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NCAA championship: Michigan vs. Louisville

Louisville will count on Russ Smith's offensive production, good for 18.9 points per game, when they face Michigan in the NCAA tournament title game on Monday.
(Travis Heying / McClatchy-Tribune)
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LOUISVILLE

Starters

P; Player; Ht.; WTt; Stats

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F; Wayne Blackshear; 6-5 230; 7.6 ppg

F; Chane Behanan;6-6; 250; 9.6 ppg

C: Gorgui Dieng;6-11; 245; 9.4 rpg

G: Russ Smith;6-1; 165;18.9 ppg

G: Peyton Siva;6-0 185;9.8 ppg

Reserves

F; Luke Hancock;6-6; 200; 7.7 ppg

F: Tim Henderson;6-2;195; 0.8 ppg

MICHIGAN

Starters

P; Player; Ht.; Wt.; States

F; Glenn Robinson III;6-6;210; 10.9 ppg

G; Tim Hardaway Jr. 6-6;205; 14.6 ppg

F; Mitch McGary;6-10; 250; 6.3 rpg

G; Nik Stauskas;6-6;; 190; 11.2 ppg

G; Trey Burke;6-0; 190; 18.5 ppg

Reserves

F; Jon Horford;6-10; 250; 2.4 rpg

F; Jordan Morgan;6-8;250; 4.7 ppg

SCOUTING REPORT

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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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