Louisville vs. Michigan: Previewing the big game

Join Times college basketball writer Chris Dufresne at noon today for a live video chat as he breaks down tonight men’s basketball title game between Louisville and Michigan. The video chat will take place on this blog post.

As Dufrense wrote yesterday,

“Louisville has won 15 consecutive games en route to its third NCAA championship game. The Cardinals won titles in 1980 and 1986 under Denny Crum. Current Coach Rick Pitino is trying to become the first coach to win NCAA titles at two different schools after leading Kentucky to the 1996 crown. Michigan has come a long way since a Feb. 27 loss at Penn State, which had been 0-14 in Big Ten play before the win. The Wolverines are making their first title appearance since 1993. That was the night Chris Webber called a timeout when his team didn’t have one, helping North Carolina to the title. Michigan did win the 1989 title under Steve Fisher, who is now at San Diego State.”

KEYS TO THE GAME

“Michigan can’t turn the ball over and must maintain its poise against Louisville’s full-court press. Wichita State didn’t commit a turnover for 26 minutes but then had seven in the final seven minutes in Saturday’s loss to the Cardinals. Louisville must get more production out of its starting lineup. Two starters were held scoreless Saturday and two others combined for only 17 points. Only Russ Smith, with 21, held up his end. The Cardinals needed 34 bench points to hold off Wichita State but might not want to try that again.”

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