Macon MFA Agri Services

04/06 22:51 CDT Michigan built a roster full of transfers who carried the Wolverines to a national title Michigan built a roster full of transfers who carried the Wolverines to a national title By AARON BEARD AP Basketball Writer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) --- Michigan's Roddy Gayle Jr. snagged a final rebound, then flung the ball to the other end of the court, trying to kill UConn's frantic final chances for a miracle. The horn sounded, and Morez Johnson Jr. came over to share a celebratory scream and hearty hug --- from one transfer to another --- as the Wolverines began running toward midcourt to celebrate a national championship. Maybe a school really can build an ideal college basketball roster amid the topsy-turvy chaos of the transfer portal, paying players and top-to-bottom overhauls. Michigan proved it Monday night, rolling out an all-transfer starting lineup that was too big, too strong and too capable of countering anything that UConn could muster --- even on a night when the 3-point shot wasn't falling and All-American Yaxel Lendeborg was hobbled by ankle and knee injuries. The Wolverines still had enough to hold off the Huskies 69-63 and claim the program's first title in 37 years. And they showed just how resilient of a roster second-year coach Dusty May brought together by diving all the way into the portal. It didn't matter that the Wolverines shot just 38% while making 2 of 15 3-pointers. It didn't matter that they were outrebounded. Nor that Lendeborg carried an awkward gait as he grinded his way through a 4-for-13 shooting effort in 36 minutes after twisting his left ankle and spraining a knee ligament in Saturday's win over Arizona in the Final Four. Not the way these guys complemented each other on the sport's biggest stage. Point guard Elliot Cadeau, in his first season after two up-and-down years at North Carolina, had 19 points and was named the Final Four's most outstanding player. Johnson, in his first year from Illinois, had 12 points and 10 rebounds. The 7-foot-3 Aday Mara, in his first year from UCLA, helped hold UConn big man Tarris Reed Jr. --- who had been a March Madness force --- to just 4-of-12 shooting. "Nobody cared about stats the whole season. Nobody cared about nothing but winning," Cadeau said from the trophy presentation stage amid a confetti-strewn court. Four of Michigan's five starters were in their first year after transferring: Cadeau, Johnson, Mara and Lendeborg (UAB). The fifth starter, Nimari Burnett, was practically a Michigan lifer by comparison; he was in his third season with the Wolverines, after starting his career at Texas Tech then spending two years at Alabama. A similar story followed Gayle, a reserve who had spent two years at rival Ohio State before these last two years in Ann Arbor. That left only two players in Michigan's eight-man rotation who would qualify as "homegrown" talent: freshman Trey McKinney and fifth-year graduate Will Tschetter. It's an approach that tailored to the current era of the sport, with players transferring freely between campuses and cleared to profit from the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL), along with schools able to pay athletes directly with the arrival of revenue sharing. And it worked to perfection. ___ AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

	Copyright DTN. All rights reserved. Disclaimer.