INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Sorry, Tar Heels.<\/p>\n
As painful as Saturday\u2019s late game was for Arizona<\/a><\/strong> fans hoping to see their team play for its first national title since 1997, the runners-up in terms of anguish had to be North Carolina<\/a><\/strong> fans.<\/p>\n They already knew Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd <\/a><\/strong>was off the table Friday when Lloyd announced he\u2019d agreed to a new deal to stay in Tucson. But the hope heading into the game was an Arizona win that would allow North Carolina to make a run at Michigan<\/a><\/strong> coach Dusty May<\/a><\/strong> before moving on to other candidates.<\/p>\n Michigan 91, Arizona 73, probably eliminated that (admittedly slim) possibility.<\/p>\n The 49-year-old May, who took Florida Atlantic to the Final Four before heading to Ann Arbor, will now play Monday against Connecticut<\/a><\/strong> for the national title. He was a long shot anyway, because Michigan has given him everything he\u2019s needed to compete and win or lose Saturday, the Wolverines were planning to give May more money for himself, his staff and his roster.<\/p>\n But the way Michigan\u2019s win played out probably felt like an extra knife twist for the Tar Heels, who had to watch former North Carolina guard Elliot Cadeau<\/a><\/strong> look like the best player on the court for a half in a game featuring several future NBA players. Cadeau sparked the Wolverines with 13 points and 10 assists on a night when their best player picked up his second foul 89 seconds into the game and then exited with an ankle injury with 8:51 remaining.\u00a0<\/p>\n Forward Yaxel Lendeborg<\/a><\/strong> was Michigan\u2019s most complete player all season, but he was available for only five first-half minutes Saturday as the Wolverines built a 16-point halftime lead. Lendeborg\u2019s situation required everyone else to pick up the slack, and they did it beautifully. Cadeau had six assists and three steals in the first half, setting the tone on both ends of the floor. Aday Mara<\/a><\/strong>, the Wolverines\u2019 7-foot-3 center, handled the Wildcats\u2019 post powers on defense and flushed dunks on the other end. Morez Johnson Jr.<\/a><\/strong> crashed the offensive glass and provided energy.<\/p>\n Then Lendeborg returned in the second half, and Michigan poured on the punishment.\u00a0<\/p>\n The performance was a testament to the lineup May constructed primarily out of the transfer portal. Lendeborg played at UAB<\/a><\/strong> last year. Mara averaged 13.1 minutes a game at UCLA<\/a><\/strong>. Cadeau played two years in Chapel Hill before coming to Michigan. Nimari Burnett<\/a><\/strong> played at Alabama<\/a><\/strong> and Texas Tech<\/a><\/strong> before coming to Ann Arbor for the 2024-25 season. Roddy Gayle Jr.<\/a><\/strong> also came last season after playing at Ohio State<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The portal is the ultimate complicating factor for the Tar Heels. They could wait on May \u2014 who, again, seems likely to remain at Michigan \u2014 but the portal opens Tuesday and teams without coaches probably won\u2019t be participating in the free-for-all until they make hires.<\/p>\n Should North Carolina try to land Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan, the timing remains inconvenient. Donovan\u2019s Bulls season doesn\u2019t end until April 12. Having covered some of Donovan\u2019s previous job moves (to the Orlando Magic and back to Florida within days in 2007 and then Florida to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2015), Donovan tends to be deliberate when he changes jobs.<\/p>\n Should he decide he wants to return to college \u2014 and it would be fun to see Donovan escape a franchise that clearly doesn\u2019t want to win for a college program that clearly does \u2014 he won\u2019t have the luxury of being so careful. He\u2019ll need to decide quickly whether he wants to take the plunge.<\/p>\n And if he doesn\u2019t, then North Carolina will have to move on to the other college coaches on the list. The hire of Vanderbilt<\/a><\/strong> coach Mark Byington<\/a><\/strong> or Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland<\/a><\/strong> probably wouldn\u2019t spark a celebration in Chapel Hill given the bigger names bandied about since the firing of Hubert Davis<\/a><\/strong>, but either Byington or McCasland could win at North Carolina.<\/p>\n