The No. 1 seed Michigan Wolverines are national champions for the first time in 37 years, defeating No. 2 UConn 69-63 on Monday, April 6, to win the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship. The win added a second men’s basketball title to Michigan’s program history.
Guard Eliot Cadeau was recognized as the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, scoring 19 points while grabbing three rebounds and two assists to lead the Wolverines in the championship game. In addition, the 2026 Big Ten Player of the Year, Yaxel Lendeborg, scored 13 points while playing with a sprained left MCL and a rolled ankle from Michigan’s semifinal win over Arizona.
The Wolverines’ March Madness run was one of the most dominant in history, finishing with a +114 scoring margin, the seventh-highest for a national champion, and becoming the first team to ever score 90 or more points in five consecutive NCAA tournament games. This was largely due to the work of Michigan Head Coach Dusty May and his remarkable two-year tenure, taking the program from the bottom of the Big Ten to the top of college basketball.
The tournament’s first major upset came during the first round, where the 12th-seeded High Point came back from a 10-point deficit to beat the fifth-seeded Wisconsin for their first-ever March Madness win. Later in the day, No. 11 seeds VCU and Texas, and No. 10 seed Texas A&M all staged upsets to move on to the second round.
The madness continued in the Round of 32, where No. 5 St. Johns shocked No. 4 Kansas on a game-winning layup at the buzzer by guard Dylan Darling. Furthermore, No. 9 seed Iowa defeated Florida, the defending national champions, on a 3-pointer that put them ahead with 4.5 seconds remaining.
UConn’s path to the Final Four included a stunning Elite Eight comeback over top-seeded Duke, where freshman Braylon Mullins sank a desperation 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left for a 73-72 win. Meanwhile, Michigan beat Tennessee 95-62 in the Elite Eight before dominating Arizona in the national semifinals to set up a championship matchup with UConn.
The UConn Huskies, coming in at 6-0 all-time in the NCAA championship game, saw that streak come to an end against the Wolverines. With their win, the Wolverines became the first Big Ten program to win the championship title in 26 years.
