Andy & Ari On3 - Michigan KNOCKS OFF UConn: Dusty May’s Wolverines secure 2026 Men’s National Championship

Episode Date: April 7, 2026

Join Andy & Ari here as the fellas react to the national championship LIVE from Indianapolis. While UConn did everything they could to keep it tight in the first half, Michigan still held on to a 4 point lead at the half. WIll UConn be able to knock off the talented Wolverines and continue its dynasty, or will Dusty May and the top ranked team from the Midwest Region be too much to handle?  Join Andy & Ari here.   Our show is also presented by BetMGM!   If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works:   1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB. 2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. 3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sure you use bonus code CFB when you sign up!   Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary.   See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. This promotional offer is not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET (Available in the US) . 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only (if applicable). Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel     Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to an instant reaction edition of Andy and Ari on three presented by BetMGM. We are here in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium where Michigan has just won the national championship with a 69, 63 win against Yukon. Ari, I doubt if you told Dusty May before this game that his team would go 2 or 15 from three that he think he won. But what do we always say in football? And it's true in basketball too. with the better large human beings wins the game. Yeah, I mean, that actually felt like a boxing match for most of it, right? Very physical.

Nothing was easy for either team inside or outside. Wasn't a great shooting day by either team. But it felt like to me, Andy, and not to borrow another football cliche, but for the entire game, did it feel like Michigan was just bigger, stronger and faster? Yes. They made everything so hard for Yukon, especially on the inside. And I mean, Ady Morrow was unbelievable.

He altered every shot that came, you know, from within 15 feet. Any shot within 15 feet when he was on the floor, he affected in some way, shape, or form. Yeah. And it just everything Yukon did was so freaking hard. Whereas Michigan was scoring in the paint more easily. I don't think anything was actually easy for anybody, but they were scoring in the paint more easily.

the Mores Johnson Jr. was incredible. And that's what I thought was interesting because, you know, Terrace Reed for Yukon has been amazing all tournament. He's the one who had to deal with Mara. They didn't have anybody who could deal with Johnson. Johnson could just bully his way inside. I mean, I felt like, you know, I was watching the Twitter discourse during the game, Andy, and a lot of people felt as if the refs were, you know,

calling a one-sided game in favor of Michigan. and I feel like they were calling a fair game in Michigan's physicality. They were just fouling because they had to. They had no other choice. So, you know, I think that this was a really tough Yukon team. And it felt like a few times during that game that Michigan was going to get, you know, out and run away with it a little bit. And the game was going to go in the way that a lot of people thought it would go before the game.

But give Yukon a lot of credit, man. They fought. And even though they had a tough time having answers in the paint, they had big shots, big moments. They had a possession at the end of the game, down four, Alice Caraband, misses a three. They were right in it. And that's a testament how tough this team is. All-time spread bag fumble by Michigan.

Absolutely, absolutely. Ben MGM had this game as Michigan minus seven and a half. So congratulations to Yukon on your cover. Apparently that was the best outcome for sports books, Andy. A Michigan win, but a Yukon cover. Congratulations to the Yukon guys and Ben-MGM. Good night for you guys. Re-up, yeah.

But, all right, this is an incredible season for Michigan. They've been good. Pretty much start to finish. They had a little hiccup there toward the end of Big Ten play, but otherwise excellent. By the way, the Michigan student section currently jamming to Mr. Brightside. So you can hear him now. Yeah, I don't know how good these mics are,

but Michigan Wolverines, National Champions, confetti has already fallen. Mason Blue throughout the entire arena. I don't know if we were just on the Michigan side, Andy. It was the Yukon side over there because it felt like Michigan was louder throughout the game. Well, Yukon had the side behind the UConn bench. Everything else was Michigan. Yeah, everything else.

And I knew that at the beginning of the game when they announced for Dan Hurley, a lot of booze and a lot of cheers for Dusty May. Speaking of Dusty May, Andy, yes. My takeaway from this game is simple. Yes. outside of Michigan winning the national championship. But evaluation is still king. Yes, agreed.

And evaluation in a different way is still king. We talked a lot about it throughout the week, but to go out and get guys that fit the scheme that he got the most out of and got better output than they were at the previous stop while all fitting together perfectly, I think is a master class on how to evaluate a roster right now. And honestly speaking, I don't know if you would do this, This would be my column after the game if I were to write one.

Is Kurt Signetti and Dusty May did it the same way. Am I wrong about that? No, that's a great call. Can't wait to read it. Yeah. I mean, I want, you know, I think that there was just like thought process that Michigan bought their roster and that they. And by the way, this is here, too. This is year, too.

But I was reading about it during the game, Andy. They were the least expensive estimated roster output of anybody in the final four. and I think they were number eight or nine in the estimations of teams in the tournament. Right. So they did spend. Right. And that's not bad. But it's not the most.

But it's not the most. But it's not the most effectively and created a team. And when you're watching that game out there, there wasn't just one star. There wasn't one player carrying it. It was a balanced team. And you got big moments from different guys in different moments. And I think that's like the key to this whole thing. We've talked a lot about Adyamara.

We've talked a lot. They got him from UCLA. He was buried at U.S. UCLA. If you look at his stat line tonight, you'd say, oh, I don't know if he had that great of a game. Eight points. How many rebounds? Four rebounds. Eight points of four. I'm telling you, if you watch that game, and those of you who watched the whole thing, you know, he affected every shot, basically. Every time Yukon dribbled down the court, every time they set up in the half court offense, they had to have a plan for where he was. Yeah. And I thought that Elliot

Cadot had an incredible game. Elliot Cadeau was awesome. So I remember seeing Elliot Cadeau in that courtyard by Marriott commercial when he was North Carolina's point guard going, why is this guy in a national commercial? Great error. Yeah. Well, he was in a national commercial because he was a big time recruit. And the assumption was he was going to be great at North Carolina.

And he just wasn't. But Dusty May saw something in him, saw what he could be. And you saw record that. Yeah. What did you say? Dusty May saw something in him. saw what he could be. And you saw it tonight. You saw tonight what that was, what that vision was. 19 points, 8 of 9 from the free throw line. And the thing is,

Elliot Kadoe wasn't just bombing away. His points were coming on drives, and his aggression set the tone for Michigan all season, his aggression on offense, and his aggressiveness on defense. So again, that is what Dusty May did well. He identified what these. people can be. Maras Johnson Jr. Another one. He's not from he's not originally

from Michigan. He's not signed by Dusty May out of high school. He's been, he's played at Illinois. Like, they just all fit together. And this will maybe be a nice segment and a podcast later in the week, Andy. The one thing that I'm very curious about

and so much about Dusty May and Kirk Signity that go hand to hand is when you evaluate really well, even if you weren't the biggest spender, how easy or hard is that to be continuously good at? How much of it is luck? How much of it is pieces falling together? And how much as it is, you are amazing. You can do that every cycle. Like, I don't know what the answer is. We're going to find out with Signetti this year. I mean, he had two years in a row, but if... Well, okay, well, let me ask you this. Was it luck when Dusty May took FAU to the final four?

No. Probably not. I'm guessing he's better than most people like this. Yes, but I still think that things have to fall into place, too. They do, but when you have the guy who's better at it than the other coaches or better at better at it than most of the other coaches, and I think you're doing it right. I mean, and there are, it's not like he's the only one doing this. You know, Todd Golden last year at Florida did it in a kind of similar way where they did spin but didn't spend the most,

had a lot of pieces that fit well together, played a lot of big men who were good at the same time. Who do you think? That seems to be the model right now. Okay, life on the line question for you. Yeah, yeah. Will a team that spent the most in a off season ever win the title in next five years? I think yes in football, no in basketball.

I think there are too many variables in basketball. Yeah. Because it's interesting because the team that spent the most was Kentucky, right? Yes. And I think their estimation was over $20 million and their experiment didn't go well. So, you know, I think that it's a little bit more than that. And the evaluation of these guys is incredible. Yeah.

And we've got to stop villainizing people for spending. Everybody is spending. It's who is spending the right way. Yeah. And when you have the guy who evaluates better, you tend to spend correctly. So congratulations to Michigan and to Dusty May. And remember, Dusty May could have been Indiana's coach, but they

they gave their coach one more year and it was one year too many and the Bob Knight former student manager was available forever jobs Ohio State when they hired DeBler when they elevated him for interim

Dusty May was the other finalist they could have had him Michigan got him and Michigan's going to keep him for a while he didn't go to North Carolina I mean maybe eventually he might want to go to the NBA if that is on the table for him down the road.

But I would bet he's going to be at Michigan for a while. Yeah. He's very likable too. So, you know, I'm excited to see what the future holds. But the cool thing about these years going by and these results coming in is that we get more context to understand how the sport works. And, you know, for a while there, you know, coaching was diminished, in my opinion a little bit. It's who could assemble the best roster.

Yeah. And who could do it that way. Now I feel like getting the right coach who evaluates properly can assemble a team and get the most out of his players, although NIO is still very important, are going to be the ones that rise above the rest of everybody else. It's even more important in basketball than football, because in football, you can still have a prohibitive advantage over some other fairly decent teams. Yeah. You can't in basketball. You really have to coach them well. It's not just putting the right athletes together. We can't get through this video either

without acknowledging that this is the first time the Big Ten has won a national championship in basketball since 2000. That is amazing. That is amazing. to me. That is amazing. That's been a streak. That's been a storyline. Yeah. Since I've been a beatwriter in basketball 12 years ago. I was in college. The last time the Big Ten won a national title in basketball, and I am old as hell. And the Big Ten has now won the national championship in football, women's basketball, and men's basketball. Yes, all the sports that all of the conferences care deeply about. You can you can say, well, we're still great at baseball and softball and gymnastics in the SEC. That's because they're regional.

sports that certain conferences care about and others don't every conference cares about football men's basketball and women's basketball and the big ten has the champion every single one of them this year yeah so i might have to buy another trifecta shirt yeah another trifecta shirt so is it going to have the the michigan logo the indiana logo and the ucela logo yep all of them have great coaches they do every single one now when you go on fine bomb with this shirt will you actually actually be in the in the frame it's gonna stand up to see the shirt the stand up okay but you know the joke flopped I don't know if I'm gonna attempt it again um but congratulations to Michigan I know it's been a long journey of two years from since you felt like this they got it two years ago

look at sour grapes Michigan started three transfers get out of here college basketball so it's not if you didn't think that season was exciting if you didn't think that tournament was exciting This game, hell, was exciting in the final two minutes. I don't know what you're watching. Dusty May now has the Michigan placard, and they're putting up the bracket. I think he's about to play some as national champions. They are playing the victors right now.

Hail to Michigan. Champions of the West. Hey, you know when they do the Star-Spangled Banner and they yell hail? Yes. I think that's pretty cool. It's it's one of the all-time great fight songs, but they, you know, when they wrote it, they were in the West. That's why they say champions of the West, but these guys are champions of the nation. Yeah.

Congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines. And all I do is when pops in, because that, that's the Big Ten theme song right now. So congratulations of the Big Ten, too. We'll break it all down for you. tomorrow 3 p.m. Eastern time Annie Narion 3 presented by Betting GM. Thank you to

BetmGM for a great season. Thank you to Culvers for bringing us here to the national title game. And welcome back to football season, ladies and gentlemen. That's right. We're back at it. That's right. I've got some clips we need to overanalyze. There's some Ohio State clips

the Michigan fans who love us right now. And I do know that our expertise is not basketball, but we appreciate you guys being here with us as we've gone through this we're going to have basketball as part of our coverage in the off season i believe andy a lot moving forward it was really fun to be here very fun to cover it and i think we've got some work to go do now so um the michigan fans are like we're on to the frozen four yeah let's go frozen four next well good luck to you guys on the ice but congratulations on the hardwood this is a fun one this team was so much fun to watch and

deserving national champion. Go celebrate everybody. We'll talk to you tomorrow.