Dan Hurley sees Alex Karaban's memorable UConn run close - ESPN

INDIANAPOLIS — In their last game together, Dan Hurley put his hand on Alex Karaban's shoulder as the senior wiped tears from his eyes following Michigan's 69-63 win over UConn in the national championship game on Monday.

Hurley said he was still grappling with his emotions after his team missed out on becoming the first since John Wooden's UCLA run in the 1960s and 1970s to win three national titles in four years.

«Just what the group was able to overcome throughout the year, the growth, the way they played in March, just the whole experience that this team has given the coaches, the fan base, to play to the last — to be one of the last two teams standing,» Hurley, the UConn coach, said after the game. «A lot of people talk about, 'You're better off losing in the first game in the Final Four than losing in the championship.' That is the biggest bunch of crap of all. It is such bull. It is. It's like, this is where you wanted to be. It hasn't set in yet. On the flight tomorrow, it'll set in, on the bus ride back.

»Eventually, it'll hit you that you were close to pulling off what would have been a historic third championship. But this team just gave us so much this year. Just didn't make enough shots."

Michigan had made history by becoming the first Division I team to score 90 or more points in every NCAA tournament game before the national championship. After an 18-point victory over Arizona in the Final Four on Saturday, the Wolverines were a strong favorite against the Huskies on Monday night.

Hurley's squad managed to slow down the game against a Michigan team that prefers to run. The Wolverines didn't score a point in transition or off a turnover in the first half. Elliot Cadeau, the Most Outstanding Player of the