Good morning, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Happy Thursday, everybody.

Happy March Madness.

Let the dancing truly begin.

It is Thursday, March 19th, 2026.

This is the Michigan Insider.

This is the Big 1050 WTCA online at the big 1050.com.

And this morning, we are live at UteTech, our friends with all the IT solutions.

And they, of course, have this awesome event for their clients every single year on the first day of the NCAA tournament.

And they've got the big screens, they've got other screens, they've got screens everywhere.

Because we're going to be watching basketball here later on today.

And we are here kind of as their tip-off party for their big March Madness Day with their clients.

And it's always fun to be here with our friends at Utech.

It's always fun to be on the air on the Thursday morning that the NCAA tournament officially gets underway.

And so to get to that conversation yesterday, the Michigan men's basketball team,

they are in Buffalo. They traveled on Tuesday. And yesterday they had immediate availability.

And we heard from Mariz Johnson Jr. We heard from Yaxa Lindenborg. We heard from a dime

Maro. They sat at the podium together. And then we heard from Dusty May as well. So we're going to

bring all that to you coming up in a little bit here on the Michigan Insider on the Big 1050 WTKA online at the big 1050.com. Yack says his ankle, he did, you know, he tweaked that ankle. He rolled it a little bit. And so it's not 100% yet, but he's getting closer. And they shouldn't need him at 100% in game one. They probably will, though, moving forward. So the quicker that he is back to 100%, the better off they're going to be. Now, if you look around the country, a lot of teams are banged up. So Michigan's not the only one, but you already have the LJ case and injury, which has definitely impacted this team. And now you have this where it's a slight concern, not a major concern, but a slight concern,

but obviously not too much of a concern against Howard tonight.

But when they play either Georgia or SLO on Saturday after, I guess I shouldn't bank on the

win tonight, but when they advance and then they play the 8-9 winner, whether it's Slu or it is or Georgia, both of those teams like to score. And we know Michigan likes to get up and down the floor, and that's great, but you need Yax to do that because he's a big part of that. So we'll hear from Marez Yaxon and Die, get that update from them, Dusty May as well.

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