VILLANOVA
This is probably the toughest to call, and both coaches know it. Michigan’s John Beilein is a coaches’ coach, respected across the country at every level, willing and able to adapt to his roster each season. His guys are very tough defensively, using length and grittiness to claw back into games. He doesn’t panic, either. Michigan was down as much as 10 to Loyola-Chicago in the semifinal, but Beilein and his staff just kept coaching and teaching — he’s a stickler for fundamentals — encouraging the Wolverines to trust that shots would start to fall and they’d be OK.
On the other bench, you have a bona fide, established coaching star in Wright, who already has a national title. Like many coaches, Wright and his offense have been influenced by the NBA style of no true centers, and on the cusp of his second title in three years, it’s obviously working. He’s been here before — and recently — so he knows what it takes and how hard it is to get there. He also doesn’t seem to panic (not that there was any reason for that Saturday when Villanova was raining threes).
The edge probably goes to Wright, but just barely.