INDIANAPOLIS — As reporters entered the Michigan locker room after the Wolverines’ dominant 91-73 win over Arizona, Yaxel Lendeborg wasn’t quite ready to field questions. He was tucked away in the training area, discussing his next steps with the training staff after playing just 15 minutes in the performance.

But when he finished and walked back to his locker moments later, predictably, a horde of media swarmed him. Lendeborg wanted to make one thing extremely clear from the start of his seven-plus-minute scrum.

“I’m playing Monday night regardless,” Lendeborg said. “As long as I can wake up tomorrow and (can) walk, I'm gonna play in that game."

Lendeborg gave the confident, but open answers that you'd want to hear if you're a Michigan fan. Just like he has on the floor all season, he delivered in the press room.

After injuring his knee and ankle in the first half, Lendeborg returned to the game, but clearly gimpy in the second half.

"It didn't really feel too good (in the second half)," he said. "But it wasn't like, bad or detrimental. All my cuts, I felt like two pinchy feelings on both sides of my knee. Coach said at worst, it'd be like an MCL sprain or LCL."

"I would definitely say that my defensive slides (were compromised)," Lendeborg added. "I was very scared to guard out there and once I did a little bit, it didn't feel well. When I was shooting, I tried to get a lateral three up just to see how that would feel. I didn't feel much pain on the plants, so if I play on Monday – or when I play on Monday – I'm gonna be a corner three-point shooter."

In those conversations with the trainers, they explained what the next 44 hours leading into the national championship matchup with UConn will look like for Lendeborg.

"We're gonna spend a lot of time together tomorrow and Monday before the game," he said. "It's a lot of treatment, a lot of time with the trainer, a lot of time away from my teammates, which I'm not gonna like, but it felt like an eternity when we were talking about getting to this stage, so I feel like we're gonna be ready for the moment."

He'll be ready to go when the time comes.

"It's amazing, it doesn't feel real," Lendeborg said of the chance to play for a national championship. "Sitting in a tent back there, just watching the game in the locker room, it's like, man, we can really do this. This is what we've talked about all year, and we're really one step away from getting that goal."

Elliot Cadeau's performance

Despite starting the game 2-for-12 from the field, Michigan point guard Elliot Cadeau had been one of the best players on the floor throughout the first half. It was the best 2-for-12 I'd maybe ever seen.

He ended up finishing the game with 13 points on 5-for-17 along with 10 assists, five rebounds, and four steals. It's his third double-double with assists this year, and second consecutive double-digit assist game.

His teammates and coaches raved.

"We were talking about it especially at halftime," Nimari Burnett said. "He came in and he was like 'I'm two-for-something, I don't know what's going on, I don't know why the shots aren't falling.' But he was laughing. Like he was excited about it because he knew that his aggressiveness was positive for the team. And he also trusts us and we trust him to continue to make plays for everybody on the team including himself."

That laugh is a sign of confidence for Michigan.

"We see him make these shots all day, every day," Roddy Gayle said. "So we were more than comfortable seeing him coming off screens because we see that he's aggressive. He's not really in his mind or nervous. He would just be able to control the game, control the pace of the game, which was very beautiful to see."

"His brilliance," Assistant Coach Mike Boynton told Basket Under Review. "His ability to get guys shots, open shots, in rhythm, on balance, is a special gift and it's certainly something we're thankful for and a big part of the reason we're playing Monday night."

Boynton also quipped that four of Cadeau's missed shots were designed passes that didn't connect, and went in the book as shots.

Frontcourt confidence

It almost felt like certain players were offended that people even thought that Arizona could compete in the frontcourt with Michigan. I was certainly one of those people looking forward to the clash of titans, the two most physical teams in the country all year.

But I also don't blame any Wolverine for taking it personally after seeing what happened afterward.

"We were ready for the game because we knew that people didn't believe we were able to play against them," Aday Mara said. "I feel like we played similar games this season and similar teams, very physical, playing in the paint. And we did a great job. Even though people didn't believe in us, I think we knew that we were able to do that."

"They should feel that way," Boynton said. "We've time and time again shown that collectively, we have a unit that's pretty impressive. The negative of social media is that (these guys) listen to it all the time. The positive of social media is that today, they heard a lot of people saying that Arizona is going to win this game. I think everybody we looked at said they thought we were good, but they thought Arizona was just a little bit better. And I think our guys wanted to show that what happened tonight was possible."

It's not like we hadn't seen this level from Michigan before. I even said on Brackets, Bubbles, and Bid Stealers after Players' Era that the Wolverines didn't need to find that level to win the national championship, but they somehow exceeded it.

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The final score will be a lie. Michigan led this game by 30 in the second half, and its best player was injured and quite literally holding himself back.

Lendeborg made back-to-back threes early in the second half, barely able to move up and down the floor, and they felt like daggers to any possibility that Arizona had to come back and win the game.

And it helped him regain his confidence too.

"(When I got hurt) it definitely felt like I did all of this for nothing in the moment," Lendeborg said. "I definitely had to calm down for a little bit, speak with myself, get out my thoughts to the training staff. They were being very nice to me, being genuine, just assuring me that I'm gonna be okay, so that made me feel a lot better in my heart."

"(Going back out there) 100% helped me," he added. "I didn't feel like I was going to be okay. I was definitely really worried, so once I got out there, I told them I was going to stay to the three-point line and not go to the paint. I just wanted to get a feel for the rim, try as best as I can, because I want to play Monday. So those two shots going in were big for my confidence, and I'll see how I feel tomorrow."

"It means a lot to have a guy who has his future pretty much set in stone as far as his next level playing," Gayle said. "I think it's easy for a guy like that to be able to shut it down, especially when it's a minor injury like that. So his resilience and his ability to come back and put everything on the line for us, just allows all of us to play even harder."

Even with him out of the game for much of the first half, the Wolverines continued to make runs.

"We talked about all year that we have eight starters," Boynton said. "Tonight, one of our starters wasn't at his best, we had some other guys step up and play really well for us. Aday Mara not being the least of which. I thought he dominated the game on both ends of the court. I think he really made it hard for those guys to ever feel comfortable shooting layups around the rim. And then his ability to catch the ball and keep it high and stop himself from getting his shot blocked was really impressive."

"Morez Johnson was a warrior as well, playing against Tobe (Awaka) a lot. But again, Trey McKenney stepped up, Roddy Gayle stepped up. Just a lot of guys, knowing we needed a little bit more from them," Boynton continued.

Nimari Burnett: "In the first ten minutes of the game, I feel like we dictated the pace, even when some shots didn't fall, we were like, we're good because the shots are going to fall and it's just going to increase the lead because we're going to continue to get stops. We were locked in throughout the course of 40 minutes"

Nimari Burnett on whether he could imagine going up by 30: "I didn't, but I also know that potential of this team, that it's possible. I remember talking to our athletic trainers and (Howard Eisley Jr.) and he was like 'the tape is too tight on my wrist,' and I'm like, ' well, you're not about to go in, it's okay,' and then I was like 'you know what, he might go in,' and that's what happened."

Nimari Burnett: "I kind of saw late in the first half they were trying to find different ways to score, different ways to turn the momentum to their side, and I feel we did a really good job of staying focused."

Roddy Gayle on the message that this win sends to college basketball: "I think it's just who we are. Just the style of play. It really sets the foundation as far as Coach May and his domination of college basketball moving forward. To future players to see how he wants to play and where he's able to be in situations like that. It's really really cool to be in these moments and be able to compete."

Aday Mara on his defensive gameplan: "I (have) subbed out in the first four minutes, so they're always saying 'don't even touch nobody in the first four minutes.' So I'm trying that, but today, I think because how physical the game was, we knew we were going to make some fouls. But when you play soft, they're not going to call you the fouls. When you play with aggression, they're gonna hel. They're gonna help the more aggressive guy. I think we just keep the same intensity. The game was so physical that they couldn't call all the fouls."

Michigan has its chance for immortality. A chance to join the list of the greatest college basketball teams of all time if it can defeat UConn on Monday night.

But Lendeborg and the Wolverines have already sent a heck of a message.

"Don't ever doubt Michigan, man," Lendeborg said. "Don't add fuel to the fire. We're a really veteran group. We all play unselfish basketball, we play as hard as we can, and I feel like we're a lot better when we're on the ropes."

"Early in the season, the same thing happened," he continued. "When we got to Vegas, people thought we weren't that good. We went out there and just showed the world. That's what we'll continue to do, and the job's not finished until Monday."