Here's a look at how the teams compare, who can count on more from their bench and which coach has the upper hand in Monday's championship pairing.
Wichita State's Ron Baker (31) and Louisville's Luke Hancock move during the second half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game Saturday, April 6, 2013, in Atlanta. Louisville won 72-68. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
No. 1 overall seed Louisville and No. 4 seed Michigan are the last two teams standing in the NCAA tournament and will battle it out for the right to cut down the nets Monday night in Atlanta.
Throughout the tournament, both teams have leaned on their star-laden starting lineups and benefited from breakout performances from their bench players.
Here's a look at how the teams compare, who can count on more from their bench and which coach has the upper hand in Monday's championship pairing.
STARTERS
Louisville: Peyton Siva, PG (senior, 9.8 PPG, 5.7 APG)
Michigan: Trey Burke, PG (sophomore, 18.5 PPG, 6.8 APG)
Matchup: Siva has shown flashes of brilliance, such as a 16-point outing against Duke in the Elite Eight, but has a tendency to go cold from the floor for long stretches.
Burke, a first-team All-American and the consensus player of the year, isn't immune to the occasional less-than-stellar performance, but they don't come around often. And when Burke is on, he's unstoppable. Just ask Kansas.
Edge: Michigan.
Louisville: Russ Smith, G (junior, 18.9 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.9 APG)
Michigan: Tim Hardaway Jr., G (junior, 14.6 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.4 APG)
Matchup: Smith can score in bunches and comes to the title game averaging 25 points per game in the tournament. When the Cardinals guard can light it up from long range when he gets going, but if he struggles shooting the ball — like he did in a 6-of-17 performance against Wichita State on Saturday — Louisville may have trouble keeping up with Michigan.
Hardaway possesses an excellent jump shot when he's able to find an open look, and is making 43 percent of his 3-point attempts during the tournament. Syracuse hassled Hardaway into a 4-of-16 shooting night on Saturday, a mark the freshman will hope to improve upon against Louisville.
Edge: Louisville
Louisville: Chane Behanan, F (sophomore, 9.6 PPG, 6.4 RPG)
Michigan: Glenn Robinson III, F (freshman, 10.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG)
Matchup: Robinson enters Monday's contest shooting a solid 67 percent in the NCAA tournament, including an 8-of-9, 21-point game against South Dakota State in the opening round.
Behanan is Louisville's best offensive option in the paint and has been scoring at a steady rate in the tournament (7.6 points per game).
Both will be looking to establish position around the basket, but Behanan's 40-pound advantage over Robinson should give him the advantage.
Edge: Louisville
Louisville: Wayne Blackshear, G/F (sophomore, 7.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG)
Michigan: Nik Stauskas, G (freshman, 11.2 PPG, 3.0 RPG)
Matchup: Stauskas was scintillating in an Elite Eight win over Kansas, scoring 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting — including a perfect 6-of-6 from 3-point land. But the freshman went scoreless against Syracuse on 0-of-5 shooting in the Final Four and was abused on the defensive end by Syracuse's C.J. Fair (22 points).
Blackshear also went scoreless his last time out, but in just nine minutes while dealing with foul trouble against Wichita State. His production has dropped off as the tournament has progressed, and he's been steadily losing minutes to better scorers off the bench.
Edge: Michigan
Michigan's Mitch McGary, Michigan's Tim Hardaway Jr. and Michigan's Trey Burke, from left, react to play against Syracuse during the first half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game Saturday, April 6, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Louisville: Gorgui Dieng, C (junior, 9.8 PPG, 9.4 RPG)
Michigan: Mitch McGary, F (freshman, 7.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG)
Matchup: Dieng averages nearly a double-double this season, but was a non-factor on offense against Wichita State, taking (and missing) just a single shot while hampered by foul trouble. He recorded 14 points and 11 rebounds against Duke and will likely need to get back to that level of production against Michigan for the Cardinals to come out on top.
No player in the tournament has exceeded expectations quite like McGary, who is averaging 16 points per game over Michigan's last five contests — more than twice as many as his season average. The freshman has also been asserting his will on the glass, averaging 11.6 rebounds per game in the tournament.
Edge: Michigan
BENCH
Louisville: Luke Hancock (junior, 7.7 PPG, 2.7 RPG), Montrezl Harrell (freshman, 5.7 PPG, 3.7 PPG) Stephan Van Treese (senior, 1.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG), Tim Henderson (junior, 0.8 PPG)
Michigan: Jordan Morgan (junior, 4.7 PPG, 4.4 RPG), Jon Horford (sophomore, 2.8 PPG, 2.2 RPG), Caris LaVert (freshman, 2.4 PPG, 1.0 RPG), Spike Albrecht (freshman, 1.8 PPG, 0.7 APG)
Matchup: Louisville's bench is half the reason the Cardinals survived Wichita State on Saturday to reach the championship game, scoring 34 points when the starters struggled out the gate. Hancock played starter's minutes and scored 20 big points, Harrell scored six of his eight points while the offense was sputtering, and Henderson nailed a pair of much-needed 3-pointers.
The Cardinals still need to figure out how to make up for the loss of Kevin Ware on defense, but coach Rick Pitino should have enough time make the proper adjustments by Monday night.
Michigan doesn't generally get much offensive output from its bench players, who scored a combined 10 points over the first three games of the tournament, but they came through when it counted most against Syracuse in the Final Four.
Albrecht drained two tough 3-pointers in four efficient minutes against the Orange, and LeVert contributed eight crucial points — his first of the tournament. Morgan, relegated to coming off the bench due to McGary's stellar play of late, made maybe the play of the game when he slid in front of driving Orange guard Brandon Triche, drawing a charge that proved to be the final nail in Syracuse's coffin.
Edge: Louisville
Louisville head coach Rick Pitino during the first half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game against Wichita State Saturday, April 6, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
COACHES
Louisville: Rick Pitino (662-239 career record, one championship, seven Final Four appearances)
Michigan: John Beilien (672-402 career record, no championships, one Final Four appearance)
Matchup: Beilein has certainly made the best of an exceedingly talented and very, very young roster, guiding the Wolverines back to the Final Four for the first time in 20 years.
Pitino has been on in the big stage before with a national championship to show for it, and the Cardinals have looked like a championship-caliber team for most of the year.
Beilein showed that experience isn't everything by beating Jim Boeheim's Syracuse squad in the Final Four, but Monday's championship is a whole new ballgame.
Edge: Louisville
OVERALL
They way things stack up, it looks like we're in for a dandy of a game. Michigan has certainly earned its shot at the title, but the Wolverines will have to play their best game of the season to beat Louisville. The Cardinals, on the other hand, proved that they can win even on a bad night by outlasting Wichita State on Saturday.
Edge: Louisville