ATLANTA — Months before he became a lifelong Louisville legend this weekend, Luke Hancock's teammates had an inkling he was special.

Two players showed up late to one of the first days of offseason weight training Hancock participated in at Louisville. Undeterred by his status as the newest player on the team, the George Mason transfer confronted his teammates and told them firmly they needed to be on time in the future.

"The new guy yelling at somebody? That's crazy," Louisville guard Michael Baffour said. "You don't come into a situation where you don't know anybody and say things like that. He really displayed his leadership there."

Hancock led Louisville this season with both his words and play as he proved under difficult circumstances in Atlanta. With his gravely ill 70-year-old father in the Georgia Dome stands watching him play for maybe the final time in person, Hancock delivered the two greatest games of his life, becoming the first non-starter to earn Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four in the process.

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Two nights after scoring 14 of his 20 points after halftime against Wichita State to spark a second-half Louisville rally from a 12-point deficit, Hancock again saved the Cardinals when they trailed Michigan by 12 in Monday night's title game. He turned momentum in Louisville's favor, burying four rapid-fire threes in the final three minutes of the first half to help the Cardinals pull within one by halftime and ultimately earn an 82-76 win.

Hancock came up big once more with the game on the line, knocking down a key 3-pointer to extend Louisville's lead to 10 with under four minutes to go and sinking two late free throws to finish with a team-high 22 points. Those buckets were a thrill for Hancock both because they helped secure Louisville's first championship since 1986 and because they came in front of his father.

Read More »from Already a leader behind the scenes, Luke Hancock delivers on the floor too in Atlanta

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Louisville won its third men's basketball national title in the Georgia Dome on Monday, beating Michigan 82-76, and back home fans took to the streets to celebrate.

Based on early reports from the Louisville media, it appears Cardinals fans weren't following in the footsteps of Kentucky fans who burned couches and overturned cars a year ago when the Wildcats beat Louisville in the Final Four to advance to the 2012 national title game.

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That might change as the party continues into the night.

Louisville fans might want to save a little energy. They could have another celebration Tuesday night when the Louisville women take on Connecticut in the women's national championship game.

More NCAA tournament coverage from Yahoo! Sports
• Bad call on Trey Burke block a turning point in title game
• Freshman's crazy alley-oop punctuates Cardinals' first-half comeback
• Louisville earns redemption, third national title
• Rick Pitino

Read More »from They’re partying in the streets in Louisville celebrating the Cardinals’ third national title

ATLANTA - Every game has a moment where the momentum irrevocably shifts in one team's direction, a play that could go either way but goes the way of the winners. In some cases, it's a buzzer-beater; in others, it's the opening tip.

Block or foul? (Getty Images)When that turning point comes in the form of a dunk, or a long-range bomb, or even a key steal, it's understandable — painful, but understandable — to the losing team. But when that turning point comes on a referee's whistle, well ... that's a little tougher to take.

Both Final Four semifinal games saw the referees play a significant role in the closing moments – Wichita State lost a controversial jump-ball possession call to Louisville, and Syracuse saw a charging call rob it of a chance to take down Michigan. Two key moments, two referee-aided momentum shifts. And on Monday night, there came a third.

The situation: just over five minutes left in the game. Michigan had surrendered every bit of its 12-point lead and more, trailing 67-64. Spike Albrecht's

Read More »from Trey Burke’s block-that-wasn’t on Peyton Siva shifted the momentum of the NCAA championship

Somebody forgot to tell Rick Pitino about the postgame fireworks at the national title game.

Pitino became the first coach to win a national championship at two different schools Monday when Louisville beat Michigan 82-76 in Atlanta.

Television cameras caught Pitino ducking for cover reacting to the fireworks just before shaking hands with Michigan counterpart John Beilein.

The Basketball Hall of Fame officially announced Monday that Pitino has earned induction. Another Hall of Fame coach was watching tonight's game and noted on Twitter Pitino's reaction to the fireworks.

Did Rick think someone was shooting at him?

— Phil Jackson (@PhilJackson11) April 9, 2013

NCAA tournament video from Yahoo! Sports

More NCAA tournament coverage from Yahoo! Sports
• Freshman's crazy alley-oop punctuates Cardinals' first-half comeback
• Louisville earns redemption, third national title
• Rick Pitino caught off guard by celebration fireworks
• Little-known Spike Albrecht lights up first half of

Read More »from Fireworks surprise Louisville coach Rick Pitino in moments after historic championship

ATLANTA — Two seconds still remained in Monday night's national title game when the party began.

As a sea of delirious red-clad Louisville fans pumped their fists, exchanged high-fives and raised their arms in victory, the Cardinals players and coaches did the same on the floor in celebration of a victory they had dreamed of since this time last year.

Three hundred seventy-three days after its unexpected Final Four run came crashing to a halt against a superior Kentucky team last March, Louisville experienced the same joy its rival had at the Cardinals' expense. Behind 22 points from Luke Hancock, 18 from Peyton Siva and 15 from Chane Behanan, Louisville edged Michigan 82-76 in a scintillating national title game, delivering the school's third national championship and its first since 1986.

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"We came up short last year, but that drove us this season," Wayne Blackshear said. "All the hard work we went through this summer, the losing streak this season, it's all worth it because of this moment. This feeling right here, winning a national championship, it's indescribable."

If just getting to the Final Four for the first time in seven years made last season a clear-cut success for Louisville, the Cardinals faced greater pressure this March to finish the job. Not only did they return five of their top seven players from last season, they also entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 overall seed after catching fire in the second half of league play and rolling to the Big East tournament title.

Louisville won't be remembered as a dominant champion in the mold of a 2012 Kentucky or a 2009 North Carolina, but the Cardinals did not collapse under the burden of high expectations. They finished the season on a 16-game win streak after a five-overtime loss to Notre Dame in mid-February, a stretch that culminated with comeback victories over Wichita State and Michigan in Atlanta.

Read More »from Louisville earns redemption for last year’s Final Four loss, capturing its third national title

(Getty Images)Long before he commanded the nation's attention with an unreal performance in the first half of the NCAA title game, Spike Albrecht was just a boy who loved baseball.

And it was that love for baseball that earned Michigan's freshman guard his unique nickname while growing up. As the story goes, Michael Joseph Albrecht received his first pair of baseball spikes when he was just 5 years old and he liked them so much that he refused to take them off — even if he wasn't on the diamond.

He even wore them on the court while playing basketball, his father told USA Today earlier this week.

"I just started wearing them everywhere," Spike Albrecht told MGoBlue.com this week. "I was wearing them out to church and out to eat and people started calling me 'Spike.' I think my grandpa started it and it just kind of stuck. Here I am, 20 years old and people are still calling me Spike."

What's really funny is that Spike isn't the only one with a notable nickname when the family gets together for Thanksgiving. USA Today reports that his brother Charles goes by "Chachi" while his other brother Stephen goes by "T-Baby."

Read More »from How did Spike Albrecht get his nickname?

Louisville freshman forward Montrezl Harrell provided the highlight dunk of the first half of the national title game when he smashed a beautiful ally-oop pass from Peyton Siva through the rim in the final 25 seconds.

Harrell's dunk punctuated a Louisville run by giving the Cardinals the lead after they had fallen behind the Wolverines by 12 points earlier in the half. Michigan managed to retake the lead 38-37 at halftime on free throws in the final seconds.

While Harrell's dunk was a thing of beauty, the half was dominated hot shooting of Michigan backup point guard Spike Albrecht and Louisville forward Luke Hancock.

More NCAA tournament coverage from Yahoo! Sports

• Bad call on Trey Burke block a turning point in title game
• Freshman's crazy alley-oop punctuates Cardinals' first-half comeback
• Louisville earns redemption, third national title
• Rick Pitino caught off guard by celebration fireworks

Read More »from Freshman’s crazy dunk punctuated Louisville’s wild first-half run in title game

Spike Albrecht (Getty Images)

ATLANTA — The best thing that happened to Michigan in the first half of Monday night's NCAA title game was the national player of the year picking up two fouls in the opening nine minutes.

Once Trey Burke went to the bench, the Spike Albrecht show began.

Albrecht, a 5-foot-11 freshman who played sparingly behind Burke this season, erupted for 17 points in the first half of Monday's national title game to lead Michigan to a 38-37 halftime lead. The backup point guard did a little bit of everything, burying all four 3-pointers he attempted, blowing by Louisville defenders for layups and even fueling a fast break with an outlet pass thrown from his backside.

[Slideshow: Best action from NCAA championship]

When Albrecht scored his final basket of the half by using a hesitation dribble to shake Louisville's Tim Henderson for a driving layup, even the Michigan bench couldn't believe what they were seeing. They sprinted off the bench at the timeout and mobbed the unheralded freshman as he jogged off the floor with a huge grin on his face.

Louisville fans were no doubt typing Albrecht's name into their favorite search engines to figure out who was beating them because the freshman is far from a household name even in college hoops circles.

Appalachian State was the only Division I school interested enough in Albrecht to offer the Northfield Mt. Hermon Prep guard a scholarship until Michigan learned of him in March 2012. The Wolverines were desperate for a point guard because they feared Burke might turn pro after his freshman year, so they quickly offered Albrecht a scholarship and promised him a reserve role if Burke remained and the chance to compete for a starting gig if he left.

Read More »from Michigan’s Spike Albrecht introduces himself to America with the half of his life