Concerned that his Michigan men’s basketball team’s defensive skills were nowhere close to its offensive magic, Wolverines coach John Beilein decided a couple of years ago that he needed major help on that end of the court.
To further that transformation this season, Beilein brought in assistant Luke Yaklich, whom he views as something of a defensive coordinator while the head coach continues to oversee one of the most creative, entertaining offenses in the college game.
And never will Yaklich’s skill set be needed more than tonight, when the Maize and Blue face Villanova in the 80th NCAA title game. Tipoff at the Alamodome in San Antonio is set for 9:20, with TBS televising the game.
Or as Kansas coach Bill Self observed Saturday night, after his Jayhawks lost 95-79 to Villanova in the national semifinals: “That’s as good a team as we’ve played against that I can remember. They’d be hard for anybody to deal with if they shoot the ball like that.”
That they will be, for no team has ever shot the ball as well from afar in the Final Four as the Philly Phelines did against Kansas, hitting a record 18 3-pointers in 40 attempts. Though this was not Self’s best defensive team, it was good enough to capture its 14th straight Big 12 regular-season championship, win the conference tournament, draw a No. 1 seed for the NCAA bracket and finish with 31 victories.