{"id":708781,"date":"2026-04-12T07:18:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/708781\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T07:18:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:18:28","slug":"can-michigan-run-it-back-in-hoops-plus-rorys-record-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/708781\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Michigan run it back in hoops? Plus: Rory\u2019s record lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning! Take a six-shot lead on life today. Inside:<\/p>\n

Hoops: What next for Michigan, UCLA and CBB?<\/p>\n

Congrats, UCLA and Michigan. You\u2019ve just won the women\u2019s and men\u2019s basketball national championships. Now it\u2019s time to start worrying about your roster.<\/p>\n

The portal window is already open:\u00a0See the 50 best men\u2019s players here<\/a>\u00a0and a women\u2019s portal ranking\u00a0here<\/a>. Yes, Dusty May is already doing work for Michigan,\u00a0having landed Tennessee big man J.P. Estrella<\/a>\u00a0to get a jump on 2026-27.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk at a high level about where things stand for next season:\u00a0<\/p>\n

In our\u00a0way-too-early men\u2019s top 25\u00a0(compiled right before the portal window opened this week), Illinois is No. 1, followed by Michigan, Arizona, Florida and Duke. The top of the sport is so competitive right now, but Michigan has a real chance to run it back.\u00a0See CJ Moore\u2019s full ranking here<\/a>, and we\u2019ll check in with him in a second.
\nIn the\u00a0way-too-early women\u2019s top 25, UCLA takes a big on-paper tumble, down to No. 25. Literally all of the Bruins\u2019 top contributors are out of eligibility, led by All-American center Lauren Betts. Texas, UConn, USC, South Carolina and Notre Dame\u00a0comprise the early top five\u00a0<\/a>from Sabreena Merchant, who\u2019s also here for a quick chat.<\/p>\n

I had questions for CJ and Sabreena about our defending champs. CJ wrote\u00a0one of my favorite hoops stories of the year<\/a>, about walking out of the arena with May after Michigan\u2019s title.\u00a0May made this look so easy, but, of course, it isn\u2019t. Can Michigan\u2019s approach be copied?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcac\u00a0Other programs will definitely try to replicate the Michigan formula. Mainly, getting bigger. Because of the block-charge rule change three years ago, having size to protect the paint has never mattered more. That\u2019s what Dusty May and his staff aced. The concern with going big is how it will impact spacing offensively, but Michigan still had enough skill on the floor to make it work. That\u2019s what will be so hard to replicate. Bigs are also expensive. May was able to identify two guys who came off the bench for their previous teams \u2014 Aday Mara and Morez Johnson \u2014 and turn them into starters. Finding players that talented who are maybe underutilized elsewhere is not easy. So, yes, others will try, but it\u2019s very difficult to build (and afford) a frontline that deep and talented.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines should be in the mix again next year. UCLA, on the other hand, appears due for a step back with so many departures. But I still found it notable that\u00a0Cori Close became the first\u00a0new\u00a0national champion head coach since 2017, when Dawn Staley won her first title. Long-term,\u00a0do the Bruins have staying power at the tippy top of the sport?<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcac\u00a0It feels almost sacrilegious to suggest that a program could enter the tier of UConn or even South Carolina, especially since UCLA is losing six seniors who accounted for every single point the Bruins scored during the Final Four. But there is a power vacuum on the West Coast since Tara VanDerveer\u2019s retirement at Stanford, and now that one NCAA banner will hang in Pauley Pavilion, it is a lot easier to entice California kids to stay home to play college basketball, particularly if that comes with hefty NIL checks.\u00a0I\u2019d say there is a 6-in-10 chance a powerhouse pops up in L.A. \u2014 but it could be under Cori Close at UCLA or what Lindsay Gottlieb is building at USC.<\/p>\n

Heady times in Southern California. Let\u2019s keep moving.<\/p>\n

News to Know\"AUGUSTA,<\/p>\n

\n Maddie Meyer \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

McIlroy storms to record lead<\/p>\n

If the 2025 Masters was a white-knuckle psychodrama where Rory McIlroy kept getting knocked down and clawing his way back up, this year\u2019s version is so far giving Bob Ross vibes. McIlroy was the picture of relaxed mastery on Day 2, carding a 7-under 65 and taking a\u00a036-hole record<\/a>\u00a0six-stroke lead over Patrick Reed and Sam Burns while the likes of Scottie Scheffler shot a 74, Bryson DeChambeau tripled 18 to\u00a0miss the cut<\/a>, and Robert MacIntyre\u00a0flipped Augusta National the bird<\/a>. There are 36 holes to play, and nobody knows better than McIlroy the potential for the wheels to come off, but for now, let\u2019s just enjoy that this man is in a happy place and doing things like this:<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

More News
\nThe tankingest team in the tankingest season is officially the\u00a0Wizards, who clinched the league\u2019s worst record and\u00a0highest draft floor<\/a>. They\u2019ve lost 25 of their last 26.
\nVictor Wembanyama\u00a0is\u00a0eligible for postseason awards<\/a>\u00a0after he returned from a left rib contusion to drop 40 against Dallas. See who still isn\u2019t with\u00a0our eligibility tracker<\/a>.
\nBoston\u00a0tied the record for most 3s in a game.\u00a0Again<\/a>!
\nMinnesota Duluth\u2019s Max Plante\u00a0won the\u00a0Hobey Baker Award\u00a0as the top player in men\u2019s college hockey \u2014\u00a0and looks like he\u2019ll stick around another year before joining the\u00a0Red Wings.\u00a0More here<\/a>.
\nThe\u00a0Broncos\u2019 owners\u00a0bought a 40 percent stake in the\u00a0Rockies.\u00a0Details here<\/a>.
\nThe bat on the new bronze statue of\u00a0Ichiro Suzuki\u00a0broke during its unveiling, which is frankly not in accord with what I understood about metal.\u00a0A funny watch\/read<\/a>.
\nTigers center fielder Parker Meadows\u00a0was diagnosed with a concussion and a broken bone in his left forearm after that scary collision Thursday. He also got five stitches in his cheek. Yikes.\u00a0Full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf0\u00a0Find more news here 24\/7<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch Guide\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Greg Fiume \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa\u00a0Masters: Third Round
2 p.m. ET on CBS
Moving day\u00a0will determine whether there\u2019s any drama tomorrow<\/a>. Find early coverage on Paramount+, the ESPN App, Masters.com\u00a0and various other streaming destinations<\/a>. I\u2019m writing our Golf Briefing newsletter this week.\u00a0Join for free<\/a>, and we\u2019ll be back here with a final-round lookahead tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa NCAA hockey: Men\u2019s championship
5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
If it\u2019s anywhere near as compelling as the semis, where Wisconsin and Denver knocked out the tournament\u2019s top seeds, this will be a good watch. A Denver championship would be its third in five years, while Wisconsin is going for its first (men\u2019s) title in 20.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa MLB: Red Sox at Cardinals
7:15 p.m. ET on Fox
The Cardinals are \u2026 surprisingly interesting? A weak pitching staff means it won\u2019t last forever, but\u00a0Jordan Walker\u2019s resurgent bat<\/a>\u00a0is a fun story, and they beat Boston last night. The Red Sox continue to try to climb out of the hole they dug by starting 2-8.<\/p>\n

Get tickets to games like this here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pulse Picks<\/p>\n

\n Maddie Meyer \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll start with a few Masters items Alex has enjoyed this week.<\/p>\n

Of the many cultural quirks of the Masters, I think\u00a0the unwritten rules of how players sign flags<\/a>\u00a0(and how they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0sign flags) might be my favorite.<\/p>\n

Ian O\u2019Connor on Rory<\/a>, who looks totally unburdened now that he doesn\u2019t have to worry about the career grand slam. Note that Ian wrote this on Thursday, when McIlroy was merely tied for the lead and not six shots clear of the whole field. Good intuition!<\/p>\n

Brody Miller on Robert MacIntyre, one of the most emotive and enjoyable players in professional golf, who\u00a0probably took his whole act a bit far this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Special shoutout to one of my favorite writers, Kevin Van Valkenburg of Fried Egg Golf, for\u00a0this story about the long relationship between Augusta National and the sporting press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Onto the rest of today\u2019s picks:<\/p>\n

NASA is pumping out sick pics of our solar system during Artemis II\u2019s mission. Want a phone background of a lunar eclipse, or a clear close-up of how Earth looks from the moon? NASA\u2019s got you with its\u00a0wallpaper album<\/a>. \u2014 Lauren Merola<\/p>\n

My Pulse Pick this week is the Texas Rangers\u2019\u00a0new hat<\/a>, which I will be buying immediately. Thank you for your time. \u2014\u00a0Patrick Iversen<\/p>\n

To the person I saw on my recent commute carrying nothing but a bag of Sumo oranges and a giant multipack of allergy meds: I see you. I am you. Thankfully, Wirecutter\u2019s experts have\u00a0a few simple upgrades<\/a>\u00a0that can help keep seasonal sneezes at bay \u2014 starting with ditching your feather duster. \u2014 Brittney Ho<\/p>\n

John Carreyrou is the investigative journalist who turned Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes into icons of fraud. Now he thinks\u00a0he\u2019s found the creator of Bitcoin<\/a>. Do you agree? Great read. \u2014\u00a0Chris Sprow<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The story of Red Sox rookie Tyler Samaniego\u2019s\u00a0emotional debut<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb That\u2019s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com<\/a>, and check out our other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,354,231,772,1544,6135],"class_list":{"0":"post-708781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-mens-college-basketball","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaab","14":"tag-womens-college-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116390522105882791","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}