Michigan, UCLA both have colorful tourney pasts
The names UCLA and Michigan can’t help but conjure up some of the most memorable images of March.
There’s the Wizard of Westwood, John Wooden, slapping his rolled up game program in his hands. The grace of Lew Alcindor and the funky persona of Bill Walton. The blur of Tyus Edney racing up the floor for a buzzer-beating layup to beat Missouri, and eventually leading the Bruins to their 11th national championship.
On the other side, there’s Glen Rice leading the upstart Wolverines to their own national championship. The Fab Five in their baggy shorts trying to repeat the feat, only for Chris Webber to call a timeout he didn’t have. John Beilein bringing the school back to glory, only to run into a Villanova buzzsaw in the title game.
Now, the Bruins and Wolverines meet for the fifth time in the NCAA Tournament, this time for a spot in the Final Four.
Perhaps there will be some more unforgettable memories made Tuesday night.
“Obviously there’s a lot of history behind both teams,” UCLA star Jules Bernard acknowledged on a zoom call Monday, “but at the end of the day, it’s two teams on one court, and whoever plays better wins.”
So far that’s been UCLA and Michigan — one few expected to be here and one living up to expectations.
The No. 11 seed Bruins backed into the tourney with four straight losses, then trailed Michigan State big in their First Four game. But ever since coach Mick Cronin’s fiery halftime speech, the Bruins (21-9) have played with the poise and precision on offense and grit and determination on defense that would have made Wooden proud.
They shut down BYU, blew out Abilene Christian, then beat up-tempo Alabama at its own game in their second overtime victory of the tournament, one that sent UCLA to its first Elite Eight since the 2008 season.
“The buy-in has been great,” said Cronin, who like Michigan counterpart Juwan Howard is in his second year on the job.
“It’s not about me, it was about them coming together as a group, and having to come through so much adversity. They’ve stayed confident through everything they’ve been
through.”
The top-seeded Wolverines (23-4) have no reason not to be confident. They’ve faced the toughest seed they could through each of the first three rounds and dispatched all of them with brutal efficiency.
The coup de grace after pounding Texas Southern and LSU was a dazzling, dominant 76-58 win over Florida State. The Wolverines outscored the Seminoles 50-28 in the paint, needing only three 3-pointers in the entire rout, in a performance that left Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton to say: “They were almost flawless in their execution.”
Can they do that one more time to reach the tournament’s final weekend?
“We’ve all played in big games throughout our lives,” Wolverines forward Hunter Dickinson said. “Obviously the NCAA Tournament is an entirely different beast. It’s crazy how important this tournament is. It’s really win or go home, and there’s only one winner at the end of this stuff.”
Much has been made of Michigan losing Isaiah Livers to a stress fracture in his foot before the tournament, but the Bruins know how that feels. They lost Chris Smith, their top returning scorer, to a torn ACL just eight games into the season.
“Our guys band together like brothers,” Howard said. “(Livers) has been amazing on the sidelines as far as with his injury, keeping guys engaged and being another coach out there for us.
“But it’s great to see that other guys have stepped up, and it has been collectively as a group, where guys have stepped up with his absence.”