![\"INDIANAPOLIS,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4JQN2QH_AFP__20260405__2269865739__v1__HighRes__MichiganVArizona_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nNew Zealand’s Oscar Goodman playing for the Michigan Wolverines
\nPhoto: PATRICK SMITH\n<\/p>\n
New Zealand teenager Oscar Goodman’s Michigan Wolverines have won the NCAA basketball title after a 37-year drought.<\/p>\n
The Wolverines defeated the Connecticut Huskies 69-63 to claim the coveted college basketball championship for the second time.<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old freshman played limited minutes for the Wolverines this season as the team topped the Big 10 standings and made their way into the NCAA final with a statement win over the Big 12 champion Arizona Wildcats in the Final Four.<\/p>\n
Michigan became the first team to score 90 or more points in five straight tournament games in the lead in to the final.<\/p>\n
In Tuesday’s (NZT) championship final in Indianapolis, Goodman was on the bench and did not get on the court.<\/p>\n
At half-time little separated the teams with the Wolverines ahead 33-29.<\/p>\n
Both teams went on scoring runs but in the end it was Michigan’s defence that helped them lift the title in what was a low-scoring game for them.<\/p>\n
![\"Charlisse](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4JTFKTQ_IMG_6837_jpeg.jpeg\")
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\nWaikato’s Charlisse Leger-Walker is a NCAA champion.
\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n
Jack Salt with the Virginia Cavaliers in 2019 was the first New Zealander to win a NCCA basketball championship.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Charlisse Leger-Walker<\/a> with her UCLA team became the first New Zealand woman to achieve the feat in her final year of college.<\/p>\n Leger-Walker will now put her name forward for the WNBA draft<\/a> next week.<\/p>\n