As they prepared to hit the court, Michigan’s players gathered to energize themselves with encouraging words, culminating in a unifying cheer of “B-T-A on three.”

For those unfamiliar, B-T-A means “belt to a**,” and over the course of the 40-minute showdown during Saturday’s Final Four, the Wolverines executed this mantra flawlessly against the Arizona Wildcats.

Experts, analysts, and devoted fans all forecasted a nail-biting contest, with predictions leaning towards a historic match that would be fondly remembered for years.

However, Michigan dominated from the start, entering halftime with a 16-point lead that they never relinquished. Even with the setback of losing key player Yaxel Lendeborg to injury, the Wolverines’ defense dismantled the Wildcats, stifling their considerable talent.

Now, Michigan is focused on the national championship game, where they will face off against the formidable two-seed, UConn.

Michigan thoroughly dominated Arizona to set up a national championship clash with UConn

The Wolverines dominated the Wildcats in nearly every facet of the game from start to finish

Initially, the game was anticipated to be extremely tight, but Michigan’s performance told an entirely different story.

Arizona rolled into this game as the No. 2 team in the nation which had previously spent multiple weeks at No. 1. 

They beat every opponent in March by at least 15 points. They possessed a trio of enormously talented freshmen in Brayden Burries, Koa Peat and Ivan Karchenkov who could all score and play defense.

Arizona, the No. 1 team in KenPom (4th in offense, 2nd in defense), only barely edged out KenPom’s No. 2 team, Michigan (5th in offense, 1st in defense). Both teams had size, both teams played physical defense, both teams had the ability to score. 

It’s not that a Michigan victory was entirely out of the realm of possibility, it’s just that this win was so lopsided. The game was over within the first half of the first half when the Wolverines went up by 14.

An injury to Lendeborg, who hurt both his knee and his ankle on one play, almost made the game competitive. Arizona pulled together some dominant possessions and cut the deficit down to five.

An injury to star forward Yaxel Lendeborg led to Arizona going back within striking distance

Elliot Cadeau shot poorly in the first half, but dished nine assists and played elite defense

Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd barks out orders to his players during the loss to Michigan

None of it mattered. Michigan ended the half on an 18-7 run, leaving Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd in need of an answer to deliver a result.

It’s shocking how it came to this. Michigan guard Elliot Cadeau was described as having ‘the greatest 2-14 night ever’ thanks to his smothering defense and plenty of assists. By night’s end, he’d tally 13 points, five rebounds and ten assists.

Spanish center Aday Mara stands only an inch taller than Arizona’s Motiejus Krivas and yet he feasted offensively over his counterpart. The native of Zaragoza celebrated a night with 26 points and nine rebounds.

A change in mentality or result or luck never came. Arizona continued to score, but Michigan never stopped scoring. It seemed every shot they put up would fall out of the sky and through the net.

The second half wasn’t as lopsided as the first, but Arizona had no time to improve their luck

After a while, the buckets started to blend together. Occasionally, a vicious dunk would cause a groan to be let out by the Arizona faithful that traveled here from Tucson.

Fans filed to the exits early, sensing the impending final horn to spell an end to a season that will mark a return to the top of the sport’s lofty ladder – only to lose their grip and fall from the second-to-last rung.

It’s maybe the most thorough game Michigan has played all year – leaving Vegas and the analysts rushing to make them heavy favorites over Connecticut. After tonight’s result, it’s hard to blame them.

But Michigan coach Dusty May certainly doesn’t look past the Huskies. When asked why he put in Lendeborg while he was hampered and the game was ‘pretty well decided,’ the coach replied, ‘Well, apparently you guys missed the UConn-Duke game. The game was already decided that we were playing Duke tomorrow. They were up 19, correct, in the second half? And who won?’