Michigan Faces Arizona in 2026 Final Four, Dusty May's Emotional Return

Twenty-six years ago, Dusty May sat courtside at a Final Four in Indianapolis as a student manager for Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers. On Saturday night, he returned to Lucas Oil Stadium leading the No. 1 Michigan Wolverines against No. 1 Arizona in the 2026 national semifinals, completing one of college basketball's most unlikely journeys in a single generation.

"It's a full-circle moment," May said Thursday, reflecting on a career arc that has taken him from fetching towels for Knight to coaching the most dominant team in this year's NCAA Tournament.

Michigan entered the matchup at 35-3, averaging 95.3 points per game through the tournament, the highest mark for any NCAA Tournament team since 1993. The Wolverines became the first squad this season to win four tournament games by double digits, capping their regional run with a 95-62 dismantling of No. 6 Tennessee in the Elite Eight in Chicago, a 33-point margin that ranks as the second-largest in program history. Arizona, meanwhile, arrived at 36-2 after a 79-64 defeat of No. 2 Purdue in San Jose.

The game itself opened with early turbulence for Michigan. Just 1:22 into Saturday's contest, Yaxel Lendeborg was whistled for two fouls within a five-second span and was sent to the bench. Later in the half, Lendeborg appeared to injure his left ankle driving to the basket, then walked gingerly to the locker room to receive treatment. CBS reporter Tracy Wolfson confirmed on the broadcast that "it is the same ankle he hurt in the Big Ten Tournament," adding that the team would ice it and reevaluate him for the second half. Despite the scare, all five Michigan starters scored at least five points early, led by Aday Mara's eight.

Michigan's 95.3 points per game are the most by an NCAA Tournament team since 1993, and their 11 wins by more than 30 points are tied with Iowa State for the most in the country this season. The engine driving that offense is Lendeborg, a 6-foot-9 sixth-year senior who began his career at a junior college in Yuma. Lendeborg is a matchup nightmare, shooting 64.8 percent on two-point attempts and 37.2 percent from three, with 15 triples over his last five games. He produced 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists against Tennessee in the Elite Eight. Alongside him, 7-foot-3 Aday Mara, a transfer from UCLA, averaged 13.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game in the tournament.

Arizona entered the game having attempted 1,020 free throws on the season, the most by any school in a single season since BYU's 1,055 in 2013-14, and led the NCAA Tournament with 88 fouls drawn, 11 more than the next-best team.

May's path to this moment has been anything but conventional. This is just his second season leading a power conference program. Before his 2023 run with Florida Atlantic, which vaulted him into the national spotlight and into the conversation for bigger jobs, he had traveled to college basketball's biggest stage as a student manager under Knight at the 2000 Final Four, hosted in the same city now returning to: Indianapolis.

When FAU made its improbable run to the 2023 Final Four as a nine seed, May gathered his team afterward and admitted to an oversight. "We were playing for March habits," he said with a smile, "and we should have been playing for April." Three years later, the sign in Michigan's locker room was different.

When May took over at Michigan in 2024, the Wolverines were coming off an 8-24 season, their worst record since 1960-61. Within two years, Michigan became a dominant presence within the Big Ten and a national championship-caliber team. Junior guard Elliot Cadeau, who overcame an allergic reaction to join the team late in Indianapolis, summed up the broader significance plainly. "It just shows that he's one of the best coaches out there," Cadeau said. "He did it with a group at FAU that wasn't supposed to be there, still got them there, and he's doing it with this group."

The winner of Saturday's nightcap advanced to face UConn, which earlier defeated Illinois 71-62 to reach its third national championship game in four years. For Michigan, a program that last won a title in 1989, and for May, a coach still learning what April feels like, the stakes at Lucas Oil Stadium were as clear as the sign he finally changed.