The (#1) University of Michigan men’s basketball team’s 2025-2026 season is over.  They finished the season with a record of 37-3 (19-1 in Big Ten).  They finished all alone in 1^st place in the regular season standings (by 4 games), lost in the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament, and won the National Championship in the NCAA Tournament.

Season Wrap-Up

This season was the best season in Michigan men’s basketball history.  Period.  Michigan set a new record for wins in a season (37), and won the National Championship.  Statistically, this team was the second best team in last 50 years, behind only the 1999 Duke team.  It was a truly special team and a truly special season.

Normally, at this point I’d talk about “good wins” and “bad wins” and “good losses” and “bad losses”, but this season was made up almost entirely of “good wins”.

The 3 losses all came to teams that ended up ranked in the final AP Top 25:

• Home vs. (#25) Wisconsin – 01/10/2026 91-88
• Neutral court vs. (#4) Duke – 02/21/2026 68-63
• Neutral court vs. (#6) Purdue – 03/15/2026 80-72

Only 5 of the wins were even close (less than 4 points = one possession):

• Neutral court vs. Wake Forest – 11/11/2025 85-84
• At Penn State – 01/06/2026 74-72
• Home vs. (#5) Nebraska – 01/27/2026 75-72
• At Iowa – 03/05/2026 71-68
• Neutral court vs. (#23) Wisconsin – 03/14/2026 68-65

Look at that: Michigan only lost one game at home, and only had one other close game at home.  On the road, Michigan was undefeated (11-0).  Their other two losses were on neutral courts (12-2).

Michigan won:

• 29 games by at least 10 points
• 16 games by at least 20 points
• 11 games by at least 30 points
• 7 games by at least 40 points

Even though all the wins were important, some were more important than the rest:

• Home vs. Oakland – 11/03/2025 121-78  This was the season opener for Michigan, and it gave us some idea of the firepower that Michigan had.  It was also the season high for points.

• Neutral court vs. Wake Forest – 11/11/2025 85-84  This was an important game because Michigan (barely) lost to Wake Forest last season.

• At TCU – 11/14/2025 67-63  This was Michigan’s first true road game of the season.

• Neutral court vs. San Diego State – 11/24/2025 94-54  This was the first game of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.  SDSU was supposed to be pretty good, but Michigan beat them by 40 points.  It was a sign of things to come.

• Neutral court vs. (#21) Auburn – 11/25/2025 102-72  This was the second game of the Players Era Festival, and Michigan’s first game of the season against a ranked opponent.  It was also a rematch of the game that knocked Michigan out of the NCAA Tournament last season.  It wasn’t even close, although Michigan “only” won by 30 points.

• Neutral court vs. (#12) Gonzaga – 11/26/2025 101-61  This was the championship game of the Players Era Festival, and it was no contest.  Michigan destroyed previously-undefeated Gonzaga by 40 points.  It gave Michigan wins by 40, 30, and 40 points in the tournament.

• Home vs. Rutgers – 12/06/2025 101-60  This was Michigan’s first Big Ten game of the season, and they started out with a bang: another 40+ point win.

• Home vs. Villanova – 12/09/2025 89-61  Another lopsided win over a big-name school.  They almost won by 30 points.

• At Maryland – 12/13/2025 101-83  This was Michigan’s first Big Ten game on the road this season.

• Home vs. (#24) USC – 01/02/2026 96-66  This was Michigan’s first Big Ten game against a ranked opponent, and they won by 30 points.

• Home vs. (#5) Nebraska – 01/27/2026 75-72  Nebraska came into this game undefeated (20-0) and in 1^st place in the Big Ten.  It was a close, exciting game, and Michigan won.  This was the biggest win of the season to that point.

• At (#7) Michigan State – 01/30/2026 83-71  It’s always great to beat “Little Brother”, but this one was especially sweet, since it was in East Lansing against a Top-10 team by 12 points.

• Home vs. UCLA – 02/14/2026 86-56  Another lopsided win (30 points) over a really big-name school.  It was UCLA’s first visit to Crisler as a Big Ten team, and it gave Michigan their 2^nd sweep of the new (Pac-4) Big Ten teams.  Michigan went 4-0 against them last season and again this season.  They’re the only Big Ten team from the non-West Coast 14 that has never lost to the Pac-4 teams in Big Ten play.

• Home vs. Minnesota – 02/24/2026 77-67  This was the game where Michigan clinched at least a share of the Big Ten title.

• At (#10) Illinois – 02/27/2026 84-70  This was the game where Michigan clinched the outright Big Ten title.  It was also a double-digit win over a Top 10 team on the road.  It also ended an 8-game losing streak to Illinois.  This is the same Illinois team that made it to the Final Four.

• Home vs. (#8) Michigan State – 03/08/2026 90-80  It’s always great to beat “Little Brother”, and even better to sweep them, at home, on Senior Day, by double digits.  This win also got Michigan up to 19 wins in Big Ten play, a new school and conference record.

• Neutral court vs. (#23) Wisconsin – 03/14/2026 68-65  This win avenged Michigan’s only regular season Big Ten loss, and made it so Michigan beat every other Big Ten team at least once.  It also got Michigan into the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament, which assured them of a #1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

• Neutral court vs. (#18) Alabama – 03/27/2026 90-77  Last season, Michigan made it as far as the Sweet Sixteen before losing in the NCAA Tournament.  This win got Michigan into the Elite Eight.

• Neutral court vs. (#23) Tennessee – 03/29/2026 95-62  This was the game that got Michigan into the Final Four, and what a game it was!  Beating a ranked team by 33 points in the Elite Eight?  Wow!

• Neutral court vs. (#2) Arizona – 04/04/2026 91-73  The contest between two #1 seeds in the Final Four was supposed to be a close, tense, heavyweight battle.  Instead, Michigan ran the #2 team in the country off the floor.  It wasn’t as close as the final score suggests.  It also gave Michigan five wins in the tournament by double digits, and five wins in the tournament scoring at least 90 points.

• Neutral court vs. (#7) Connecticut – 04/06/2026 69-63  This one was for all the marbles, and Michigan won it.  It wasn’t a pretty game, with both teams shooting poorly, but a win is a win, and a National Championship is a huge win.

Out of all these wins, the win in the National Championship game is obviously the most important, but the wins over Michigan State were my favorites.

Final Grades

Here are my final grades, with the mid-term grades listed first:

Freshman Eligibility

• Oscar Goodman (C+/C+) – Oscar only played a little (16 games, 85 minutes), but it’s enough to get him a grade instead of “Inc.”.  He scored 22 points on decent shooting: 10/24 (41.7%) overall, 0/6 from deep.  He had his chances out there, and he didn’t do much with them.

• Winters Grady (C/Inc.) – Winters played a little in the first half of the season (7 games, 45 minutes), but he was injured for most of the second half (2 games, 9 minutes).  He scored 26 points on mediocre shooting: 7/20 (35.0%) overall, 6/19 (31.6%) from deep.  That’s right: all but one of his shot attempts was from 3-point range, and he missed his only 2-point shot.  He was “Just A Shooter”, with little rebounding or defense.  I say “was” because he has entered the Transfer Portal.

• Malick Kordel (C/C) – Malick only played a little (14 games, 58 minutes), but it’s enough to get him a grade instead of “Inc.”.  He scored 17 points on good shooting: 8/14 (57.1%) overall, 0/1 from deep.  He’s tall, and he’s strong, but he doesn’t have a lot of basketball IQ.  When he’s in there, he gets some rebounds and makes some dunks, but that’s about it.  He has also entered the Transfer Portal.

• Ricky Liburd (Inc./Inc.) – Ricky didn’t play this season.  He was medically redshirted.

• Trey McKenney (B/A-) – Trey played in all 40 games this season, all off the bench.  He averaged 9.9 points/game on pretty good shooting: 126/273 (46.2%) overall, 68/174 (39.1%) from deep.  He improved steadily as the season went on, and he became a key contributor.  The most impressive thing was that he was one of the best defenders on the team, and he was often in the game during “crunch time”.  His 3-pointer in the final minutes of the National Championship game was the dagger.

Sophomore Eligibility

• L.J. Cason (B-/B) – L.J. played in 28 games this season, all off the bench.  He averaged 8.4 points/game on good shooting: 81/161 (50.3%) overall, 33/82 (40.2%) from deep.  In fact, he had the best 3-point shooting percentage of all the mainstream players.  His scoring was secondary to his contributions as a “pass first” point guard.  Unfortunately, he injured his knee in the Illinois game on 02/27/2026, and missed the last 11 games of the season.  In fact, his rehab is going to take long enough that he’s already planning on medically redshirting for all of next season.  Ouch.

• Howard Eisley Jr. (Inc./Inc.) – Howard was on the Scout Team, and he didn’t play much: 9 games, 11+ minutes, 1/5 shooting (all 3-point shots).

• Morez Johnson Jr. (B+/A-) – Morez was an important contributor to Michigan’s success.  He was the starting power forward for every game, and he played well.  He’s strong around the basket, and he’s a capable backup at center, despite being “only” 6’10”.  He averaged 13.1 points/game on good shooting: 195/313 (62.3%) overall, 12/35 (34.3%) from deep.

Junior Eligibility

• Elliot Cadeau (A-/A-) – Elliot was the starting point guard all season, and he played well.  He averaged 10.5 points/game on pretty good shooting: 136/331 (41.1%) overall, 65/173 (37.6%) from deep.  He led the team in assists with 234.  He was the Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four.

• Harrison Hochberg (Inc./Inc.) – Harrison was on the Scout Team, and he was voluntarily redshirted this season.

• Aday Mara (A-/A-) – Aday was the starting center for 39 of the 40 games, and he played well.  He averaged 12.1 points/game on very good shooting: 201/301 (66.8%) overall, 3/10 from deep.  He was the leading shot blocker on the team, with 103, which is a new Michigan record.  He was a force out there on both offense and defense.

• Charlie May (Inc./Inc.) – Charlie was on the Scout Team, and he didn’t play much: 8 games, 18 minutes.  He did shoot well: 2/4 overall, 2/3 from deep.  One of those 3-pointers was in the Elite Eight game against Tennessee.

Senior/Grad Student Eligibility

• Nimari Burnett (B/B) – Nimari was a little disappointing this season.  He had several good games, but he occasionally disappeared out there.  As the starting shooting guard, he needed to be more consistent in his offensive output.  He averaged 8.2 points/game on pretty good shooting: 112/247 (45.3%) overall, 60/160 (37.5%) from deep.

• Roddy Gayle Jr. (B+/B+) – Roddy was a great “6^th man” this season.  He played in 39 of the 40 games, all but one off the bench.  He averaged 7.3 points/game on good shooting: 101/208 (46.3%) overall, 21/66 (31.8%) from deep.  He always played hard and fast when he was out there, and he was a fierce rebounder who played like a much taller player.

• Yaxel Lendeborg (A/A+) – Yaxel was the undisputed star on this team, the only player to get an “A” for his midterm grade, and the only player to get a rare “A+” from me for his final grade.  He did it all.  He was the leading scorer (15.1 points/game), the 2^nd leading rebounder (271), and 2^nd on the team in assists (129).  He shot very well: 200/388 (51.5%) overall, 67/180 (37.2%) from deep.  He was the leading scorer in most games.  He was the MVP of the Players Era Festival, the Big Ten Player of the Year, and an All American.  He was awesome.

• Will Tschetter (C+/C-) – Will started the season strong, but finished it in a scoring slump.  He played in all 40 games, with one start.  He averaged 3.5 points/game on decent shooting: 41/109 (37.6%) overall, 29/84 (34.5%) from deep.  He had more scoreless games (14) than double figure games (3) this season.

Awards

Here are my awards for this season’s team:

• Most Valuable Player: Yaxel Lendeborg.  He was great on both ends of the court.  He was the Big Ten Player of the Year, and an All American.

• Most Improved Player: Roddy Gayle Jr.  He was good last season, but even better this season.

• Best Defensive Player: Aday Mara.  He was great at rim protection, setting a new Michigan single-season record for blocked shots.

• Sixth Man: Trey McKenney.  He almost always gave the team a jolt when he came in.

Looking Ahead

Things all look promising for next season, but there are still many things up in the air.

How do you “look ahead” in the era of NIL and the Transfer Portal?  It’s all just a guess.  Who is going to return next season?  Who is going to enter the Transfer Portal?  Who is going to declare for the NBA Draft?  Who is Coach May going to pick up in the Transfer Portal?  Will all the incoming freshmen really show up?  So many variables.  Here are my best guesses, at this point:

Who Is Graduating/Out Of Eligibility?

This part is easy.  The 4 players who are out of eligibility are:

• Nimari Burnett – He was a valuable part of the team for the last 3 seasons.  He started every game for all 3 years, 109 games in a row.  He will be missed.

• Roddy Gayle Jr. – He was a valuable part of the team for the last 2 season.  He will be missed.

• Yaxel Lendeborg – He only played at Michigan for one season, but what a season it was.  He was awesome, and he will be missed a lot.

• Will Tschetter – He was a true rarity in this brave new era of the infamous Transfer Portal: he played for all 4 years at just one school.  He was a team leader and a great guy.  He will be missed.

Who Has Already Entered The Transfer Portal?

The 2 players who have already entered the Transfer Portal are:

• Winters Grady – He never really fit in at Michigan.  He wanted to fire up 3-pointers, and all the other players who got more playing time were more versatile.  He can go somewhere with a scheme that allows for a “Just A Shooter” player to thrive.

• Malick Kordel – He is a project.  He’s tall, he’s strong, he’s athletic, but he’s not really a basketball player yet.  He can go somewhere where he can play a lot more, and get more experience and develop some basketball IQ.  There are plenty of lesser-known schools that would love to have a 7’2” player, even if he needs a lot of work.

Who Might Enter The Transfer Portal?

I would be surprised to see anyone else enter the Transfer Portal this season.

Who Might Declare For The NBA Draft?

The 2 players with eligibility who might realistically declare for the NBA Draft are:

• Morez Johnson Jr. – He has been making noises about coming back to Michigan.  He should probably put his name in the draft, go through the process, get evaluated, then make an informed decision at the deadline for staying/withdrawing from the draft.  I’d guess the odds of him returning to Michigan are 50/50.

• Aday Mara – He hasn’t made any commitments either way.  Like Johnson, he should probably put his name in the draft, go through the process, get evaluated, then make an informed decision at the deadline for staying/withdrawing from the draft.  I’d guess the odds of him returning to Michigan are 90/10, against.

Who Does That Leave As Returning Players?

After all the announced and potential departures listed above, who does that leave?  The following 5 mainstream(ish) players could be back next season:

• Elliot Cadeau – He has definitely said that he’ll be back next season.  He will be the starting point guard again.

• L.J. Cason – He has definitely said that he will return next season, but he will miss the entire season with a medical redshirt while he rehabs his surgically repaired knee.

• Oscar Goodman – He has definitely said that he’ll be back next season.  Will he be able to contribute more than this season?

• Ricky Liburd – He has definitely said that he’ll be back next season.  Since we’ve never seen him play, we have no idea if he’ll be able to contribute.

• Trey McKenney – He has definitely said that he’ll be back next season.  He should move up from “6^th man” to starter.

Who Has Coach May Already Picked Up From The Transfer Portal?

Coach May has already picked up 1 player from the Transfer Portal:

• J.P. Estrella – He’s a 6’11”, 240 pound, forward/center.  He’s transferring to Michigan from Tennessee, where he played for 2 seasons, so he’ll have junior eligibility.  He’s a pretty good shooter (140/235 = 59.6%) and a very good rebounder.

Who Are The Incoming Freshmen?

There are currently 6 incoming freshmen committed to Michigan for next season:

• Malachi Brown – He’s a 3-star small forward from Knoxville, Tennessee.  He’s 6’5” tall and weighs 185 pounds.  I can’t find much information on him.

• Lincoln Cosby – He’s a 4-star small forward from Montverde, Florida.  He’s 6’8” tall and weighs 195 pounds.  It appears that he’s a good outside shooter who can also go to the rim.

• Quinn Costello – He’s a 4-star power forward from            Medford, Massachusetts.  He’s 6’10” tall and weighs 195 pounds.  He’s a McDonald’s All-American.

• Joseph Hartman – He’s a 4-star shooting guard from Gainesville, Florida.  He’s 6’6” tall and weighs 193 pounds.  As expected, he’s a good outside shooter and scorer.

• Brandon McCoy Jr. – He’s a 5-star shooting guard from Chatsworth, California.  He’s 6’5” tall and weighs 190 pounds.  He’s a McDonald’s All-American, and Michigan’s highest-ranked recruit in this class.

• Marcus Moller – He’s an unranked center from Denmark, although he currently plays for a team in Malaga, Spain.  He’s unranked because he’s an international student.  He’s 7’3” tall and weighs 230 pounds.  He’s had some serious medical issues (testicular cancer), but it appears that he’s going to come to Michigan for the upcoming season.  He’s the same height as Aday Mara, but he’s a different kind of player.

This is the #1 ranked freshman class in the country.

They’re freshmen, so the odds are that they’ll need some seasoning before they’re ready to contribute.  A couple of them may play regular minutes.  A couple more may get a few chances, then sit for most of the season.  A couple may not work out, and hit the Transfer Portal after the season.  That’s the way it goes with freshmen.

What’s Next?

Check back in late October for the next season of Michigan basketball.

Go Blue!

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!