Best of The Herd

Here we go on a Tuesday from Big Ten country. Congrats to Michigan. That title game was a fistfight, the kind where the bully finally meets a bigger bully. UConn lives off movement and jumpers, but Michigan kept driving, owned the paint, and had answers every time the Huskies made a push. This is not an all-time team; it is a rugged, well-coached group built to beat that Dan Hurley style.

The first-half fouls hurt us. We’ve battled undisciplined fouling at times, and this was a brutal game to officiate. I’d gladly take those three refs the rest of my career.

The Big Ten grind mattered. Michigan looked prepared for a rock fight because they live in one. I had them winning after seeing them flatten Gonzaga early and go into Illinois late and win. Also, the league’s new reality favors schools with brainpower and deep-pocketed alumni. In this NIL era, academics and alumni networks fuel the machine, and the Big Ten is built for it.

We take pride in representing Michigan and the Big Ten. The stronger we are as a league, the better our positioning when the business side, like TV deals, comes up. We want to be the standard.

On the NBA, when a superstar starts grumbling, you move fast. Milwaukee did amazing things around Giannis, but they waited too long. The new CBA makes big trades tough, and his game needs a specific build. Dame was a swing, but not the fix. That window for a massive return was years ago.

Baseball sped itself up and is popping again, while college hoops got older and sharper with NIL. The NBA, meanwhile, made star trades harder, load-managed marquee nights, and served up too many no-shows and blowouts. Only about a third of the big-network games had the stars. Shohei plays almost nightly; you cannot say the same about NBA headliners. The league needs a great postseason to flip the story.

Back to the title game. UConn has had monsters before; this was not one of those. Hurley squeezed everything from a tough roster, but they were light on elite shot makers. Michigan still won when their best player had an off night and the threes were not falling. That late first-half burst was the tell; they pulled away and never looked back.

There’s no such thing as a better loss in the semifinal than in the championship. You want to be on that stage. Period.

Jokic time. He is the index fund of superstars—quiet, relentless, absurdly efficient. Thirty-five, thirteen, and thirteen while erasing a huge deficit, then casually goes at Wemby like it’s routine. Not flashy, but the best player alive by a wide margin. Where does history place him?

He has moved past Moses and is brushing the Shaq-Hakeem-Steph tier, but one ring caps his ceiling. The inner circle of all-timers are almost all multi-title guys. Offense wins that duel most nights—Jokic will get his against anyone—but to jump into that top dozen, he needs a second banner.

That OKC demolition gave the Lakers some clarity. With Luka and Austin banged up, the gulf was obvious. This roster is mismatched, and even LeBron may need to think about money if he wants better help.

Any team that loses its top two scorers before the playoffs is sunk, so I would not overreact to one blowout. Still, the fit is off. Luka has dragged flawed groups before, but he needs shooters and stoppers. The Lakers have not stocked enough of either.

Cooper Flag looks like he checks every box already. He defends, slashes, shoots, and plays with poise. I could see him, behind Wemby, as the league’s next apex player, maybe even someone you’d consider over Tatum sooner than people think.

He has MVP-level upside and should be rookie of the year, but I do not see him better than a healthy Tatum for the next three seasons. Tatum is a consensus top-seven guy when right, and this Boston group might win the title with him leading the way.

On NIL, I love that it is upfront and professional. You are not begging teenagers anymore; it is administrative and honest. Schools with strong academics and wealthy alumni bases thrive, which fits what universities are. The Big Ten is built for this moment.

The old setup was exploitative and needed to go, but we lurched to the other extreme. Men’s hoops lost continuity, and the stories that grow over years. There is a middle ground where players get paid and teams still keep a core. College football’s product has improved; men’s March had more rock fights and blowouts. The NBA now needs a postseason full of classics after an ugly regular-season finish.

Eric Musselman joins later. And one last thing: Hurley’s fire was real all tournament, but by UConn’s lofty standards this was the thinnest title-game roster they have sent out. Michigan’s power and depth won the night.