Louisville Cardinals are the 2013 NCAA Basketball National Champions

The Louisville Cardinals beat the Michigan Wolverines 82 to 76 to claim the 2013 National Basketball Championship. The game was a tail of two halves. Michigan was very dominate in the first half but Louisville fought back to ultimately win the game. For the first 4 and a half minutes it was a very close game but then Michigan toke control. It was still pretty close with 10 minutes left in the 1st half when Michigan led 20 to 17. Michigan then went on a big run to take a 33 to 21 lead with 4 minutes left in the half. Louisville did go on an outstanding 14 to 3 run to end the half led by Luke Hancock who had 4 threes. At halftime Michigan led 38 to 37. Louisville got a two point lead at 49 to 47 with 14 minutes left in the game and was in the lead most of the rest of the game. Louisville could only grow their lead to 5. With 6:27 left, Louisville had a 67 to 62 lead. Louisville did extend their lead to 8 with 4:13 left in the game and again at 1:52 left. Michigan fought back in it and cut it to 4 points. At 1:20 left Louisville only led 78 to 74. Louisville hit their free throws and won the game by 6 points, 82 to 76. Louisville won their 3rd National Title in school history and first since 1986. They set a school record for wins going 35-5 on the season. Luke Hancock won the Final Four Most Outstanding Player. He played well in the regionals but he dominated in the Final Four and help lead Louisville to the National Title. He scored 22 points and had 3 assists and 2 steals in the Championship game. In the Final Four he averaged 21.0 PPG, 2.5 RPG, and 2.0 SPG. The other four All-Final Four players were Peyton Siva and Chane Behanan from Louisville, Spike Albrecht, Mitch McGary and Trey Burke from Michigan and Cleanthony Early from Wichita State. Siva averaged 12.5 PPG, 4.0 APG, and 3.0 SPG in the Final Four. Behanan averaged 12.5 PPG, 10.5 RPG, and 1.0 SPG in the Final Four. Albrecht averaged 11.5 PPG in the Final Four and had a huge 17 points off the bench in the National Championship game. McGary averaged 8.0 PPG, 9.0 RPG, and 3.5 APG in the Final Four as well as a double-double in the National Semifinal. Burke averaged 15.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 3.5 APG in the Final Four. Early averaged 24.0 PPG, 10.0 RPG in the Final Four. He had a huge game vs. Louisville in the National Semifinal. Both teams next year should be good and might be able to contend for the National Title if they restock right. For Louisville the will probably lose some players to the NBA Draft. Louisville should still be the best team in the Big East in their final season as a Big East member before moving to the ACC in 2014. For Michigan they probably will lose some or most of their top talent to the NBA Draft. I don't think Michigan will be great next year but they will probably still be solid. The Big Ten is very tough with Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan State and  Wisconsin. Even this year they finished 5th in the Big Ten. I think Louisville has a small chance to repeat as champs. I think it will be very tough with many players graduating and going to the NBA but they do have a good recruiting class coming in.