The Final Four is set for Saturday night in Indianapolis, as Michigan, Arizona, Illinois and UConn will all fight to reach the national championship game slated for Monday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
But only one of those four teams will emerge as NCAA Tournament champions, and one college basketball legend already has his pick for who will be cutting down the nets on Monday night.
Jimmer Fredette, the BYU great who had his “One Shining Moment” in March Madness back in 2011, has been following the intense games throughout the tournament to get to this point. He knows exactly who he’s riding with the rest of the way.
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“I honestly have Michigan right now. I have Michigan winning it all,” he told Fox News Digital in a recent interview, while highlighting his partnership with Coca-Cola and their “Fan Work Is Thirsty Work” campaign for the tournament.
It’s hard not to love everything the No. 1 seed out of the Midwest Region has been putting together in this tournament. The Wolverines, led by head coach Dusty May in his second season, have simply dominated the competition they’ve faced thus far.
In fact, Michigan has won by double digits in each of their four tournament games, including a rout of No. 6 Tennessee, 95-62, in the Elite Eight to secure a spot in the Final Four. They’re led by forward Yaxel Lendeborg, who averaged 15.2 points this season, but is tallying 25 per contest here in the tournament.
“I just think their length and their size is so unique,” Fredette explained. “They can play multiple different ways, but that just poses a real problem for people, especially in the tournament. It’s hard to gameplan for on a single-game basis. Obviously, they haven’t lost many games this year, and if they did lose a game, they were very close. You know that when you’re playing against them, it’s going to be a fight. It’s going to be a battle.”
Fredette added that May coaching in the Final Four previously with Florida Atlantic University (2023) will play a key factor for the Wolverines as well.
But Arizona, the No. 1 seed out of the West Region, could match up well against Michigan on Saturday night. While Michigan has lost just three games this season, the Wildcats have only lost two in a tough Big 12 Conference schedule.
The way Fredette sees it, this Final Four matchup is basically a national championship matchup before the actual game.
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“Arizona’s playing great right now,” he said. “In my opinion, that’s kind of a national championship matchup with those two teams. They’re big, they’re long, they’re athletic. They’re playing great basketball. But you never know.”
As for the other matchup – No. 2 UConn, coming off a thrilling end to upset No. 1 Duke, and No. 3 Illinois – Fredette also has a winner there.
“Obviously, UConn and Illinois are both playing well. I think Illinois, in my opinion, is going to beat UConn, and I think it’s going to be Illinois and Michigan in the final, and Michigan winning it all. So, we’ll see. I’ll probably be completely wrong. That’s how it works in this tournament. But that’s what I see right now, and Michigan’s playing some of the best basketball you can play.”
As Fredette said, the tournament finds a way to make the craziest things happen on a basketball court, living up to the March Madness moniker.
It will be UConn-Illinois to begin the festivities in Indianapolis on Saturday night at 6:09 p.m. ET, followed by Michigan-Arizona.
From buzzer-beaters to overtime thrillers, this year’s men’s tournament has had it all in terms of intense, edge-of-your-seat basketball. But that can be thirsty work for fans across the country, which is why Coca-Cola launched its “Fan Work is Thirsty Work” campaign, which celebrates the fans behind the tournament’s Cinderella stories.
Who doesn’t love the feel-good, Cinderella story of the tournament? While there may be top seeds still left in the bracket, moments like High Point upsetting Wisconsin in the first round, VCU shocking UNC in overtime, and more have truly powered this year’s fun in March.
And to be sure fans are enjoying Coca-Cola the right way, the brand introduced the “Coca-Cola Glass Sipper,” an ode to the famous children’s story that is a custom size 11 basketball sneaker-shaped cup to celebrate the team and fan base whose tournament journey most defies expectations.
“That’s what March Madness is all about – it’s about the energy, and that’s what Coca-Cola wants to have in their campaign,” Fredette said. “They want to capture how much fans put into every game, and for me, I love the fans. I love playing in front of packed crowd. They were rowdy, they had such loyalty to their schools, and that obviously transitions into the March Madness tournament. Everyone is a part of it because everyone fills out a bracket. They want to see the Cinderella stories. They want to see their brackets go well, [and] they want to pick the right Cinderella. Coke wants to capture that.”
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