TALKIN' HOOPS: NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME THREAD

Just one more game left in the 2012-13 college basketball season, one more game for one team -- Michigan or Louisville -- to add some championship hardware to their collection. As an Iowa fan, this has been the most enjoyable basketball season in a very long time and I'm sad to see it come to an end. And with no offense intended to the baseball and softball teams, this is also essentially the beginning of the BHGP off-season. From September through March (and this year, into April for a few fun days), regularly-scheduled sports -- first football, then wrestling and basketball -- provide the backbone of our content. We have some spring football to cover yet, and we still need to put the finishing touches on our wrestling and basketball coverage, but for the most part we're entering silly season after tonight, folks.

But what about this game? On paper, it's a fascinating match-up, with KenPom's #1 offense (Michigan) facing KenPom's #1 defense (Louisville). Louisville forces the second-most turnovers of any team in the nation; Michigan gives the ball up at a very low rate. It's also a chance for the Big Ten to add a national championship trophy to its cupboard. It's been over a decade since the Big Ten could claim a national champion in either hoops (Michigan State, 2000) or football (Ohio State, 2002). There have been a few chances since then (mostly by Ohio State), but the league has come up short in every one of those opportunities. A title would also be a fitting cap on what was a truly phenomenal season of Big Ten basketball.

The game tips off on CBS around 8:30 pm CT.

The usual rules apply: no links to illegal online streams, no porn, no politics, no religion, no slurs, etc.