INDIANAPOLIS — For the third time in his decorated college career, Alex Karaban and UConn are in the Final Four. As tipoff for the 2026 national championship game approaches, Karaban knows only one way to leave the court on Monday night when the Huskies play Michigan in the main event of the NCAA Tournament.
Karaban moved into a tie on Saturday night with former Duke point guard Bobby Hurley — older brother of UConn coach Danny Hurley — for the second-most NCAA Tournament wins all-time by a player. One more, and Karaban leaves UConn as a three-time national champ.
Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (nee Lew Alcindor) and Bill Walton, the anchors of UCLA’s dynasty more than a half-century ago, currently belong to the three-timers club.
“You dream of being on this stage one time,” Karaban said on Sunday afternoon in the airplane hangar-sized media room adjacent to the temporary playing court at Lucas Oil Stadium. “To be heading into it for a third time, it’s a blessing. It’s the reason why I came back. It’s the reason why I’ve had extremely hard decisions to make throughout my career. I’ve always wanted to come back to win, to win championships, and to leave a legacy that’s unmatched in college basketball.”
Karaban started for back-to-back national champs in 2023 and 2024 and UConn is 18-2 in the NCAA Tournament since he joined the program in 2021 (the first loss came in 2021-22 when Karaban was a redshirting freshman).
Only Duke’s Christian Laettner (21) has more NCAA Tournament victories than Karaban. Only Abdul-Jabbar (1967-69) and Walton (1972-74) have three championship rings as players.
But UConn was a heavy favorite when they defeated San Diego State and Purdue, respectively, to win the 2023 and 2024 title games.
On Monday, the Huskies (34-5) are considered heavy underdogs to Big Ten champ Michigan (36-3).
The Wolverines’ title game history isn’t nearly as pristine as UConn, which improved to 13-1 in the Final Four.
But the final mission in Michigan’s bid for a second national title (1989) comes after the Wolverines buried each of their first five tournament opponents by double digits. They led two-loss Arizona by 30 late Saturday night, destroyed Tennessee in the Midwest Region final and survived with All-American Yaxel Lendeborg fighting foul trouble and a sprained ankle in their Final Four opener.
“When you get down to winner-take-all at this point, it’s just something that doesn’t even probably register,” Danny Hurley said of the underdog label, a suggestion his team powerfully refuted after beating Illinois for a second time this season on Saturday.
“… These are all one game … Game 7 … single-game elimination. There’s been plenty of times in the history of this tournament where the best team hasn’t won it. You’ve just got to be better for one night. And obviously for us, we need to play the game a certain type of way where we obviously can’t get into a certain type of game with Michigan. They’re an incredibly dominant team, incredibly well-coached, talent up and down the roster, physically imposing, all those things.
“The good thing for us, it’s not a seven-game series. Just got to play one game on Monday night.”
Even if he’s hobbled by his painful left ankle and knee as was the case in the second half Saturday, Lendeborg said he would be ready to roll in the championship game — though Michigan coach Dusty May has assigned some part of the final decision to the Wolverines’ medical staff.
“They’ll tell me if he can go, and if he can — we were laughing. He played the second half like a 38-year-old at the YMCA — and a really good 38-year-old at the YMCA,” May said.
UConn might run at less than full strength. Silas Demary Jr. is playing on a sprained ankle and Solo Ball met the media with a boot on his left foot due to an injury early in Saturday’s game. He was scheduled for an MRI on Sunday and considered a game-time decision.
Ball had an open-court finish late Saturday and hit two jumpers that would’ve been after his “early” foot injury, bringing him confidence he can be on the floor Monday.
“Just being in the national championship game, just got to prepare the exact same way we’ve prepared all season,” said Ball, adding the decision is in the hands of UConn’s trainers. “So bump in the road. But, I mean, still going to play.”
Michigan’s depth, lineup versatility and chameleon style of play all have been on display during the tournament. Saturday’s win over the Wildcats showcased defensive dominance and elite shooting, especially in the second half, plus a career night from 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara. UConn made multiple attempts to frame the “favorite” and “dominant” tags being slapped on Michigan as a significant shift in pressure. As in, only the Wolverines are expected to win on Monday and therefore have everything to lose.
“I think it’s a great problem to have,” a smirking May said on Sunday. “We’ve talked about that. We have a team that we think is elite. But we also know that doesn’t, once the ball is tipped, means nothing. You still have to do all the things that got you to this point, and you have to weather storms. You have to handle success. So we’re very, very grateful that we feel like we have a roster that can match up with any team in the country. These aren’t best-of-seven series. These are one-game seasons, and you win or go home. We’ve made it this far, and I’d hate to drop the last one.”
Lendeborg’s offense was more stationary as a spot-up perimeter shooter in the second half against Arizona. May, a former ballboy and manager at Indiana during Bob Knight’s prime, unsurprisingly was concerned more about whether Lendeborg’s defense might be a sore spot facing UConn’s constant motion, down-screens and off-ball action that get open looks for freshman Braylon Mullins — an Indiana native heavily recruited by May — Demary and even Karaban.
“It’s going to take an extremely disciplined and focused approach every single possession,” May said, comparing UConn’s philosophy of moving their bodies and the ball for 25 seconds before taking shots to what the Wolverines saw from Iowa in the Big Ten.
In Michigan’s lone game against Iowa this season, the Wolverines held on for a 71-68 road win on March 5.
“If we’re not committed to defending the full shot clock every single possession and finding a way to rebound those long threes,” May said, “then it’s going to be a tough night for us.”
UConn runs its offense through center Tarris Reed, who transferred to UConn from Michigan and has spent the past two seasons growing under Hurley. He is atop the Michigan scouting report not because of his past, but because of his run of success during the NCAA Tournament. Reed had 17 points and 11 rebounds against Illinois and is averaging 20.8 points in five tournament games this season.
“My relationship with him has been … improving,” Hurley joked Sunday. “It’s really improved since he’s been on this tear. I’ve been saying that, go back six weeks, go back two months, go back three months, our season is going to be determined by what Tarris Reed does, which Tarris Reed we get, does the light switch go on for Tarris Reed. I’ve been saying it for months and months and months.”
This is the fourth Big Ten team in UConn’s path to the title. Among common opponents this season, Michigan and UConn both defeated Michigan State, Illinois and UCLA. Michigan lost to Duke on a neutral court in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 21 and UConn lost to Arizona, 71-67, in November.
Michigan has reached the national title game for the eighth consecutive time as a Final Four participant. The Wolverines are 1-6 all-time in the national championship game.
Hurley would join UConn’s Jim Calhoun, North Carolina’s Roy Williams and Indiana’s Knight as a three-time national championship winner. Only Adolph Rupp (four), Mike Krzyzewski (five) and John Wooden (10) have more.
“He’s been the same, I think he’s been the same,” Karaban said of the fiery, perhaps flammable, Hurley’s demeanor over the past four years. “He’s always been the type of coach that connects well with his players and, if anything, it’s probably made him hungrier. It’s experienced what it’s like to be at the top winning championships, and he always wants to go back there and he’s always going to continuously pursue that. He’s done the same practices. He’s done the same coaching schemes. He’s done everything the same, and he’s continued to get better as a coach throughout the years.
“But that hunger and that passion that he has has always been the same, and I think it’s gotten greater every time he’s won a national championship.”
