Midwest Regional champion Michigan (35-3) vs. West Regional champion Arizona (36-2) | NCAA Tournament semifinals | Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis | 5:49 p.m. | TBS/TruTV | 1290-AM, 107.5-FM
Probable starters
ARIZONA
0 G Jaden Bradley (6-3 senior)
5 G Brayden Burries (6-4 freshman)
18 F Ivan Kharchenkov (6-7 freshman)
10 F Koa Peat (6-8 freshman)
13 C Motiejus Krivas (7-2 junior)
Key reserves
30 F Tobe Awaka (6-8 senior)
3 F Anthony Dell’Orso (6-6 senior)
2 F Dwayne Aristode (6-8 freshman)
MICHIGAN
3 G Elliot Cadeau (6-1 junior)
4 G Nimari Burnett (6-5 senior)
23 F Yaxel Lendeborg (6-9 senior)
21 F Morez Johnson Jr. (6-9 sophomore)
15 C Aday Mara (7-3 junior)
Key reserves
11 G Roddy Gayle Jr. (6-5 senior)
1 G Trey McKenney (6-4 freshman)
42 F Will Tschetter (6-8 senior)
How they match up
How they got here: Seeded No. 1 in the West Region after winning the Big 12 regular-season and conference tournament titles, Arizona beat No. 16 LIU 92-58, No. 9 Utah State 78-66, No. 4 Arkansas 109-88 and No. 2 Purdue 79-64 to win the West Regional.
Michigan went 19-1 to win the Big Ten by four games, lost to Purdue in the conference tournament finale and picked up the No. 1 seed in the Midwest. In the Midwest Regional, they beat No. 16 seed Howard 101-80, No. 9 seed Saint Louis 95-72, No. 4 seed Alabama 90-77 and No. 6 seed Tennessee 95-62 to win the Midwest.
Series history: Arizona leads 9-2 and has won the most recent four games, the last of which was 80-62 in the final of the Main Event mini-tournament at Las Vegas on Nov. 21, 2021, at the beginning of the Tommy Lloyd era. The Wildcats swept a two-game home-and-home series during the Sean Miller era, winning 72-70 at Michigan in 2013-14 and 80-53 at McKale Center in 2014-15, and the Wildcats also won 61-60 in overtime in New York early in the 2004-05 season. UA hasn’t lost to Michigan since a 73-71 overtime game at Michigan in 1996-97.
Michigan overview: Three years after leading ninth-seeded FAU on a surprising Final Four run, then leaving for Michigan, coach Dusty May is back again with the Wolverines. May took over an 8-24 Michigan team in 2023-24 and led them to a 27-10 record and a Sweet 16 appearance last season before blowing the doors off much of this season.
Ranked seventh in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll, the Wolverines had close calls early before drumming San Diego State, Auburn and Gonzaga by an average of 33.3 points in the Thanksgiving week Players Era Festival, then lost only to Wisconsin 91-88 in Big Ten regular-season play. They lost a late-season game to Duke and to Purdue in their conference tournament before their dominant NCAA Tournament run.
With a front line that includes versatile 6-9 forward Yaxel Lendeborg, as well as 6-9 Morez Johnson and 7-3 Aday Mara, the Wolverines rank No. 1 in defensive efficiency by making life especially rough inside. They rank third in two-point percentage defense (44.3) and third in defensive block percentage, swatting away 16.8% of opponents’ two-pointers. Mara ranks fifth individually in block percentage at 12.5.
They will typically start Mara at center, Johnson at power forward and Lendeborg at small forward, but usually rest Mara early in games while Lendeborg shifts to power forward and plays there often.
The Wolverines are also tough inside on the other end, making them an intriguing matchup for Arizona’s bigs. Michigan ranks second in made two-point shots (61.3) and also makes 3s at a 36.9% rate that ranks 30th nationally. They shoot many more 3s as a percentage of overall field goals than Arizona does, too (41.9% vs UA’s 26.4%). Lendeborg makes a difficult target at 6-9 when he takes nearly half of his shots from beyond the arc (and hits 37.2% of them).
Johnson, who played for UA coach Tommy Lloyd on USA Basketball’s U19 team last summer, is a tough rebounder who has an offensive rebounding percentage of 12.4 (ranking 110th nationally) and a defensive rebounding percentage of 19.3%.
After two years at North Carolina, Elliot Cadeau has been running the show at point guard, averaging 10.2 points and 5.8 assists while shooting 37.7% from 3-point range. He’s had to play a heavier load since backup guard LJ Cason tore an ACL in late February, but after the Wolverines struggled initially when Cason went out, the extra minutes appear to be further boosting Cadeau's confidence and production.
He said it: “Their defense is great because of their size, athleticism and having Mara at the rim to cover everything up. They switch a bunch of ball screens and off-ball screens, so it’s tough to get penetration.
“Yaxel is a complete player, a do-it-all versatile wing with great skill. Great size and mobility along with strength. Morez has an elite motor with good post skill. He's a great athlete who can drive to finish or finish with post moves. Cadeau sets him up well. Great cutter. Physical defender, always trying to block shots.
“Mara has great length and timing. Understands angles and has the ability to alter a ton of shots. Ultimate helper to cover up holes. He lets other guys be aggressive.
“Cadeau is the key to the team. He gets them going in transition, can really force help and find their guards for 3s. Their guards can all dribble pass and shoot. They're very unselfish and know how to play. They're an elite cutting team and their cuts lead to defense collapsing, which leads to extra-pass 3s. Transition and rebounding is what the game will come down to.” — UA assistant coach Evan Manning, who scouted the Wolverines
Key players
MICHIGAN
Yaxel Lendeborg
Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg dunks over Saint Louis guard Quentin Jones during the first half in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Buffalo, N.Y.
A native Puerto Rican who moved to the Dominican Republic as a toddler and then to New Jersey, Lendeborg began his college career at none other than Arizona Western in Yuma, where he was a two-time juco All-American, then starred at UAB before becoming one of the most versatile players in the college game this season.
ARIZONA
Koa Peat
Arizona forward Koa Peat (10) finishes off an emphatic jam past Purdue center Oscar Cluff (45) in the second half of their Elite Eight game in San Jose, Calif., March 28, 2026.
Coming off an MVP performance in the West Regional, UA's skilled freshman forward will be tested in a matchup of Division I’s best two defenses and in a game when the rebounding game could be especially critical. Among others he'll face: Lendeborg and his old USA teammate, Johnson.
Sidelines
First-hand scouting
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd didn’t need a scouting report to know about two of Michigan’s key players: He already coached them for USA Basketball teams.
Michigan backup guard Trey McKenney played for the Lloyd-coached team that won the U18 AmeriCup in 2024, while Michigan starting forward Johnson played for that team and USA's U19 World Cup team last summer.
Both teams won gold medals. In the AmeriCup, Johnson averaged 8.0 points and 9.0 rebounds, and McKenney averaged 10.8 points while hitting 50.2% of his 3-pointers.
In the World Cup last summer, when Johnson teamed with UA’s Peat and BYU's AJ Dybantsa, Johnson averaged 9.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and a team-high 1.7 blocks.
UA's Koa Peat, right, offers a word to Michigan's Morez Johnson during USA's U19 gold medal run last summer.
“They’re just outstanding young men,” Lloyd said. “Rez and I developed a really close relationship in the two summers we were together, as much as we could. He’s just a high-character ass-kicker and a great guy to be around every day. He's mature about everything. I was just super impressed with him, and I'm really happy to see him having the success he's having.
“Trey is serious. He’s a workhorse. He can really shoot the basketball. He’s just another high character, great guy. I have nothing but positive thoughts about those two guys.”
This season at Michigan, McKenney is averaging 9.8 points and shooting 38.4% from 3, while Johnson is the Wolverines’ leading rebounder (7.3) and second-leading scorer (13.2).
Bryce barrier
While all NCAA Tournament players are required to be available for interviews during open locker room sessions before games — unlike the regular season, when teams can control access — redshirting players are exempt, even if traveling with the team.
As a result, UA has been escorting Bryce James and Mabil Mawut out of the locker room before those sessions begin, in what Lloyd said is an effort to protect James.
He is the son of LeBron James, after all, a social media phenomenon even if he is considered a developing prospect at Arizona.
Arizona guard Jaden Bradley (0) is congratulated by teammate Bryce James after making a 3-point basket against LIU during the first half in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Friday, March 20, 2026, in San Diego.
"Bryce is an important part of our team, and we're going to give Bryce the space, an opportunity to develop into a young man, just like everybody else,” Lloyd said. “We also understand there's a certain scrutiny that comes with who he is and we just want to protect him. ... Everyone give him space, let him be his own, 18-, 19-year-old kid.
"I think he's going to develop into a good enough player to play at Arizona. That would be a kick-ass story. And that's the story I want to be a part of. I'm not trying to be part of a media circus or doing this or that. I want to help Bryce as a basketball player and so that's been our focus.”
Dusted
In five seasons at Arizona, Lloyd has only lost twice to mid-major teams: In the first round of the 2023 tournament to 15th-seeded Princeton, and in double overtime to Florida Atlantic in Las Vegas during the 2023-24 nonconference season.
Florida Atlantic celebrates after defeating Arizona 96-95 in double overtime in Las Vegas in December 2023.
FAU had already reached the 2023 Final Four, and it was natural to speculate that the coach of that Owls team, Dusty May, was headed to a high-major job soon. But Lloyd said he wasn’t so sure then, having spent two decades at Gonzaga while Mark Few built the Zags into a national power inside the mid-major West Coast Conference.
“I don’t know. Maybe he could have been Mark Few,” Lloyd said. “Not bad that the guy just got in the Hall of Fame staying at one place. But I didn’t know Dusty well enough. I know Dusty a little bit, he's a great guy and obviously an exceptional coach.
“In that game, I just remember at the end of it being impressed for how well prepared they were. Obviously, he was having a bunch of success and he was going to have a lot of opportunities. It looks like to me he made a pretty good decision."
Numbers game
2: Arizona wins in four previous national semifinal games.
7: Michigan wins in eight previous national semifinal games.
44.9: Michigan’s effective field goal percentage defense (with 50% more credit given to made 3-pointers), the lowest in Division I.
68.4: Brayden Burries' 3-point percentage over UA’s four NCAA Tournament games.
— Bruce Pascoe
