There's an M and a V, who's gonna add the P? (Who's making all that bRACKET? - Champions
Michigan faces Villanova for the Men's Basketball national championship tonight. The game tips at 9:20pm because who doesn't want to stay up til one AM on a Monday night? Great planning NCAA!
I gave my preview of this likely matchup in the last post so I'll give you a quick bullet summary of how each team wins tonight followed by my prediction.
Villanova wins if...
-They show up as Villanova from the last two games
-They stay hot from three point range
-Michigan repeats their poor shooting percentage from the last game
-They stay out of extreme foul trouble
Michigan wins if...
-They play their best game all year
-Villanova doesn't show up, as in plays poorly
-Villanova doesn't show up (like physically does not appear)
Now one correction I'll make from my previous post is that I said I would ride with the team coming off a worse shooting night because they don't stay cold for long and while I believe that is true and that Michigan can beat Villanova I also can't get past the ass kicking scoreline Nova put up on Kansas. Its not as though Kansas played poorly either Nova shot 55% or better from three point territory throughout the whole game! At one point in the start of the second half when Villanova was up 13 the difference was literally the 13 extra points they had from making 3's over 2's that Kansas was making. By about 7 minutes into the second half when Brunson hit a step back contested three that had no business going in you could tell the hot streak was not going to stop and Kansas had walked into a five foot burning building with a squirt-gun, it just wasn't going to be their night. While I doubt Villanova can match that kind of output in back to back games 48 hours apart its just as possible that they do match it, in which case watch out Michigan fans.
Ultimately, I think the Wildcats may start cold and then catch fire late in the first half. I don't see how Michigan wins without making 14 or more three pointers and as they shoot 36% for the season from three they would need to take roughly 40 or more attempts to hit that. Villanova shooting at 40% from three land would likely need 34 attempts to hit 14 or more since lately they can't miss, that might only be 25 shots if the hot streak continues. I just won't believe Michigan can match Nova's output until I see it and I don't believe Michigan can force Nova to play at their pace either until I see it so for all these obvious reasons I see Villanova 88, Michigan 72 as the final result. Much to the chagrin of Jalen Rose, Jalen Brunson takes home the MVP honors in a typically productive and impressive performance.