The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one game this past week as a #1 seed in the National Championship game of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis, and they won it.  On Monday (04/06/2026), they beat (#2 seed) Connecticut 69-63.  Michigan’s final record is 37-3.

What Happened?

Michigan won the National Championship!  They did, they really did it.  After getting to the Championship game several times (most recently, 2013 and 2018) and coming up short, it almost seems surreal that they finally won it all.  They were obviously the best team in the country this season, but that doesn’t always translate into a championship.  This season, it did.  They set a school record for wins, with 37, which is just short of the all-time record for wins in a season (38).  They won the Players Era Festival championship at Thanksgiving, they beat their archrivals (Michigan State) twice, they won the Big Ten regular season championship by 4 games, they almost won the Big Ten Tournament, and they powered through the first 5 games of the Big Dance.  The win in the championship game wasn’t as pretty as the other 5 tournament games, but it was still a solid win.

I’ve got to say it again: Michigan won the National Championship!  Wow, that feels good.

Game Flow

After 5 fairly comfortable wins in the tournament, Michigan was finally in a dogfight.  The game was close and tense the whole way, although Michigan was ahead for most of it.  They opened up a couple 11-point leads, but they could never pull away.  It was a defensive battle, and neither team shot well.

Michigan led for the first 9 minutes, by as many as 5 points, but UConn stayed close.  It was all tied up (13-13) at the 11:10 mark, when UConn went ahead for the first time, 16-13, with 10:23 to go.  They held the lead for about 4 minutes, until Michigan went back ahead (19-18) at the 6:47 mark.  The lead went back and forth for a couple minutes, until the key moment in the game: with 3:18 left in the half and UConn up 25-23, Yaxel Lendeborg missed a 3-pointer (that happened a lot in this game), and Morez Johnson Jr. went up for the offensive rebound.  Johnson was initially called for a foul, but when the officials looked at the replay, they saw that he had been a victim of “hook and hold”.  After review, the officials reversed the foul call on Johnson, and instead called a flagrant foul on the UConn player.  Johnson hit both free throws to tie the game (25-25), then Michigan got the ball and scored another 2 points to go up 27-25.  They never trailed again.  They pushed the lead as high as 5 points, settling for a 4-point lead at halftime (33-29).

Michigan led for the entire 2^nd half, but they could never pull away.  They got their first 11-point lead (48-37) at the 12:56 mark, but UConn cut it right back to 5 points (45-40) with 8:24 left.  Michigan pushed it back up to 11 points (56-45) at the 5:44 mark, but UConn got it back to 6 points (62-56) with 2:30 to go.  It was “hero time” for Trey McKenney: even though Michigan was shooting a miserable 1-for-14 from 3-point range at this point, Trey tried a 3-pointer with 1:50 left, and he swished it.  That gave Michigan a 9-point lead (65-56), which was just enough.  UConn played some brutal defense in the last minute, and Michigan had a hard time even getting the ball in, but it wasn’t enough.  UConn got within 4 points (67-63) with 37 seconds left, but Michigan made their free throws and won the game.

It was an ugly win, but a win nonetheless.

Stats

The game stats were not very good:

Overall shooting – 21/55 = 38.2% (Poor)

3-point shooting – 2/15 = 13.3% (Very poor)

Free throws – 25/28 = 89.3% (Great)

Rebounds – Michigan lost 46-39

Turnovers – Michigan won 10-11

Michigan won this game at the free throw line.

By the way, our old buddy Tarris Reed Jr., who transferred to UConn from Michigan in 2024, had a decent game, but didn’t hurt Michigan much: 4/12 shooting, 13 points, 14 rebounds.  He looked a lot better than he ever did at Michigan.

Who Started?

The starters were Nimari Burnett, Elliot Cadeau, Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg, and Aday Mara.

Who Looked Good?

Cadeau was the leading scorer, with 19 points.  He was named the MOP (Most Outstanding Player) of the Final Four.

Despite an ankle and knee injury, Lendeborg played 36 minutes, and did pretty well: 13 points.  He didn’t shoot very well: 4/13 overall, 0/5 from deep.

Johnson was a force inside, with 12 points and 10 rebounds, for nice double-double.  5 of those rebounds were offensive boards.

Mara had a decent game, with 8 points on 4/7 shooting.  He missed his first 3 shots, then made 4 in a row.

Trey McKenney was the hero off the bench, with his clutch 3-pointer in the closing minutes of the game.  He ended up with 9 points on poor shooting: 2/9 overall, 1/4 from deep.  Ah, but that one shot…

Roddy Gayle Jr. had a quiet game, with 4 points off the bench.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Burnett scored 4 points.  It was kind of a disappointing way for him to end his Michigan career.

Will Tschetter was worthless off the bench, with 0 points.  It was a very disappointing way for him to end his Michigan career.

Who Else Played?

No one else played.

Who Didn’t Play?

Oscar Goodman and Malick Kordel were the able-bodied scholarship players didn’t get to play.  L.J. Cason and Winters Grady are both out with injuries.

None of the Scout Team players (Howard Eisley Jr., Harrison Hochberg, and Charlie May) got to play.

What Does It Mean?

Michigan achieved their ultimate goal: a National Championship.  The details don’t matter.  Sure, it was an ugly game, but an ugly win is still a win.

This Week

Clean out the lockers.  Schedule the parade.  The season is over, and it was a glorious one.

Check back next week the Season Wrap-Up and a Look Ahead.

Go Blue!

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one game this past week as a #1 seed in one of the National Semifinal games of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis, and they won it.  On Saturday (04/04/2026), they beat (#1 seed) Arizona 91-73.  Michigan’s record is now 36-3.

What Happened?

The National Semifinal game between two #1 seeds was expected to be a close, exciting heavyweight battle, but no one told Michigan.  They ran away with the game from the opening possession, and won handily.  It was the most stress-free Final Four game I’ve ever seen.

As their reward, Michigan climbs to the summit: the National Championship game tonight (Monday 04/06/2026) in Indianapolis.

Game Flow

As I mentioned above, Michigan controlled this game from the opening possession.  They went up 2-0 at the 19:45 mark, and never trailed.  Arizona made a free throw to get within one point (2-1) with 18:38 left, and they didn’t score again for 2 minutes and 31 seconds.  Michigan went up 10-1 at the 17:34 mark, and Arizona finally scored with 16:07 left to make it 10-3, but Michigan quickly pushed the lead over 10 points, 16-5 at the 14:29 mark.  They pushed the lead as high as 16 points (26-10) with 10:00 left, when they let Arizona start creeping back into the game.  Arizona went on a 13-2 run to get within 5 points (28-23) at the 6:43 mark, but Michigan recovered, and pushed the lead back up to 18 points (45-27) with 1:47 to go.  They led by 16 points (48-32) at halftime.

In the 2^nd half, Michigan finally pushed their lead over 20 points: 53-32 at the 17:47 mark.  They let Arizona get within 17 points once, then pushed the lead up to 30 points (77-47) with 10:31 to go.  At that point, the game was over.  Michigan kept the lead in the 20s for most of the rest of the game, although Arizona did get within 17 points one more time.  Coach May put in the Scout Team, and Michigan won by 18 points.  It was a good, old-fashioned butt kicking.

Stats

The game stats were pretty good:

Overall shooting – 33/69 = 47.8% (Good)

3-point shooting – 12/27 = 44.4% (Very good)

Free throws – 13/16 = 81.3% (Very good)

Rebounds – Michigan lost 44-40

Turnovers – Michigan won 13-14

Who Started?

The starters were Nimari Burnett, Elliot Cadeau, Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg, and Aday Mara.

Who Looked Good?

Mara was the star of this game, with 26 points on 11/16 shooting.  He also had 9 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.  He was awesome.

Trey McKenney was the next leading scorer for Michigan, with 16 points off the bench.  He shot 6/9 overall, 4/6 from deep.  He is a fantastic 6th man.

Cadeau scored 13 points on lousy shooting: 5/17 overall, 3/7 from deep.  He also had 10 assists, for a sweet double-double.

Lendeborg scored 11 points on great shooting: 3/4 overall, 3/3 from deep.  Unfortunately, he only played 14 minutes.  He got in foul trouble early, then he sprained his ankle and wrenched his knee.  He played a little bit on his gimpy ankle and knee, and he did all right, but he was clearly not 100%.  He says he’s going to give it a go in the National Championship game.

Johnson scored 10 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.

Roddy Gayle Jr. scored 9 points off the bench.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Burnett scored 6 points.  Michigan needs more offense from him.

Will Tschetter was worthless off the bench, with 0 points.

Who Else Played?

Since the game was a blowout, several of the non-mainstream players got to play in the final minute.

Howard Eisley Jr. didn’t attempt a shot.

Oscar Goodman missed 2 free throws.

Malick Kordel didn’t attempt a shot.

Charlie May didn’t attempt a shot.

Who Didn’t Play?

All the able-bodied scholarship players got to play.  L.J. Cason and Winters Grady are both out with injuries.

Harrison Hochberg was the only Scout Team player who didn’t get to play.

What Does It Mean?

This is what Michigan has been playing for all season: a shot at the National Championship.  The Players Era championship was great.  The Big Ten regular season championship was great.  Making the Sweet Sixteen and Final Four was great.  But, the ultimate goal has always been the National Championship.  This is Michigan’s big chance.  They have the best team they’ve had in years, maybe ever.  They just need to play sharp for one more game.

On to the National Championship game!

This Week

This week Michigan plays one game in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis, and what a game it is: the National Championship game. On Monday (04/06/2026, 8:50 p.m., TBS) they play the (#2 seed) Connecticut for the National Championship.

Connecticut is currently 34-5, with impressive wins over (#7) BYU, (#13) Illinois (twice), Kansas, (#18) Florida, (#25) Seton Hall (twice), Villanova (twice), (#15) St. John’s, UCLA, (#11) Michigan State, and (#1) Duke.  They lost to (#4) Arizona, (#22) St. John’s (twice), Creighton, and Marquette.  They certainly have a noteworthy player: Tarris Reed Jr.  Tarris played for Michigan for two seasons (2022-2023 and 2023-2024), and he left when UM coach Juwan Howard was fired.  He had a spotty two years in Ann Arbor, and he always seemed like a power forward who was forced to play center.  He has blossomed at UConn, and is a key player for them.  He will undoubtedly want to show his old school how much he has grown.  Besides Reed (6’11”), UConn also has a 7’2” player, and a 7’1” player, so they’ve got plenty of height.  As you would expect in a National Championship game, UConn is very good, and Michigan will have to keep playing at the high level they’ve shown in the first five games of the Big Dance.  While UConn is good, they’re no better than some of the teams Michigan has beaten this season, like Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arizona.

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.

Go Blue!

I’m away from my desktop and laptop, using my iPad, so this report will be shorter and less detailed this week.  Sorry.

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games this past week as the #1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament in Chicago, and they won both of them.  On Friday (03/27/2026), they beat (#4 seed) Alabama 90-77 in the Sweet Sixteen, then on Sunday (03/29/2026), they beat (#6 seed) Tennessee 95-62 in the Elite Eight.  Michigan’s record is now 35-3.

What Happened?

Michigan is going to the Final Four!  They dominated both opponents this week, especially Tennessee, and their reward is a trip to Indianapolis.

They were behind early in both games, but they kept their composure and eventually got both games under control.

Game Flow

Alabama jumped out to an early lead, up 11-2 at the 16:16 mark.  Michigan fought back, and tied it up (11-11) with 14:20 to go. The lead went back and forth for the next few minutes, and it was still tied (22-22) at the 9:59 mark.  Alabama built up a small lead (28-22) with 8:38 left, but Michigan hung with them, and never let them get too far ahead.  UM finally caught them and went ahead, 40-38, with 3:18 to go.  The lead went back and forth again for a minute, then Michigan built up a 6-point lead (47-41) at the 1:58 mark.  As they have done so many times this season, Michigan played miserably for the last 2 minutes of the half, letting Alabama go on an 8-0 run to lead at halftime, 49-47.  Sigh.  If Michigan loses a game in the Big Dance, it’s probably going to be because of this tendency.

Fortunately, Michigan started the 2nd half with a 13-2 run, giving them a 60-51 lead at the 15:34 mark.  They never trailed again.  Alabama got as close as 5 points (62-57) with 14:33 to go, but Michigan pushed the lead up to 10 points (67-57) at the 13:23 mark, and that was it for Alabama; they never got closer than 8 points the rest of the way.  Michigan pushed the lead as high as 16 points, winning by 13.  It was a glorious victory.

The Tennessee game was back-and-forth early, with UT up 16-14 at the 11:22 mark.  That’s when the game got away from them.  Michigan went on a devastating 21-0 run over the next 5 minutes, to go up 19 points (35-16) with 6:10 to go.  That was it for Tennessee; they never got closer than 15 points the rest of the game.  Michigan pushed their lead up to 20 points (38-18) at the 4:40 mark, and led by 22 points (48-26) at halftime.  They kept it going in the 2nd half, going up by 30 points (64-34) at the 14:02 mark, and getting the lead as high as 34 points.  Coach May put in the Scout Team, and Michigan still won by 33 points.  It was a good, old-fashioned butt kicking.

Stats

The stats for the Alabama game were very good:

Overall shooting – 33/66 = 50.0% (Good)

3-point shooting – 13/27 = 48.1% (Great)

Free throws – 11/20 = 55.0% (Lousy)

Rebounds – Michigan won 46-32

Turnovers – Michigan lost 8-7

The stats for the Tennessee game were pretty good:

Overall shooting – 29/56 = 51.8% (Very good)

3-point shooting – 10/27 = 37.0% (Good)

Free throws – 27/37 = 73.0% (Good)

Rebounds – Tied 42-42

Turnovers – Michigan lost 11-9

Who Started?

The starters for both games were Nimari Burnett, Elliot Cadeau, Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg, and Aday Mara.

Who Looked Good?

Lendeborg was the star in both games, with 23 and 27 points.  He also had 12 rebounds and 7 assists in the Alabama game, for another double-double.  He was in the zone in both games.

Trey McKenney was the only other Michigan player to hit double figures in both games, with 17 and 12 points off the bench. He is a fantastic 6th man.

Johnson had one good game (12 points vs. Tennessee) and one decent game (7 points vs. Alabama).

Mara had one good game (11 points vs. Tennessee) and one decent game (8 points vs. Alabama).

Burnett had one good game (10 points vs. Tennessee) and one lousy game (2 points vs. Alabama).  It’s a shame he had such a quiet game against Alabama, since that’s where he transferred to Michigan from.

Cadeau had one very good game (17 points vs. Alabama) and one decent game (8 points vs. Tennessee).

Roddy Gayle Jr. had one good game (16 points vs. Alabama) and one decent game (8 points vs. Tennessee) off the bench.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Will Tschetter had another quiet week off the bench, with 0 and 2 points.

Who Else Played?

Since the Tennessee game was a blowout, a few of the non-mainstream players got to play.

Howard Eisley Jr. chucked up a couple 3-point attempts.  They both missed.

Oscar Goodman hit his only shot, a 2-pointer.

Charlie May hit his only shot, a 3-pointer.  It was very exciting.  As the Facebook guy for UMGoBlue.com pointed out, Charlie has more points in Elite Eight games (3) than Jeremy Fears Jr. of Michigan State (2).

Who Didn’t Play?

Malick Kordel  was the only able-bodied scholarship player who didn’t get to play this week.  L.J. Cason and Winters Grady are both out with injuries.

Harrison Hochberg was the only Scout Team player who didn’t get to play this week.

What Does It Mean?

This is a Really Big Deal.  Michigan has had a great season, and they’re a #1 seed, but they still had to actually play and win the games to get to the Final Four.  They did, and they looked great doing it.

On to the Final Four!

This Week

This week Michigan plays one game in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis as a #1 seed. On Saturday (04/04/2026, 8:39 p.m., TBS), they play (#1 seed) Arizona.  If they win that game, they’ll play again on Monday (04/06/2026, 8:50 p.m., TBS) against the winner of the (#2 seed) Connecticut vs. (#3 seed) Illinois game for the National Championship, but that game is next week in my schedule of Monday – Sunday.

Arizona is currently 36-2, with impressive wins over (#3) Florida, (#15) UCLA, (#3) Connecticut, (#20) Auburn, (#12) Alabama, (#13) BYU, (#23) BYU, (#2) Houston, (#14) Kansas, (#6) Iowa State, (#7) Iowa State, (#5) Houston, (#14) Arkansas, and (#8) Purdue.  Both their losses were to ranked teams: (#9) Kansas and (#16) Texas Tech.  They played a tough schedule, and they won most of them.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, but they do have some height: two 6’11” players and one 7’2” player.  This will be a very challenging game, which is exactly what you would expect against the #2 team in the country, in the national semifinal game.  Michigan can certainly beat Arizona, but they’ll have to keep playing at the level they’ve been playing in the tournament.

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.

Go Blue!

P.S. I’m sorry this article is late this week, but I have an excuse: I’m finishing writing it on my iPad on an Air France flight from Paris to Detroit.  My wife and I are returning today from 18 days in Spain and Portugal.  We had a great time, but it was hard to follow the Wolverines from Spain and Portugal, especially with the 5-6 hour time difference.  I followed the Big Ten Tournament games using the ESPN app to monitor the scores while we were out sightseeing in Madrid.  I followed the score of the Howard game using the ESPN app while watching a performance by Fado singers in Lisbon, Portugal.  I only saw the halftime and final scores for the Saint Louis game, since we were watching an excellent Flamenco dance performance in Seville that evening.  I got to watch the whole Alabama game using the Xfinity stream app from my hotel room in Barcelona, but the game was on from 1:00 a.m. to 3:15 a.m. local time (CET).  Finally, I got to watch most of the Tennessee game using the Xfinity app from my hotel room in Barcelona, but the wonky WiFi kept buffering the feed.  I wrote part of this article on the bus ride back to Barcelona from Andorra, part of it in my hotel room in Barcelona, part of it on the Air France flight from Barcelona to Paris, and the rest of it on the Air France flight from Paris to Detroit.  Phew!

I’ll be home with my big computer to write this week’s article.

I’m away from my desktop and laptop, using my iPad, so this report will be shorter and less detailed this week.  Sorry.

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games this past week as the #1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament in Buffalo, NY, and they won both of them.  On Thursday (03/19/2026), they beat (#16 seed) Howard 101-80, then on Saturday (03/21/2026), they beat (#9 seed) Saint Louis 95-72.  Michigan’s record is now 33-3.

What Happened?

For the second year in a row, Michigan is headed to the Sweet 16!  They won the games in the first and second rounds convincingly, although they did have a few scary moments. In both games, once they started pulling away in the 2nd half, they didn’t look back.

Game Flow

Michigan never trailed in the Howard game, although they did let Howard get within 2 points early in the 2nd half.  Michigan scored an easy slam dunk to start the game, just 8 seconds in.  Howard tied it up 2-2, and that was the last time Michigan wasn’t leading.  Michigan went ahead by 10 points (16-6) at the 13:41 mark, and it looked like they were going to run away with the game early.  Not so fast.  After missing their first five 3-point shots, Howard got hot and made their next seven 3-pointers in a row.  That kept the game close, although Michigan never lost their lead.  The lead was in the 6-8 point range for most of the half, getting as low as 3 points once.  With 57 seconds left in the half, Michigan had their largest lead of the game to that point: 11 points (50-39).  As they have done too often this season, Michigan had a terrible time closing out the 1st half.  They let Howard go on a 7-0 run in the last 57 seconds, cutting the Michigan lead to just 4 points, 50-46. Yikes.

It got worse in the opening minutes of the 2nd half, when Howard cut the lead to 2 points (50-48) at the 19:44 mark, and got the ball back with a chance to tie the game or go ahead.  Fortunately, they turned the ball over, and Michigan kept the lead, and started to pull away.  Michigan pushed their lead back to 9 points (61-52) with 17:18 left, then to 10 points (68-58) at the 15:00 mark.  That was it for Howard; they never got the lead down under 10 points again.  Michigan pushed it to 20 points (85-65) with 8:24 left, and over 30 points (98-67) with 3:27 to go.  Coach May put in the subs, and Howard made their score look closer than it really was, losing by “only” 21 points.

The Saint Louis game was much closer, with 3 ties and 7 lead changes.  SLU led for most of the first 3 minutes, but Michigan went ahead (11-10) at the 16:39 mark.  They got the lead up to 8 points (20-12) with 15:16 left, but SLU came back with a 15-7 run over the next 5 minutes to go back in front by 4 points (27-23) at the 10:22 mark.  Michigan went back on top (28-27) with 9:36 left, and they never trailed again.  They pushed their 1st half lead as high as 12 points (46-34) at the 1:50 mark, and led by 9 points (48-39) at halftime.

SLU made one last run at the start of the 2nd half, pulling to within 4 points (57-53) at the 15:50 mark, but that was it for them.  Michigan pushed the lead back up to 8 points (61-53) in 40 seconds, and finally got it back over 10 points (69-58) with 11:17 left.  SLU never got closer than that the rest of the game as Michigan pushed their lead past 20 points (84-63) at the 6:33 mark, and never let it get below 20 the rest of the way.  Coach May brought in the subs for the last minute, and Michigan won by 23.

Stats

The stats for the Howard game were fabulous:

Overall shooting – 37/55 = 67.3% (Great)

3-point shooting – 11/24 = 45.8% (Great)

Free throws – 16/20 = 80.0% (Very good)

Rebounds – Michigan won 35-23

Turnovers – Michigan won 4-8

The stats for the Saint Louis game were very good:

Overall shooting – 34/61 = 55.7% (Very good)

3-point shooting – 11/23 = 47.8% (Great)

Free throws – 16/23 = 69.6% (Good)

Rebounds – Michigan won 42-27

Turnovers – Michigan lost 9-8

Who Started?

The starters for both games were Nimari Burnett, Elliot Cadeau, Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg, and Aday Mara.

Who Looked Good?

Johnson had a great week, with 21 and 15 points.  His 21 points vs. Howard were the game high for Michigan, and he also had 10 rebounds, for an impressive double-double.  He is just the fifth player in NCAA Tournament history to score 20 points, grab 10 rebounds, and shoot 100%.  He was 8/8 overall, 1/1 from deep.  He was awesome.

Mara also had a great week, with 19 and 16 points. He was unguardable for both opponents, and shot very well: 8/10 vs. Howard and 7/12 vs. SLU.

Burnett had a good week, with 15 and 11 points.

Lendeborg had a great game vs. SLU (game-high 25 points) and a good game vs. Howard (9 points).  He was unstoppable vs. SLU.

Cadeau had one good game (12 points vs. SLU) and one quiet game (5 points vs. Howard).

Trey McKenney had a good week off the bench, with 10 and 8 points.

Roddy Gayle Jr. had a good week off the bench, with 14 and 3 points.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Will Tschetter had a quiet week off the bench, with 6 and 2 points.

Who Else Played?

Both games were blowouts at the end, so several of the non-mainstream players got to play in both games.

Howard Eisley Jr. didn’t attempt a shot in either game.

Oscar Goodman scored 3 points vs. SLU on an “and one” basket.  He missed his only shot vs. Howard.

Malick Kordel scored 2 points vs. Howard on a dunk.  He didn’t attempt a shot vs. SLU.

Charlie May didn’t attempt a shot in either game.

Who Didn’t Play?

All the able-bodied scholarship players got to play this week.  L.J. Cason and Winters Gradyare both out with injuries.

Harrison Hochberg was the only Scout Team player who didn’t get to play this week.

What Does It Mean?

These two wins were huge.  As a #1 seed, Michigan is expected to make it to the Final Four, but they have to win the games leading up to it, and these two games were part of that.  They looked very good, and they showed real composure and confidence when things got (a little) scary.

On to the Sweet 16!

This Week

This week Michigan plays at least one game in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds of the NCAA Tournament, as the #1 seed in the Midwest Region in Chicago. On Friday (03/27/2026, 7:35 p.m. EDT, TBS), they play (#4 seed) Alabama.  If they win that game, they’ll play again on Sunday (03/29/2026, Time: TBD, TV: TBD) against the winner of the (#6 seed) Tennessee vs. (#2 seed) Iowa State game.

Alabama is currently 25-9, with impressive wins over (#5) St. John’s, (#8) Illinois, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Auburn (twice), (#20) Arkansas, (#22) Tennessee, and Texas Tech (in the NCAA Tournament).  They have lost to (#2) Purdue, (#12) Gonzaga, (#1) Arizona, (#11) Vanderbilt, Texas, Tennessee, (#19) Florida, and Georgia.  They have one noteworthy player: Labaron Philon Jr.  They have a lot of height: two 7-footers, two 6’11” players, and two 6’10” players.  As you would expect in a Sweet 16 game against a #4 seed, this will be an extremely challenging game.  Michigan is playing well, but so is Alabama.  Michigan can win this game, but they need to stay sharp.

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.  I’ll still be out of town, with just my iPad, so my report will be similar to this one.

Go Blue!

I’m away from my desktop and laptop, using my iPad, so this report will be shorter and less detailed this week.  Sorry.

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played three games this past week as the #1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago, and they won two and lost the third.  They finished 2nd in the tournament.  On Friday (03/13/2026), they beat (#8 seed) Ohio State 71-67, on Saturday (03/14/2026), they beat (#5 seed) Wisconsin 68-65, then on Sunday (03/15/2026), they lost to (#7 seed) Purdue 80-72.  Michigan’s record is now 31-3 (19-1 in Big Ten).

What Happened?

Michigan fought their way to the tournament championship game, and they were tied at halftime, but a disastrous start to the 2nd half put them in a hole they just couldn’t dig out of.  They almost won the tournament, but not quite.

The two wins to get them to the championship game were very exciting.

Game Flow

OSU: 

Michigan led for all but 54 seconds of the game, but never pulled away.  Michigan led by as many as 11 points (25-14 at the 8:36 mark in the 1st half), but they usually were ahead by 5-7 points.  OSU got within 4 points at halftime, 39-35.  The 2nd half was much closer, with Michigan only leading by 2-4 points most of the way.  They pushed their lead up to 7 points (59-52) at the 9:20 mark, but it didn’t last.  OSU went ahead for the first time all game, 61-60, with 5:40 left.  This was the start of their 54 seconds; by the 4:46 mark Michigan had tied it up, 62-62.  Michigan never trailed again, and won by 4.

Wisconsin:

The Wisconsin game was much closer, with 7 ties and 6 lead changes.  Wisconsin led for more of the game, but Michigan never let Wisconsin get too far ahead.  The 1st half was a seesaw affair for most of the half, until Wisconsin pulled ahead by 8 points (26-18) at the 4:26 mark.  That woke Michigan up, and they fought their way back to tie the game up at halftime, 28-28.  Michigan started the 2nd half strong, and opened up an 11-point lead (42-31) at the 14:20 mark.  They pushed their lead to 15 points (54-39) with 9:50 to go, and it looked like Michigan was going to run away with the game.  No one told Wisconsin, and they stormed back with a 17-2 run to tie it up (56-56) at the 5:31 mark.  Wisconsin went up by 4 points (62-58) with 3:50 left, but that was it for them.  Once Michigan tied the game up (62-62) at the 1:51 mark, they never trailed again.  It was tied 65-65 in the last 29 seconds, and Michigan held the ball for the last shot.  It worked: Yaxel Lendeborg hit a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to win the game.  It was very exciting.

Purdue:

The first half of the Purdue game was close and tense, with 4 ties and 5 lead changes.  It was all tied up at halftime, 38-38.  The 2nd half was a train wreck.  Purdue went ahead by 7 points (45-38) before the first media timeout (17:45 mark), and that was it for Michigan.  Purdue never trailed in the 2nd half, leading by as many as 14 points (60-46 at the 12:25 mark).  Michigan did manage to get within 5 points once (68-63 with 3:47 left), but Purdue pushed their lead back up to 11 points, and won by 8.

Stats

OSU: 

Overall shooting – 24/53 = 45.3% (OK)

3-point shooting – 5/17 = 29.4% (Poor)

Free throws – 18/24 = 75.0% (OK)

Rebounds – Michigan won 34-32

Turnovers – Michigan won 9-10

Wisconsin:

Overall shooting – 25/58 = 43.1% (OK)

3-point shooting – 8/25 = 32.0% (OK)

Free throws – 10/12 = 83.3% (Good)

Rebounds – Michigan won 40-29

Turnovers – Michigan lost 14-11

Purdue:

Overall shooting – 30/64 = 46.9% (OK)

3-point shooting – 7/24 = 29.2% (OK)

Free throws – 5/6 = 83.3% (Good)

Rebounds – Michigan won 33-29

Turnovers – Michigan lost 7-2

Who Started?

The starters for all three games were Nimari Burnett, Elliot Cadeau, Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg, and Aday Mara.

Who Looked Good?

Mara had a great week, with 17, 16, and 14 points.

Cadeau also had a great week, with 15, 15, and 10 points.  He also had 10 assists in the Purdue game, for a double-double.

Lendeborg had two good games (12 points vs. Wisconsin and 20 points vs. Purdue) and one lousy game (6 points vs. OSU).

Burnett had one good game (12 points vs. Purdue) and two lousy games (6 points vs. OSU and 4 points vs. Wisconsin).

Johnson had one good game (11 points vs. OSU), one decent game (8 points vs. Purdue), and one lousy game (4 points vs. Wisconsin).

Trey McKenney had two good games (12 points vs. OSU and 10 points vs. Wisconsin) and one decent game (6 points vs. Purdue) off the bench.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Will Tschetter was worthless again off the bench, with 0, 3, and 0 points.

Roddy Gayle Jr. had a quiet week off the bench, with 4, 4, and 2 points.

Who Else Played?

No one else played this week.

Who Didn’t Play?

The scholarship players who didn’t play were Oscar Goodman and Malick Kordel.  L.J. Cason and Winters Grady are both out with injuries.

None of the Scout Team players (Howard Eisley Jr., Harrison Hochberg, and Charlie May) got to play this week.

What Does It Mean?

On the one hand, the Big Ten Tournament didn’t mean anything to Michigan; they kept their #1 seed in their preferred host site.  On the other hand, the loss to Purdue in the championship game halted Michigan’s 6-game winning streak, and may have hurt their momentum and confidence going into the Big Dance.

This Week

This week Michigan plays at least one game in the NCAA Tournament, as the #1 seed in the Midwest Region in Buffalo, NY.  On Thursday (03/19/2026, Time: TBD, TV: TBD), they play the #16 seed (the winner of the UMBC/Howard game).  If they win that game, they’ll play again on Saturday (03/21/2026, Time: TBD, TV: TBD) against the winner of the (#8 seed) Georgia vs. (#9 seed) St. Louis game.

The other high seeds in the Midwest Region are:

#2 Iowa State

#3 Virginia

#4 Alabama

Michigan is the only Big Ten team in the Midwest Region.

The other Big Ten teams in the Big Dance are:

#3 (East) Michigan State 

#7 (East) UCLA

#8 (East) Ohio State

#3 (South) Illinois

#4 (South) Nebraska 

#9 (South) Iowa

#2 (West) Purdue

#5 (West) Wisconsin 

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.  I’ll still be out of town, with just my iPad, so my report will be similar to this one.

Go Blue!