousand. They win
it over Yukon. Hail to the victors. Michigan wins it
by six.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
Now Dusty made as he go to the podium, yelling,
I'm the son of a pub them. We went through
some hard times these twenty five years in the Big Ten.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Are you the American dream, Dusty May? Are you the
Michigan dream? Dusty May?
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Well?
Speaker 3 (35:50):
No, he used to wear an outfit with like the
big patches and circles that was mazing blues. So I
mean it works, but yeah, just incredible. And and look,
going back to remember the Duke game. What did we
talk about the video of Shire showing his team how
do we do this? And it was the Bulls against
the Sun's final seconds. Trey Jones, former Dukie, he goes ah,
(36:16):
he throws it up, clock expires like Duke Education. What
did they not do in their final seconds against Yukon. No,
Duke Education, Yukon gets the w not this time, No, no, no,
no no. You had a Michigan man decide, Hey, I'm
just winging it back the other way almost if he's
gonna get called for icing. Another great Michigan sport is hockey,
(36:36):
of course, but winging it back, bring it back, no
nothing left.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
It is hell. Hell to Michigan, the champions of the
West and the NCAA Tournament. We're just getting started now
as we break down the national championship game in college basketball.
We'll have Danny Hurley. You'll hear from him when he
finishes talking whatever he has to say about the game Tonight,
Dusty Man and Michigan are your champs. Keep it here, Jason,
Mike Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio Appwood One.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
He throws at the half court, and since nineteen eighty
nine there's been a blank space in the Michigan Trumphy case.
Well write their name, Michigan to twenty twenty six men's
basketball national champions They knock off Yukon sixty nine to
sixty three to win the school's second men's basketball championship.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Throw back and call back to Rameal Robinson and those
free throws at the end. I got that of the
national championship game in nineteen eighty nine against Seaton Hall.
Just a short thirty six years later, Michigan are champions
once again. You know who else is a champion? Someone
in the crown.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Because Caravan threw the ball into the crowd at the end,
somebody is walking around and I'm sure a staffer is
clambering into this.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Caravan should carry that off the court with him. It's
still the National championship ball. But that's still a you
know what Dave Portnoyd would would spend spend on that
ball a couple He evidently lost his wallet earlier. Yeah,
I was kind of a big gaye. I still think
he has money, but fine, I mean maybe he's short
whatever cash. I don't know. So Michigan wins the national title.
(38:28):
Dusty May being interviewed right now, his sixty fourth win overall,
is Michigan's head coach. And just to think about the
run that Michigan's on right now. Okay, we've had teams
win the national title in football and basketball before, but
you gotta go back to the mid two thousands to
find teams that have done it as close together as
(38:50):
Michigan's done it here, winning the national title in football
a couple of years ago, winning the national title in basketball. Now,
back when Florida and Tim Tebow won the national title
back to back, they won the title, you go back
to back in basketball two thousand and six, two thousand
and seven, two thousand and eight, was a great few
years there in Gamesville. Hey joke inga for everybody. Man,
(39:10):
Come on now, but now because I've already gotten a text,
like the first text I got from because now Pam's family,
my wife's family is just inundating me because you know
they're all Michigan obviously, you know me.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Did they contribute to the scholarship fund in nil the
first because they can't claim it otherwise.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
The first text I got was we're on to Thursday
because Michigan and the Frozen four on Thursday against Denver.
He win the national championship in hockey too, So it's like, yeah, yeah,
that's great, we won. We're on to Thursday. Now we're
all business here at Michigan. We're on to Thursday, ready
to go. What's next?
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Well, we got the the icing call in at the end, right,
he saves it ahead of icing and turns back up
to play.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
But yeah, just an insane run. You think about the
level of effectiveness despite the chaos going on in the
athletic department when you look at football winning but having
so many issues and potential distractions. But for Dusty May
like they pressed all the right buttons. We talked about
it earlier, all the transfers you got to hit. It's
(40:08):
like if you can sign a lot of guys in
free agency in any sport, but they all actually have
to come in and buy into what you're selling and
play their role in an organization. And and for this
Michigan squad, you see it all the tears in the eyes,
and certainly we saw it as your leader had virtual
tears in his eyes most of the game because he
(40:29):
didn't play well and he was frustrated as l But
you got the w Elliet Caddo is your mop, the
most outstanding player of the final four with nineteen points. Tonight,
DJ no longer waiting for Cadou to come through. You
want to in the National Championship. J.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Happy belated birthday to Tom Jackson to just turned seventy five.
But do you want to explain waiting for Godot people
went to high school. I didn't have to read it
for high school. I read it eventually.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
But yeah, now look now, number one about this game.
We've talked about it, You've listened throughout the night. Wasn't
a great game. That wasn't great television. There were more
turnovers in this game than there were assists. Right, Nobody
shot particularly well. Michigan wins shooting thirty eight percent from
the floor, Yukon thirty one percent. A lot of great defense,
(41:18):
a lot of miss bunnies, a lot of missed layups
in this game. But the number one thing to come
down the boy. We got some great hot takes. We
got Boy. Not a great night for Danny Hurley. But
the best and most accurate thing you can say about
this game, this Michigan team. This was a rock fight,
and Michigan showed what we talked about from the beginning.
(41:39):
In last week we talked about the tournament. Oh, by
the way, I had Michigan going all the way in
my bracket. I finished third. Congratulations Martin Weiss and Colin Cowerd,
who finished tied for first. Michigan was just the better team.
This was not a traditional Here's Yukon with first round
picks across the board, blowing every everybody out. This is
(42:01):
a Yukon team that scrapped and clawed their way. Danny
Hurley even said it at halftime, this is the only
kind of game we can beat this team. And he
knew coming in this is gonna be an uphill battle
because Michigan is just better all around. They have more
NBA talent, they're more athletic, they're deeper, they have more
guys off the bench and come in and can play
big minutes. Michigan was just the better team, and this
(42:22):
Sometimes we get National Championship games for the ages. Sometimes
we get final plays that make our jaws drop. Sometimes
we get ugly games where the best team finds a
way because they're the best team. Lindeborg wasn't one hundred
percent tonight, didn't shoot well, didn't matter. Michigan was better overall.
They were the better team top to bottom. They win
(42:42):
the National Championship. Sometimes it's just that simple. It's a
You got a herculean effort from Yukon trying to stay
as close as they did, but eventually the bottom of
the miracle sock drawer came up empty. Caravan couldn't hit
anything from three. Mullins hit one three late. But you're
talking about your three best players on you go on
a combined thirteen for fifty from the floor. Basically tonight,
(43:05):
you're not gonna win that many games. Michigan was just better.
They were the best team in college basketball. Duke and
their star power got a lot of the headlines this year,
but this Michigan team, by the time you got towards
the tournament, there's the reason why I picked them to
go all the way. They're just the best team. They're peaking.
I think people are sleeping on Michigan a little bit,
even though they were a one seed and here they
(43:25):
are winning simply because they were the best. And sometimes
it's that simple. They were the best team. Yukon overachieved
to get where they are, but they fell short. Grind
it out.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
You go through and looking at some of the data
coming into the game, and I've got my hot take.
Michigan fans aren't as happy as you think they are.
Eighty percent of the money line wagers were on Yukon
and Michigan did not back their backers. People bet them
to cover the six and a half or the seven
and a half to pay for their trip to the
(43:56):
Final four.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
What did it get them? Okay, nothin. So you should
say that Michigan gambled. I think Michigan fans are generally
Michigan gamble.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
What's that cross section though, a Michigan fans that said,
I'm gonna get the win and they're gonna pay for
my trip by beating the hell out of this Yukon.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
This scrappy Yukon's are gonna be a pretty big party
in an arbor tonight. I'm thinking, way, no one tapped
that keg. We didn't cover, and none of you. It's
just we may as well have lost in football to
Ohio State. Everybody out, we can't we can't pay for
that keg. They didn't cover the number.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
Uh, fourteen more points points in fourteen more points in
the paint, uh for Michigan. On the night we talk
about the discrepancy three pointers nine of thirty three. That's
just twenty seven percent from the three point range for Yukon,
but still seven more makes there one of the great
stats to talk about how contests. This was for the
full length of the court. That were six fast break
(44:52):
points all night. Yukon four to two in that twenty
one total turnovers. We talk about the files and the
level of physicality both teams bringing it over the course
of the game, and how contested a lot of those
three point shots were.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Michigan we watched it all along. We had the opportunity
to watch plenty of their games later start times Big
ten Network here in studio, and my Big Ten bias
comes in. You know, when you talk about just the
physicality of getting through that kind of schedule. Even when
you're a physical team and you've been able to bludgeon
(45:32):
some of these squads, you are kind of prepared for
the rock fight that may inevitably show up in these circumstances.
And full credit to Yukon, they muddied it up as
best they could. They took their files. It's gonna go
earn them from the line, and Michigan did. They were
twenty five of twenty eight from the free throw line,
missed a couple late to open the door, but overall
(45:53):
took care of business when the game got stopped and
trying to buy those extra possessions. So sometimes it's just
that simple. When you're the better, deeper, more athletic team.
You find a way in a rock fight, and that's
what Michigan did tonight. Time not to find out more
about this game and the rest of the big night
in sports, with what's trending With a guy who made
(46:14):
two less three pointers tonight than Michigan did, it's steve
to say.
Speaker 6 (46:18):
Hey, that's the national champs you're talking about, Michigan sixty
nine sixty three over Yukon. You mentioned the foul line
Michigan's points. Out of those sixty nine this evening, almost
all of them were either on free throws or in
the paint thirty six paint point tonight, most allowed in
the tournament by Yukon, and in fact, with Michigan taking
(46:39):
the crown tonight, there was a good point made by
Stuart Mandel, longtime college writer The Athletic, that no one
is enjoying the nil portal area more than the Big
Ten conference because in football, it's three straight national titles.
Now they've won men's and women's hoops the same weekend
they won the football title. This year, they have programs
(47:01):
that had never won championships like Indiana football or UCLA
women since the nineteen seventies. Michigan men had not won
the hoops National Championship since nineteen eighty nine. Elliott Caddo
Most Outstanding Player nineteen points, one turnover. The Wolverines are
the first national champ to average at least ninety points
a game in the tournament since UNLV's Great Team in
(47:23):
nineteen ninety and, by the way, the Big Ten Conference
this academic year, it's three different schools winning the national
titles Michigan UCLA this weekend, plus Indiana football as for
the All America and Michigan Jaxel Lendeborg, playing through ankle
and knee entries from three point range, was zero for five,
had thirteen points Michigan on free throws twenty five for
(47:46):
twenty eight. North Carolina's new coach will reportedly be Michael Malone,
who won an NBA title with Denver. He was Nuggets
head coach for a decade. Angel Reese was traded from
Chicago to Atlanta for two first rounders. In the wnbaba's
late game at Denver, they've gone overtime. The Nuggets lead
with three and a half minutes to go in OT
one twenty eight to one twenty five against Portland. Nikole
(48:09):
Jokich a triple double, including thirty three points. New York
got thirty from Jalen Brunson in a win at Atlanta
one oh eight one oh five. Brunson scored fourteen points
just about the last three and a half minutes at Orlando,
thirty one points for Polo Benko in a magic victory
against Detroit one twenty three, one oh seven. San Antonio
beat Philadelphia one fifteen one oh two. Cleveland won at
(48:31):
Memphis one forty two to one twenty six. While we
had all these missed three pointers in the College title
game tonight, the Grizzlies, in their loss from three point range,
were twenty nine for fifty nine. In the NHL, Buffalo
defeated Tampa Bay four to two. Mets outfielder Juan Soto
could miss two to three weeks with a strang groin.
(48:52):
On the scoreboard right now, the Angel lead is six
two in the ninth against the Braves, Chris Sale stands
to take the loss. Phillies now lead at San Francisco
five to four in the top of the seventh inning.
Washington was six runs in the bottom of the eighth
on three homers beat Saint Louis nine to six. And
the Dodgers won the World Series rematch at Toronto fourteen
(49:13):
to two. Blue Jays have lost five in a row.
The Dodgers have not only won these first four.
Speaker 1 (49:19):
Again, but if kinder Falafote was just off third base
a little bit more, it would have been fourteen to two. Yeah, yeah, probably.
Speaker 6 (49:28):
You know, there's such a long list of you know,
if just from Game seven alone, much less the entire
World Series. But the Dodgers just swept three at Washington.
Now they win the first of three at Toronto tonight.
These first four road games this season, they've scored forty
five runs. No team has done that in their first
four road games of a campaign since nineteen hundred.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve O. Coming up next,
We're just getting start with our postgame coverage the Michigan Wolverines,
your national champions and if you do, you want a great,
big hot take, why tonight was a revolutionary moment in
college basketball? That's next, Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (50:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Hello, Welcome inside, Happy National Championship Monday, The Jason Smith
Show with my bas friend Mike Harmon. Where we are
at halftime of a game. That what we like to
say on the show. If it's not a great game,
at least it's close, and that's what we have right
now with Michigan leading Yukon thirty three to twenty nine.
(00:51):
It was a very physical first half, not a lot
of offense, which has kind of been the theam of
the both men's and women's Final four past few days.
But again, it's not great basketball, but it's close, so
the second half has the possibility for it to be
good television.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
But Dusty May told me he had it all figured
out when they rolled a basketball out at the Big
House and said, hey, we can get our depth perception.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
They're zero for eight. Yeah from a three point age
a half three gold, I need to do that.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, twenty two to eight points in the paint, which
is what you expect. But the rebounding margin is all
of one, so scrappy, kind of crazy, chaotic first half.
But as long as it's close late, we all win.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Now where it sits right now, how do I think
the second half is gonna go? Now, forget for a
second that the beginning of the bracket, I picked Michigan
and win it all. I can finish third if Michigan
wins tonight. Uh, just to for just put that out
of your mind from it, just put the medal three.
That's good that I I had Michigan winning it all
coming into the brack. They might big bracket, okay, mission
will uh. I expect that this first half went about
(01:57):
as well as Yukon could have possibly helped. He even
saw Danny Hurley a lot of truth in his mid
game interview where he said, hey, look, this is the
kind of game we can win because as good as
Yukon is, Michigan talent they put out there, They're deep,
they're better, they are the better team.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
And you're talking about making its sloppy, extending shot clocks
and just slowing the game down.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And Yukon has done the best job they could to
turn this into a game where they have a shot in.
But this needed to be a game where the first
half was so slow and so muddy and so a
slog fest where it's a seven to ten point Yukon lead,
because I have to think in the second half it's
gonna be lende Borg and Mara who Michigan is going
(02:39):
to continue to go to them underneath, and they were
playing very well in the first half. They started to
kind of hit a stride a bit. I feel like
this is where you're gonna go. If you're not gonna
get a lot of offense getting it downloaded them, you
are going to see them start to take over in
the second half. And this is what's gonna push Michigan
to a win. It's been a great it's a great
run for Yukon. And look, you know the coach Danny
Hurley is and you know you see him on the
(03:00):
sideline here trying to make every single call like he has,
you know, the past few years at Yukon, But overall,
I would be really surprised if this second half was
a carbon copy of the first. I have to think
Michigan is going to understand that, Okay, this is our
way to win the game, because when Mara and Linda
Borg get the ball underneath, it looks like a mismatch
almost especially Mara. Every single time he gets the ball,
(03:21):
it's like, Wow, he just take the ball to the
hoop like he's, you know, a bigger brother playing against
little brother. You know, like I'm three feet taller than
you because I'm eighteen and you're nine, doesn't matter. I'll
kick your ass and he kicks you in the shin
ou what are you doing? But that's kind of what
it looks like, and that's how I expect second half
to go.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, I mean, we looked at coming into the game,
a couple of injuries of notes solo ball on the
Yukon side. He's played half the minutes, ten minutes, played
eight points, including two three point makes for him. Linden Moore,
who you bring up? He played all twenty minutes but
just one for five from the field. So we'll see
if he can get it going in the second half,
(03:57):
missed both this three point tries again and oh for
eight as a squad. But you're also at the point
where every starter, you got three or five starters already
with two fouls, so keep dumping the ball inside.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And we saw it. You can have a bit of
a congo line going to the free front line, but
you don't have enough guys, right, You're gonna run out
of bodies at this rate if they can slow it
down and get the dump in inside. So yeah, the
as strategical as it is, and it's fun, you know.
The thirty thousand foot view of what does it mean
if Danny Hurley wins has been a fun topic. Oh yeah,
(04:31):
because he is so polarizing.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Add to the stuff that you know, with his wife
on the CBS Morning Show and everything she had to
say about you know, how she has to take care
of things form andal. It is a fun theatrical thing.
But for the next twenty minutes of game time, you
want to talk about pulling every string possible, taking the
air out of the ball and keeping it from becoming
(04:55):
an athletic competition. I use that term specifically because that's
where they can get run out of the gym if
this starts to go a certain way.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
See, but here's where Isaagrea think I'm gonna zag on
Danny Hurley. If they win, of course, it pushes up
his legend. Three titles in four years. Is he on
the Mount Rushmore of all time college basketball greats? Where
is he? Is he just behind Wooden? Is he ahead
of Bobby Knight? Is he ahead of Coach k Like
you've already seen the discussions that are out there. It
(05:27):
for Bobby Hurley. Bobby hill is a bad coach, better player,
bad coach. Danny Hurley bad player, better coach. So you've
seen the conversation with Danny Hurley. But something even more
important has happened, even regardless as to the final result
of this game, because Danny Hurley has gone from a
guy three years ago who bursts on the scene Yukon
(05:48):
wins it all. Wow, look at the job Danny Hurley's done.
He's intense. He loves his guys. Boy, what a great
the lineage of the Hurley line, his dad being the
legendary coach and he was, you know, the playing career
that Bobby had, still coaching at Arizona State, all of this. Well,
then they win again, and it's whoa Danny here? Okay, man,
this is what we need, man, Maybe a new kind
(06:09):
of many dynasty going on. They went back to back
and they blow teams out and they win. But not
even in the last two years, but really in the
last few months, Danny Hurley has gone from hey, boy,
Danny Hurt's kind of fun too. I hate Danny Hurley,
and Danny Hurley has become the villain that college basketball
(06:30):
needs because we had the retirements and walking away of
the great rock star coaches. Right, Coach k always made headlines,
even though it was always in a very buttoned down
way that even though he wasn't very controversial, he came
to court storming, you gotta get this guy off. Jim
behon the last few years of his career when Syracuse
was relevant in the mid teens, Hey, all of a sudden,
(06:52):
he would, you know, his unfiltered way of talking was fantastic.
But you see all the rock star coaches that were there,
all the legends that you know, from Dean Smith to
Roy Williams at North Carolina, even Tom Izzo. Tom Izzowa
hasn't won in a long, long time. Man he might
have won in a long time. College basketball needs the
(07:12):
next great head coach that gives reaction and and evokes
a reaction from other teams, players, coaches, fans. And Danny
Hurley's that guy. He's in his early fifties, He's got
another fifteen or twenty years to coach with the with
the energy that he has. College basketball needs a villain,
(07:34):
you need you need the big time coaches because the
players just don't have the types of personalities that they
used to, right You guys that leave and go to
the go to the NBA early. Now maybe some will
stay a little bit more for nil, but overall, yeah,
the great coaches were the ones that sparked all the conversation,
especially when he got to March. And now here's Danny
Hurley who has said, yeah, I want the spotlight. This
(07:54):
is not I have the spotlight because my team is good.
It's no, I'm desiring this spotlight. And he's become that
lynchpin and the guy that will help usher college basketball
into the next phase of Hey, whether he wins to Night.
If he wins to Night, of course it makes it bigger.
But even if he doesn't, it doesn't matter. Because Danny
Hurley has become that every year villain that we love
(08:15):
watching love ruty against love, watching him argue. I don't
know anybody that likes him anymore. Everybody told Danny or
just has to shut up. Every single time he's complaining
to a roof, he's complaining about a call they show
him on TV. He's yelling all the time. Not that
anybody is wrong about this, but like that's that's the
general perception of Hurley that's taken over over the course
of the past few months in the year, and that's
(08:35):
invaluable to college basketball.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
I mean, we've talked about it the last couple of years,
the rise and fall of a lot of these guys,
and even those that were super villains. Guess what, The
rules of the game change. So there's no longer the
what's behind door number two that's making them so successful.
We can't even have that speculation and hate anymore. It's like, no,
they they Now we just pay guys and here we go.
Right Calaberry sits as part of a dais. Everybody just
(08:59):
kind of goes whatever. He was fun Patino, he's the
lovable guy at Saint John's. Now he's no longer he was.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
He wins the white suit. Look at Patino. He's fun.
He's gott St.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
John's batters again. But like all these other guys, remember
the other we talked about it. You you were out
out of town right the Shire, and he's getting all
the run of uh and people are starting to say, hey,
in his first couple of years, look at the stats
or whatever alongside coach k and then they lose in
the tournament. He slid into the frame on McAfee's show
like he was Chris Collinsworth on Sunday Night Football, like
(09:35):
all right, let's have that conversation now, shall we. So
like they're still around the game is oh as much
as I love them to your point, he won that
one title along.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
I mean, he's got a lot of run out of one.
And you know and and uh matteen Cleves that's a
long time ago. Yeah, no long time.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
But it's just that you need the the villains fuel
all of these games, and players really can't do it.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I mean because they don't stay. I mean, we're talking
about Michigan for this game. They're all five for transfers,
so there's no holy power of like, hey, this guy
is identified with that program. Now, if these guys finish
the job over these next nineteen plus minutes, then yes,
they become Michigan legends and everybody remembers them and everybody
loves them outside what he got Yukon and Caravan our
(10:22):
friend of the show. Yeah heiny not controversy.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
He'll like, you know, he's a legend in Yukon. We'll
talk about all time wins, whatever else. But it's not
something that permeates across the threshold, like we don't have
that guy, that hateable player. So yeah, it goes to
the coaches and Hurley. As long as you don't get
called for skull budding and official to that could have
cost you a.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Game, everything's all good. None where'd you go? Well but that,
And that's what people misunderstand about the NIL era because
they've heard a lot on the radio and TV the
last few days about how what a great era college basketball.
The good players stay more, it's more popular. Okay, the
great players still leave as early as they can. They
still need, they still take the If you're a great player,
(11:04):
I am spending the absolute minimum time I can at
Duke at North Carolina Roe. Okay, God, I am gone right,
as great as it was, as much money as Cooper Flag.
What's gonna make Uh yeah, I'm going to the NBA.
So the best players, the ones that are going to
gain our attention. Yeah, they're on a year to year thing.
It's like, okay, every year the big superstars. We then
(11:25):
have to go look for new ones in next year
the big superstars. Now, now where the nil era works
and where is that? Now? You are gonna see more
of these teams, more Michigans and Yukons and Dukes in
North Carolinas and Kansas's and UCLA's and all these are
the teams that are going to see more of over
the course of March because they have the money to
keep the good players, the ones that the average college
(11:46):
basketball fan doesn't know unless you're watching the game in March,
because you know your team, you know that you know
some of the players in your conference. But overall, what
what the nil ERA does is that it's gonna keep
the heritage teams good, which is gonna be good television,
because hey, you would like to see Michigan and Yukon
in a national championship game, whereas you want to see
San Diego State, right, do you want to see it's hard.
(12:08):
You don't want to see Butler in a national title
game anymore. Those days are kind of gone. So when
when the nil era, when you when you're trying to
break down what that's gonna mean for the for the sport. Yeah,
the good player are still gonna go, but not the superstars.
So the coach is the ones that are more important.
And we're we have been in a changing of the guard.
It's almost like it's I almost felt like the college
(12:28):
basketball is like the PGA Tour after Tiger Woods, right, like,
after all the legendary coaches left right, Coach k left
and Roy Williams left and Dean Smith all the you
saw all all the guys leave. I was like, Okay,
who are the next guys? Well, you had Patino, but
then he found his way out, Beheim didn't win near
the end. You still had some rockstar kind of guys.
But boy, you're still waiting for Hey, who's gonna be
(12:50):
that next coach? Who going to be that next couple
of teams? And like the PGA Tour is still waiting
to say, can we ever talk about somebody close enough?
How we talked about Tiger Woods? The answer is gonna
be no. But Danny Hurley in college basketball, this is
the closest thing. And you know, look, Yukon, is he
going to stay there and be alleged? You want to
think for the rest of his curer will. But at
some point, if the duke job opens, if North Carolina
(13:12):
opens again, or something else happen, It's like, Hey, I
kind of want to go there. I've scratched the itch,
I've won. How many titles I've won here at stores?
I want to go here? Want to go someplace else? Yeah,
I could see that. But that's the thing is that
it doesn't need to be likable. He just needs to
be someone that you care about. And you know, it's
like being the Yankees of college basketball works. And the
way more people seem to notice all his antics on
(13:34):
the floor now, not just once in a while, tells
you they've dialed into him. They've dialed and they care
about what happens. Whether they're rooting for or against it.
Most people are rooting against yukoncy' rooting against Danny Hurley
because he just has that way. Every time they show
him on TV. He's pissing me off. Ah, this upsets me. Oh,
this kind says me. He's the biggest in college basketball's
going for But it's like.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Anything, right, we talk about the Cinderella in the first
couple of days, was a lot of limits and folks
having their violins out. Oh we don't have Cinderella. Well,
they hate the Juggernauts too, Right, You hate it at
both spectrum as much as it's both ends of the spectrum,
as much as you don't want to admit it. Right,
as soon as the team's really good. Hate watching is
a real thing, and you'll lean into it until you don't.
(14:18):
But that's certainly where we're at with Yukon. Maybe he
wants to take a look at the NBA at some point,
maybe there's a change in how this all gets adjudicated.
Maybe he has a geno orm a crash out moment
in his future as well. But all of that, we
need storylines, right, You need a story that gives us
that thread line from the opening of March all the
(14:40):
way through. And Danny Hurley has been fantastic. I'm sure
plenty of fan fiction is being written. We had all
those NFL draft movies that we all love so much,
and we'll be watching over the next three weeks. Pete
Bell and blue Chips is a long time ago. It's
been a minute since we've had one of those.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
So Danny Hurley, congratulations the one man Yankees evil empire
that he has become. Hopefully we see some points here
in the second half. No, we are three minutes in
and Michigan leads Yukon thirty five thirty one. That's right.
In the first three minutes you have mister grand total
of two baskets.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
So is it a repeat of what we saw Friday night,
which was nothing? We're gonna die in the women's final four.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
We're gonna find out somebody went to the final four
of both men's and women's bet the under on every
game and is gonna be a billionaire. You were gonna
find out. I just kept doubling down here, betting the unders,
betting the unders, betting the undersea.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
I was waiting for you to go dot dot die,
and then you're trying to find a commonality between the
officiating hews.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Look at what you were doing there. So thirty five
thirty one, Michigan with the lead over Yukon coming up
on the sixteen minute mark of the second half of
More on this take you throughout. It obviously the biggest
story of the night, but we have other huge stories
out of college basketball and a big trade that's got
everybody talking. It's coming up next right here, Jason and
Mike Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
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Speaker 1 (16:38):
Hello, welcome in side our two, The Jason Smith Show
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(17:01):
Mike and I love putting this content out for you
every single night. Well about three minutes to go in
the National Championship game, Michigan with the basketball and a
seven point lead following a turnover, it has not been pretty.
Michigan is shooting thirty seven percent from the floor. You
can thirty seven in a row. Yukon is shooting thirty
(17:23):
two percent from the floor again with the theme of
boy boy take the under in the final four of
both men and women. So it's not been great, but
it is close. I will say this the final three minutes.
The only way Yukon makes it back is if somehow
Caravan and Mullins get hot from the outside. Right, It's
(17:45):
not gonna be suddenly a game where hey, because Michigan's
gonna get to the free throw line. Michigan's gotta sell
out to stop those points from outside the ark. And
those are the only two guys that are really taking
the threes, and no Caraban is two for eight, Mullins
is three for nine. So it's not like it's it's
been great for both of them, but these are the
guys gonna take these shots, laid Caravan being the upperclassman leader,
(18:05):
and Mullen's after his heroics, he's not shooting well. But
that's the only way back for Yukon in these last
three minutes is if they start hitting a couple of threes.
And on the flip side of this, to think about this,
you want to talk about craziness. Michigan could win the
national championship in a game in which they hit one
three point shot. Yeah, they are right now from beyond
(18:29):
the arc, one for fourteen, Cadot hitting that big three
we talked about. It was a big three game, an
eleven point lead timeout Yukon. But just in an era
in which college basketball has become about the three and
everybody hits threes, every team hits them, if you can
win a game without hitting a three, with hitting one three,
I mean that's something you'll you'll never see that again.
(18:51):
I feel pretty good saying the way college basketball is going,
you're you're not gonna see a team win with only
hitting one three pointer.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
No, mighty impressive, no question about it, hanging around making
just enough threes of their own. I mean it's an
eight to one lead and that margin. Yet you're still
talking about a six point game. But the defense ratcheting
it up for Yukon Michigan. The one thing they have
done well living at the foul line. They're twenty one
of twenty two tonight. So the one thing that they've
(19:20):
done well time and time again. Well, and I say that,
and it well, they're gonna have at least two threes
time time out on the floor board.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I'll tell you. That's that's what you call stones, my Carmen,
the vessel stone.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
You see the ball get kicked back out, it's like
you're doing uh.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yukon had cut the lead to six. Mullins hits a
three from about three feet behind the three point line
to make it a six point game. Michigan misses down
the other end, Yukon misses, Michigan gets the ball and
Cadeau hits another three that gives them the I'm sorry.
McKenny hits the three, so now two threes he and Cadeaux.
(20:04):
The ball comes out after it looks like Michigan's gonna
go down low either you know, either to marrow or Hey,
we're gonna try to work this down. But mcknny backs out.
He's played twenty eight minutes off the bench, and it's
one of those.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
No no, no, no, no no no.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Oh great shot, great shot. He hits a three, the
second three of the night for Michigan. Now it's a
nine point lead with a minute fifty left to go, but.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
You have the prior possession, a big defense and play
read with the steel. Solo Ball misses a layup that
would have cut it to four, and then they get
back out the.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
First mislayup not the last mislayup of this guy.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
But just stay a moment where it's like, Okay, the
pressure is on, and oh, we've got some frenetic pace.
Instead we've got solo ball sliding towards the end line,
getting absolutely lost, giving McKenny uh the extra second to
load up on that three point shot. Back to a
nine point game.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Hey, listen, the threes aren't going. I don't care give
me the ball. I'm taking the ball. I feel like it.
I'll take first three of the again. Now Michigan is
two for fifteen from three point range. And now it
really has to be a little bit more of a
sense of urgency from Yukon. With facing a nine point
deficit with a minute forty left to go, they got
(21:16):
to be able to try to find some way to
hit from long distance. And Michigan's defense has just been
so good on this last possession, killing all kinds of
time off the clock, and Yukon throws up a three
that doesn't go. Michigan will take the trade off because
Yukon's going to the free throw line now, but a
minute fifty, it's a nine point lead. Now down to
a minute twenty and it's still a nine point lead. Look,
(21:38):
we've said this from the beginning. Michigan is the better team.
They are deeper, they are more athletic. It's a great
run by Yukon, and somehow they can pull this out.
This is a tremendous achievement because this is not one
of the top three or four teams in college basketball
that can win the tournament. But Michigan is showing you, hey,
we're still we still have the staminant late because Mullen's
(21:59):
not getting Caravan's not getting free. They are giving you
on the ball outside the arc. And thirty seconds come
off the clock before Yukon finds a way to dent
the scoreboard. Again, that's a huge win for Michigan.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, you see the big guys extending the perimeter defense
and really causing the extra pass, keep swinging around trying
to find that sliver of space, and then eventually throwing
up a prayer. Now this one got answered because you
have the rebound under the bucket that gave them the
second chances. But I love the graphic that they threw up.
As we're talking about the Michigan three point proficiency. They
(22:33):
were zero for ten to start. Hey, they're two of
their last five. I'll have you know shooting their last
five attempts. Both free throws are are good. So back
to a seven point game, extending trying to play some defense,
get called for a little bit of a touch foul
out beyond the perimeter. So that is one thing I'm
sure we'll hear from Danny Hurley in the post in
(22:56):
terms of file discrepancies, free throw shooting, et cetera. But
we've also seen Yukon trying to make their mark from
beyond the arc. They've hoisted thirty three point shots over
the course of this game, double what Michigan has.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
I mean, that was such a huge defensive possession by
Michigan because that's where, Hey, if you want to go
down there in the first couple of seconds and see
if you can free up for a three, I get
it right, because Bone's just hit one from the parking
lot caravan. He's hit big three's the entire tournament. But
you can't spend all that time looking for the three.
This is where if it's not there, get to the hoop,
cut it. Make Michigan make free throws, press them defensively,
(23:33):
make them continue to do this right. You got to
You got to extend the game. And all you did
was just hand Michigan thirty seconds. You say, hey, take
thirty seconds. Yeah we can't, we can't get free Yeah,
you gotta make that. Okay, let's get to the basket
now like that. That to me, that's the biggest possession
of the last few minutes. Yes, you have the big
three McKinney hit, and that you can't get along with that,
But to let thirty seconds go off the clock and
(23:54):
the score stays the same, I mean that you're basically
just handing Michigan the National champions.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Oh, it's like going to the other end and then
trying to play. You play defense for twenty five and
then commit a silly foule. Right, It's it's that same
part of the equation as we draw in under a
minute now, but when we've watched them play and the
free throws of evened out a little bit as the
game's going on. But it's just the idea of getting
(24:18):
dominated in the points in the paint, which we would
have expected. Right, check that box. They've been scrappy actually,
with eight more rebounds in Michigan. That's a If you
look at a bi just doing some box score reading,
you'd be like, what the hell happened there? But you know,
trading training and giving out those precious seconds trying to
find the perfect shot. Eventually you got to get your
(24:39):
deuce and move on.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yeah, and uh, what just happened? It looked like that
might have been lights out. Mullens gets free for a
three from the corner, but it's a bad miss. Alex
Caravan somehow gets the whistle to go to the free
throw line where I didn't see a foul. He gots
three guys falling away. He just he jumped in the
air and NFL down and smart play by Caravan right
(25:02):
drew the foul. But that was not a foul by
Yuka on Michigan. That was basically, we're gonna help Yukon
here stay in the game because I don't know how
you blow the whistle on that. That was. That was.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
It seemed to be a whole lot of contact unless
someone was giving them some kidney punches or something that
we couldn't see. But yeah, it's been uh it's been
a scrappy game. I mean, I give you got all
the credit in the world. Right, you talk about taking
on the personality and energy of your coach, I mean
they're gonna give you forty minutes a hell, there's no
question about that.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Uh So time out on the floor. It was a
held ball possession. McKinney gets in trouble in the back court,
slips and falls, possession, arrow goes to Michigan, so they
will have the ball again with a seven point lead,
forty eight seconds left to go, trying to hold onto
this national championship. And just for a second, on the
(25:54):
physical play tonight, right, if we've seen the physical play,
take it, take it outside of this and take a
bigger macro look at it. You know that there's been
a lot of free throws, but I have it's weird
because I've also felt like the refs have let them play.
I agree, you'd like usually when you see this parade
to the free throw line and go, oh man, the
Red are just blown it. No, I feel like they've
let both teams be physical, and they've blown the whistle
(26:17):
when they've had to, and and you know, both teams
get into the free throw line. So it's a like
I've never really that's that's not a real common thing.
But I feel like, yeah, you've seen a lot of
free throws, and Michigan has made their bones of the
free throw line, right, But I feel like they have
really let both sides play in this and which is great, right,
and you know you want to see a little more offense,
you know, in this I can't believe it's sixty seven
(26:37):
sixty you know, it feels like you know, it feels
like it's like forty to thirty seven. But I mean,
it's a it's a weird phenomenon. But that's kind of
how I feel how this game has gone. Where you know,
the officiator you can say, well, boy, it's been a fit.
You know, what do you want to say about this
in Michigan to the free throw line, Nah, they've kind
of let both teams play. It's it's you got a
total of forty free throws over the course of the game.
(27:00):
Very just one of the worst. Clinically, I don't even
know how to describe this turnover that Yukon just created
on this inbound play. Forty five point seven after that
in after the held ball, that's what you come out
with after a quick timeout. Michigan, it looked like they
had they put the ball in from the side and
(27:23):
it's like an alley oop to Lendeborg about ten feet in.
Remember this is there under their own basket. A guy
who's got one leg. He's like yeah. It looked like
the plan was for him to leap up, grab it
and and flip it to another teammate really fast, except
he wound up flipping it out of bounds because it
was a contested play. So there's two possessions by Michigan
(27:43):
where they couldn't get the ball inbounds and get the
ball up across half court. One turn into a held
ball that goes back to Yukon. There was back to them,
but now Yukon's got the helld ball possession Arrow, and
now this was a turnover that Yukon's able to keep
the ball and they bank in a three with thirty
seven seconds left to go, ball banks in a three
(28:04):
and absolute prayer. I don't know, man, if you're a Yukon,
I think the bottom of your miracle sock drawer is
coming up empty at some point. This is an off balance,
bad shot and it banks in to make it a
sixty seven to sixty two game with thirty seven seconds
left to go, Michigan will be inbounding in possession. Harrow
stays with Yukon.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Danny Hurley laughing his ass off as solo ball came
to the bench like, I don't know, it's living right.
I guess as you go through now he could have
gone back and looked at the video of the held ball.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
You know, did he get slapped a couple of times?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yeah? To your point, and they've let stuff go, which
is why that caravan going to the foul line call
a bit earlier just seems so odd and out of place.
But here just simple inbound plays have gone awry from Michigan,
and some of it we questioned, as we did on
Friday night with the Yukon women's squad, of suddenly you're
(29:02):
getting tested because you've been beating everybody up and down
the court, right and Michigan has been absolutely bludgeting everybody.
So all of a sudden, you're in a tight game
where these possessions are, you know, going old clinical kind
of style of things you would work out in a
practice session. You haven't seen a lot of game experience
this year for Michigan where you suddenly needed to be
(29:25):
pinpoint position in the final minute.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's been. It's been a really,
really difficult last few minutes for Michigan to navigate. And
Dusty May is calling time out and they're looking at
and they're looking at ways for them to get the
ball in bounds, and still they struggle with doing it.
They are looking right now at the basket that was
just made by solo ball. It's a sixty seven to
(29:49):
sixty two game. However, it looks like his three that
went up that banked in it was behind the line.
Both his feet were behind the line. That's going to
add another point to this game. It's gonna make a
sixty seven to sixty three game now with thirty seconds
left to go again Michigan with a four point lead,
(30:10):
and the basketball, I mean, I want to see the
other side of whatever deal with the devil. Yukon made
like I really got a seque, like is Hurley giving up?
Is Hurley giving up his immortal soul? Or is the
other things happening? Because I mean I don't know, man,
Like this is for that shot against Duke and now
this now this shot that that was just made by ball, Like,
what is Danny Hurley giving up? What is he giving up?
(30:31):
He went down to the crossroads. Yeah, he called Bobby, Hey, Bobby, Yeah,
I gave him yours too. You can't do that now,
I do what I want. I'm Danny Hurley.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
I gave him your Soul's Is that how Bobby lost
his job?
Speaker 1 (30:42):
As? How can I be first? You know kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
But yeah, just an absolutely insane sequence of events there
over the last twenty five seconds of game clock, and
to see.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
This game coming down to some makes and some misses.
Gale goes in for the He's seventy six percent from
the line this year, and he gets fouled. Twenty nine
seconds left to go, and he has his first free throw,
looks like it's more than halfway down the cylinder and
it bounces out. So he missed the first free throw,
(31:24):
and he misses the second free throw. Yukon has the
ball again, down by four with less than thirty seconds
left to go, and really is Yukon is not using offensively.
They needed to get to the hoop. They need to
get to the hoop more. They're using up too much clock.
Twenty nine seconds left, they have the ball, they didn't
(31:47):
get a shot until Mullens three with about sixteen seconds
left to go, and Michigan gets the rebound, and now
they're at the free throw line potentially with a chance
to put it away. Not that that Mullens didn't get
a good look, but you're taking too much time off
the clock to try to look for these threes. We're
getting to the hoop. Michigan's gonna let you get to
the hoop. They're not going to put you on the
(32:09):
free throw line for a three point play. Yukhn't has
really failed offensively in these last two minutes. With the
time they have lied, there should be at least another
thirty to forty seconds on the clock. This should be
a four point game with about forty or forty five
seconds left. Instead it's a four point game with thirteen
seconds left to Yeah, it's amazing some of these how
(32:29):
tightly contested each of these possessions have been and looking
for that perfect shot. In this case, you got a
four point game. Get to the rat, get you to
play defense. You've got Michigan rattled, So make them make
the play. You just missed two free throws. They've been
perfect at the line all day long, going back to
(32:50):
the solo ball three point. Make you know when they
went for the look at it, it's like, are they
gonna Can they add the foul because I mean McKenny
was up on his hip and hand checking it in
a highway as I am waiting for the and one
to come out of there. But here we have a
foul call and they're questioning whether it should have been
a held ball or at even a higher level, throwing
(33:12):
the elbow to try to clear space, whether McKenny should
be wrung up for a flagrant Like there's a lot.
So they've gone back to the monitor. You watch the
Yukon bench explode as this play was being adjudicated, so
we'll see what they come back with from the monitor,
but just absolute chaos in the final minute, plus both
(33:33):
sides playing some sloppy basketball and decision making has been
at a premium. Yeah. And the other part of it
is this with the officiating, is that this is a
play where Yukon misses. You know they're gonna foul right away, right,
you know they're gonna foul right away because there's thirteen
seconds left and McKenny comes down with the ball and
Smith and another player just bang into him and there's
(33:56):
no foul call and I'm like, wow, there's letting him
play and I get it, but you know you're looking
for a foul. Yukon's gonna foul right away, and instead
they let it bounty. You know, Smith bounces off of him.
Yukon is appealing the play. They're appealing it to make
it an offensive foul on Michigan, so they're looking at
it right now, but it's still a sixty seven sixty
three lead for Michigan over Yukon. The appeal does not
(34:20):
go through for Yukon, so the call stands. Trey McKenny
at the free throw line eighty nine percent on the season.
Thirteen seconds left, he made the first one, so make
it a sixty eight sixty three game. But wow, man,
that would have been some kind of reversal of fortune. Again.
Sixty eight sixty three, Yukon is without a timeout, so
(34:41):
they're gonna have to get up the court get now.
They have no choice but to get threes because time
is too short for them. And I guarantee you one
of the big storylines McKenny makes the second one sixty
nine sixty three with thirteen seconds left. One of the
big storylines is going to be the last two minutes,
letting so much time come off the clock before Yukon
tried to get to the hoop, and that's gonna be
the big story of how they wound up losing the
(35:02):
national championship. Because talk the clock is ticking down, that's
gonna be it. Michigan are your national champions. Sixty nine
sixty three is the final. A frenetic final few seconds.
Yukon goes in for a layup that misses, Michigan gets
the rebound, they throw it down court. Chrysler Center is
in absolute bedlam right now in ann Arbor and Dusty
(35:25):
May and the Michigan Wolverines have the Big Tens first
national championship in college basketball since two thousand. They win
it over Yukon. Hail to the victors. Michigan wins it
by six.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
Now Dusty made as he go to the podium, yelling,
I'm the son of a pub them. We went through
some hard times these twenty five years in the Big Ten.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Are you the American dream, Dusty May? Are you the
Michigan dream? Dusty May?
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Well?
Speaker 3 (35:50):
No, he used to wear an outfit with like the
big patches and circles that was mazing blues. So I
mean it works, but yeah, just incredible. And and look,
going back to remember the Duke game. What did we
talk about the video of Shire showing his team how
do we do this? And it was the Bulls against
the Sun's final seconds. Trey Jones, former Dukie, he goes ah,
(36:16):
he throws it up, clock expires like Duke Education. What
did they not do in their final seconds against Yukon. No,
Duke Education, Yukon gets the w not this time, No, no, no,
no no. You had a Michigan man decide, Hey, I'm
just winging it back the other way almost if he's
gonna get called for icing. Another great Michigan sport is hockey,
(36:36):
of course, but winging it back, bring it back, no
nothing left.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
It is hell. Hell to Michigan, the champions of the
West and the NCAA Tournament. We're just getting started now
as we break down the national championship game in college basketball.
We'll have Danny Hurley. You'll hear from him when he
finishes talking whatever he has to say about the game Tonight,
Dusty Man and Michigan are your champs. Keep it here, Jason,
Mike Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio Appwood One.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
He throws at the half court, and since nineteen eighty
nine there's been a blank space in the Michigan Trumphy case.
Well write their name, Michigan to twenty twenty six men's
basketball national champions They knock off Yukon sixty nine to
sixty three to win the school's second men's basketball championship.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Throw back and call back to Rameal Robinson and those
free throws at the end. I got that of the
national championship game in nineteen eighty nine against Seaton Hall.
Just a short thirty six years later, Michigan are champions
once again. You know who else is a champion? Someone
in the crown.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
Because Caravan threw the ball into the crowd at the end,
somebody is walking around and I'm sure a staffer is
clambering into this.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Caravan should carry that off the court with him. It's
still the National championship ball. But that's still a you
know what Dave Portnoyd would would spend spend on that
ball a couple He evidently lost his wallet earlier. Yeah,
I was kind of a big gaye. I still think
he has money, but fine, I mean maybe he's short
whatever cash. I don't know. So Michigan wins the national title.
(38:28):
Dusty May being interviewed right now, his sixty fourth win overall,
is Michigan's head coach. And just to think about the
run that Michigan's on right now. Okay, we've had teams
win the national title in football and basketball before, but
you gotta go back to the mid two thousands to
find teams that have done it as close together as
(38:50):
Michigan's done it here, winning the national title in football
a couple of years ago, winning the national title in basketball. Now,
back when Florida and Tim Tebow won the national title
back to back, they won the title, you go back
to back in basketball two thousand and six, two thousand
and seven, two thousand and eight, was a great few
years there in Gamesville. Hey joke inga for everybody. Man,
(39:10):
Come on now, but now because I've already gotten a text,
like the first text I got from because now Pam's family,
my wife's family is just inundating me because you know
they're all Michigan obviously, you know me.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Did they contribute to the scholarship fund in nil the
first because they can't claim it otherwise.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
The first text I got was we're on to Thursday
because Michigan and the Frozen four on Thursday against Denver.
He win the national championship in hockey too, So it's like, yeah, yeah,
that's great, we won. We're on to Thursday. Now we're
all business here at Michigan. We're on to Thursday, ready
to go. What's next?
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Well, we got the the icing call in at the end, right,
he saves it ahead of icing and turns back up
to play.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
But yeah, just an insane run. You think about the
level of effectiveness despite the chaos going on in the
athletic department when you look at football winning but having
so many issues and potential distractions. But for Dusty May
like they pressed all the right buttons. We talked about
it earlier, all the transfers you got to hit. It's
(40:08):
like if you can sign a lot of guys in
free agency in any sport, but they all actually have
to come in and buy into what you're selling and
play their role in an organization. And and for this
Michigan squad, you see it all the tears in the eyes,
and certainly we saw it as your leader had virtual
tears in his eyes most of the game because he
(40:29):
didn't play well and he was frustrated as l But
you got the w Elliet Caddo is your mop, the
most outstanding player of the final four with nineteen points. Tonight,
DJ no longer waiting for Cadou to come through. You
want to in the National Championship. J.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Happy belated birthday to Tom Jackson to just turned seventy five.
But do you want to explain waiting for Godot people
went to high school. I didn't have to read it
for high school. I read it eventually.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
But yeah, now look now, number one about this game.
We've talked about it, You've listened throughout the night. Wasn't
a great game. That wasn't great television. There were more
turnovers in this game than there were assists. Right, Nobody
shot particularly well. Michigan wins shooting thirty eight percent from
the floor, Yukon thirty one percent. A lot of great defense,
(41:18):
a lot of miss bunnies, a lot of missed layups
in this game. But the number one thing to come
down the boy. We got some great hot takes. We
got Boy. Not a great night for Danny Hurley. But
the best and most accurate thing you can say about
this game, this Michigan team. This was a rock fight,
and Michigan showed what we talked about from the beginning.
(41:39):
In last week we talked about the tournament. Oh, by
the way, I had Michigan going all the way in
my bracket. I finished third. Congratulations Martin Weiss and Colin Cowerd,
who finished tied for first. Michigan was just the better team.
This was not a traditional Here's Yukon with first round
picks across the board, blowing every everybody out. This is
(42:01):
a Yukon team that scrapped and clawed their way. Danny
Hurley even said it at halftime, this is the only
kind of game we can beat this team. And he
knew coming in this is gonna be an uphill battle
because Michigan is just better all around. They have more
NBA talent, they're more athletic, they're deeper, they have more
guys off the bench and come in and can play
big minutes. Michigan was just the better team, and this
(42:22):
Sometimes we get National Championship games for the ages. Sometimes
we get final plays that make our jaws drop. Sometimes
we get ugly games where the best team finds a
way because they're the best team. Lindeborg wasn't one hundred
percent tonight, didn't shoot well, didn't matter. Michigan was better overall.
They were the better team top to bottom. They win
(42:42):
the National Championship. Sometimes it's just that simple. It's a
You got a herculean effort from Yukon trying to stay
as close as they did, but eventually the bottom of
the miracle sock drawer came up empty. Caravan couldn't hit
anything from three. Mullins hit one three late. But you're
talking about your three best players on you go on
a combined thirteen for fifty from the floor. Basically tonight,
(43:05):
you're not gonna win that many games. Michigan was just better.
They were the best team in college basketball. Duke and
their star power got a lot of the headlines this year,
but this Michigan team, by the time you got towards
the tournament, there's the reason why I picked them to
go all the way. They're just the best team. They're peaking.
I think people are sleeping on Michigan a little bit,
even though they were a one seed and here they
(43:25):
are winning simply because they were the best. And sometimes
it's that simple. They were the best team. Yukon overachieved
to get where they are, but they fell short. Grind
it out.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
You go through and looking at some of the data
coming into the game, and I've got my hot take.
Michigan fans aren't as happy as you think they are.
Eighty percent of the money line wagers were on Yukon
and Michigan did not back their backers. People bet them
to cover the six and a half or the seven
and a half to pay for their trip to the
(43:56):
Final four.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
What did it get them? Okay, nothin. So you should
say that Michigan gambled. I think Michigan fans are generally
Michigan gamble.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
What's that cross section though, a Michigan fans that said,
I'm gonna get the win and they're gonna pay for
my trip by beating the hell out of this Yukon.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
This scrappy Yukon's are gonna be a pretty big party
in an arbor tonight. I'm thinking, way, no one tapped
that keg. We didn't cover, and none of you. It's
just we may as well have lost in football to
Ohio State. Everybody out, we can't we can't pay for
that keg. They didn't cover the number.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
Uh, fourteen more points points in fourteen more points in
the paint, uh for Michigan. On the night we talk
about the discrepancy three pointers nine of thirty three. That's
just twenty seven percent from the three point range for Yukon,
but still seven more makes there one of the great
stats to talk about how contests. This was for the
full length of the court. That were six fast break
(44:52):
points all night. Yukon four to two in that twenty
one total turnovers. We talk about the files and the
level of physicality both teams bringing it over the course
of the game, and how contested a lot of those
three point shots were.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Michigan we watched it all along. We had the opportunity
to watch plenty of their games later start times Big
ten Network here in studio, and my Big Ten bias
comes in. You know, when you talk about just the
physicality of getting through that kind of schedule. Even when
you're a physical team and you've been able to bludgeon
(45:32):
some of these squads, you are kind of prepared for
the rock fight that may inevitably show up in these circumstances.
And full credit to Yukon, they muddied it up as
best they could. They took their files. It's gonna go
earn them from the line, and Michigan did. They were
twenty five of twenty eight from the free throw line,
missed a couple late to open the door, but overall
(45:53):
took care of business when the game got stopped and
trying to buy those extra possessions. So sometimes it's just
that simple. When you're the better, deeper, more athletic team.
You find a way in a rock fight, and that's
what Michigan did tonight. Time not to find out more
about this game and the rest of the big night
in sports, with what's trending With a guy who made
(46:14):
two less three pointers tonight than Michigan did, it's steve
to say.
Speaker 6 (46:18):
Hey, that's the national champs you're talking about, Michigan sixty
nine sixty three over Yukon. You mentioned the foul line
Michigan's points. Out of those sixty nine this evening, almost
all of them were either on free throws or in
the paint thirty six paint point tonight, most allowed in
the tournament by Yukon, and in fact, with Michigan taking
(46:39):
the crown tonight, there was a good point made by
Stuart Mandel, longtime college writer The Athletic, that no one
is enjoying the nil portal area more than the Big
Ten conference because in football, it's three straight national titles.
Now they've won men's and women's hoops the same weekend
they won the football title. This year, they have programs
(47:01):
that had never won championships like Indiana football or UCLA
women since the nineteen seventies. Michigan men had not won
the hoops National Championship since nineteen eighty nine. Elliott Caddo
Most Outstanding Player nineteen points, one turnover. The Wolverines are
the first national champ to average at least ninety points
a game in the tournament since UNLV's Great Team in
(47:23):
nineteen ninety and, by the way, the Big Ten Conference
this academic year, it's three different schools winning the national
titles Michigan UCLA this weekend, plus Indiana football as for
the All America and Michigan Jaxel Lendeborg, playing through ankle
and knee entries from three point range, was zero for five,
had thirteen points Michigan on free throws twenty five for
(47:46):
twenty eight. North Carolina's new coach will reportedly be Michael Malone,
who won an NBA title with Denver. He was Nuggets
head coach for a decade. Angel Reese was traded from
Chicago to Atlanta for two first rounders. In the wnbaba's
late game at Denver, they've gone overtime. The Nuggets lead
with three and a half minutes to go in OT
one twenty eight to one twenty five against Portland. Nikole
(48:09):
Jokich a triple double, including thirty three points. New York
got thirty from Jalen Brunson in a win at Atlanta
one oh eight one oh five. Brunson scored fourteen points
just about the last three and a half minutes at Orlando,
thirty one points for Polo Benko in a magic victory
against Detroit one twenty three, one oh seven. San Antonio
beat Philadelphia one fifteen one oh two. Cleveland won at
(48:31):
Memphis one forty two to one twenty six. While we
had all these missed three pointers in the College title
game tonight, the Grizzlies, in their loss from three point range,
were twenty nine for fifty nine. In the NHL, Buffalo
defeated Tampa Bay four to two. Mets outfielder Juan Soto
could miss two to three weeks with a strang groin.
(48:52):
On the scoreboard right now, the Angel lead is six
two in the ninth against the Braves, Chris Sale stands
to take the loss. Phillies now lead at San Francisco
five to four in the top of the seventh inning.
Washington was six runs in the bottom of the eighth
on three homers beat Saint Louis nine to six. And
the Dodgers won the World Series rematch at Toronto fourteen
(49:13):
to two. Blue Jays have lost five in a row.
The Dodgers have not only won these first four.
Speaker 1 (49:19):
Again, but if kinder Falafote was just off third base
a little bit more, it would have been fourteen to two. Yeah, yeah, probably.
Speaker 6 (49:28):
You know, there's such a long list of you know,
if just from Game seven alone, much less the entire
World Series. But the Dodgers just swept three at Washington.
Now they win the first of three at Toronto tonight.
These first four road games this season, they've scored forty
five runs. No team has done that in their first
four road games of a campaign since nineteen hundred.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve O. Coming up next,
We're just getting start with our postgame coverage the Michigan Wolverines,
your national champions and if you do, you want a great,
big hot take, why tonight was a revolutionary moment in
college basketball? That's next, Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (50:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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