— Michigan 69, UConn 63
Michigan wins its first national title since 1989.
Big 18 wins its first national title since Michigan State, in 2000.
Wolverines were 25-28 on the foul line. UConn 12-16.
Huskies shot only 34.3% inside the arc.
Teams combined to shoot 11-48 on the arc.
— Michigan coach Dusty May was a student manager at Indiana in his college days; after that, he worked as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan, Murray State, UAB, Louisiana Tech and Florida- he paid his dues before getting the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.
— If you ever are wondering how tight a game is being officiated, watch the game with the TV muted; you’ll see contact, and you’ll wait for action to stop because they had to call that foul, right? Right?
Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. In March, officials allow more contact; players have to learn how to play through contact, which is why they work out a lot in the off-season.
— North Carolina hired former NBA coach Michael Malone as its new basketball coach; Malone was 515-363 in ten years coaching the Denver Nuggets, leading them to the 2023 NBA title. He also coached Sacramento for a couple years, and was an assistant coach for four other teams.
— PJ Haggerty is in the transfer portal again; they should name the portal after him:
2022-23- TCU
2023-24- Tulsa
2024-25- Memphis
2025-26- Kansas State
2026-27- ?????
— Famous birthdays, April 7th:
Jim Fox, 83
Tony Dorsett, 72
Jackie Chan, 72
Thurl Bailey, 65
Russell Crowe, 62
Ronde Barber, 51
Tiki Barber, 51
Adrian Beltre, 47
Eduardo Rodriguez, 33
Josh Hader, 32
— Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven turned 75 this week; he pitched in 24 games that ended 1-0, winning 15, losing nine. 15 wins in 1-0 games is the most ever by any pitcher.
— Cleveland Guardians 3B Jose Ramirez has finished in the top five of the AL MVP voting six of the eight years, but hasn’t won an MVP yet.
— Baseball season is only 11 days old, and Juan Soto/Mookie Betts are on the IL already.
— There will be 10 teams with new head coaches in the NFL this season.
— NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers are 4-19 ATS this season when giving 10+ points.
— Movie of the Day: The Rewrite (2014)- An Oscar-winning screenwriter in a slump leaves Hollywood to teach screenwriting at SUNY-Binghamton, because he needs a job; he falls for a single mom while teaching her in class.
Hugh Grant is the writer, Marisa Tomei is the mom, JK Simmons/Allison Janney are members of the Binghamton faculty. Very good movie.
— Rays 6, Cubs 4
25,114 fans saw the Rays’ first game in the Trop in two years.
Aranda, Caminero, Mullins homered for Tampa Bay
Cubs are 1-3 on the road, scoring 11 runs in four games.
— Nationals 9, Cardinals 6
Washington hit three homers, scored six runs in bottom of 8th inning.
Nationals’ last five games went over the total.
Ramon Urias was 3-for-4 with three RBI for the Redbirds.
— Brewers 8, Red Sox 6
Garrett Mitchell had game-winning single in 8th inning.
Game was tied 5-5 after seven innings.
Boston has lost eight of its last nine games.
— Rockies 9, Astros 7
Trailing 3-0, Colorado scored eight runs in the 5th inning.
Troy Johnston went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBI.
Astros allowed 32 runs in their last four games, and of them was a shutout.
— Padres 5, Pirates 0
German Marquez tossed five shutout innings, got the win.
Bottom three guys in San Diego’s lineup went 6-for-11, scored two runs.
Loss snaps the Pirates’ five-game winning streak.
— Angels 6, Braves 2
Jose Soriano is 3-0, 0.45 in his first three starts.
Neto/Adell both homered for the Angels.
Braves lost their last four games, scoring ten runs.
