Author: Drew Montag

The (#14) University of Michigan men’s basketball 2024-2025 season is over.  They finished the season with a record of 27-10 (14-6 in Big Ten).  They finished tied for 2^nd place in the regular season standings, won the Big Ten Tournament, and made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament.

Season Wrap-Up

This season was a rousing success, far exceeding the expectations of most of the experts.  With a new head coach and coaching staff, and a mostly new roster, no one knew quite what to expect.  The previous season (2023-2024) was a miserable failure (8-24), and no one expected such a complete turnaround.

The two exhibition games gave us some idea of the firepower that Michigan had.  They beat Oakland 92-48 in Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, then they beat Toledo 96-92 in Crisler Arena.  They beat Cleveland State 101-53 in Crisler Arena, then they took their first loss, 72-70, against Wake Forest in Greensboro, NC.  This was the first of three very close losses in the non-conference portion of the schedule.

Next, they won three games in a row in Crisler Arena:  Texas Christian (TCU) 76-64, Miami (OH) 94-67, and Tarleton State 72-49.  They played in the Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament over the Thanksgiving break, and they won it by beating Virginia Tech (75-63) and (#22) Xavier (78-53).

Michigan won their two early-December Big Ten games, which was a huge boost.  In particular, they beat a very good (#11) Wisconsin team on the road, 67-64.  That was a huge win.  They followed it up with an important win over Iowa (85-83) in Crisler Arena.

Now for the bad news: Michigan had two good chances to knock off quality opponents on neutral courts, and they lost both games, but just barely.  They played in the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden against Arkansas, and they lost 89-87.  The next week, they played in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, NC, against (#14) Oklahoma, and they lost 87-86.

They had two more non-conference games against lesser opponents, both in Crisler Arena, and they won both of them easily: 89-58 against Purdue-Fort Wayne, and 112-64 against Western Kentucky.

So, Michigan entered 2025 with a non-conference record of 8-3, and a Big Ten record of 2-0.  They started the main part of the Big Ten schedule on the road, far from home, in Los Angeles.  This was the first time for Michigan to play USC and UCLA as conference games, and Michigan beat both of them!  They beat USC 85-74, then they beat (#22) UCLA 94-75.  These were two huge wins.  USC finished tied for 12^th place in the Big Ten, so that win doesn’t look quite as impressive as it did at the time, but UCLA finished tied for 4^th place, so that was a quality win.  Michigan State won the Big Ten regular season championship with a 17-3 record, and two of those losses were in Los Angeles, playing USC and UCLA back-to-back.

Michigan returned home from their West Coast swing, and played yet another of the new Big Ten teams, Washington, and they won handily, 91-75.  Things were looking great: they were undefeated (5-0) in the Big Ten, tied for 1^st place, and they were playing their best basketball of the season.  A road game at last-place Minnesota?  No problem, right?  Wrong.  This was Michigan’s worst game of the season, and their only “bad loss”.  They didn’t take Minnesota seriously, and they let them hang around.  They went to overtime, and it looked like it was going to double overtime, but Minnesota hit a half-court buzzer-beater, and beat Michigan 84-81.  Ugh.

Back home again, facing lowly Northwestern, and Michigan hung on for a close 80-76 win.  Back on the road, at (#11) Purdue, where Michigan has had very little success over the years.  This was other Michigan’s “worst game of the season”.  Purdue came out of the gate on fire, and the game was essentially over by the second media timeout.  Purdue was up 29-9 at the 11:18 mark, and Michigan never got close the rest of the game.  The final was 91-64, Purdue.  It was a bloodbath.

Last season, that would have been it for Michigan, losing 2 out of 3 games, the second one by 27 points.  They would have gone through the motions for the rest of the season, and maybe snuck in one more win, but they would have been checked out.  Not this season.  Instead, they went on a 6-game winning streak, all by 4 points or less:

• Home vs. Penn State, 76-72
• At Rutgers, 66-63
• Home vs. Oregon, 80-76
• At Indiana, 70-67
• Home vs. (#7) Purdue, 75-73
• At Ohio State, 86-83

There are a couple noteworthy wins in there.  Oregon had been in the Top 25 for most of the season, but they had just dropped out of the Top 25 when they came to Ann Arbor.  By beating them, Michigan went 4-0 for the season against the four new West Coast additions to the Big Ten.  It always tough for Michigan to win at Indiana and Ohio State, so those were both big rivalry wins.  The biggest win of this stretch was beating Top-10 Purdue.  It was a great victory.

So, time for the homestretch.  At this point, Michigan was 12-2 in the Big Ten, all alone in 1^st place, a half game ahead of (#14) Michigan State (12-3).  MSU had recently lost the two games mentioned above in Los Angeles, won a game, then lost to Indiana.  The battle for 1^st place was in Crisler Arena, where Michigan was undefeated (12-0).  Michigan controlled the 1^st half, and led 38-34 at halftime.  The 2^nd half was a disaster, and MSU won handily, 75-62.

The loss to MSU seemed to shake Michigan’s confidence, and they just weren’t the same team for the rest of the regular season.  They managed to squeak out a truly ugly win at Nebraska, 49-46, and an almost-as-ugly win at home vs. Rutgers, 84-82, but they struggled in both games.  Look at the score of that Nebraska win: less than 100 points combined.  Michigan played a terrible game, but they were just slightly less terrible than Nebraska.  The home win vs. Rutgers was much closer than it should have been, and it took a miracle buzzer-beater to win it.

It all finally caught up with Michigan for the last three games of the regular season.  Michigan was still in the thick of the Big Ten title race, and if they could win 2 of the last 3 games, they would probably tie for the Big Ten regular season championship.  So, what did they do?  They lost all three games, and they weren’t particularly close.  They lost at home to Illinois on Senior Day (not the last home game, for some reason), 93-73, they lost at home to (#13) Maryland, 71-65, and they lost at (#8) Michigan State, 79-62.

So, the regular season was over, and it ended with a whimper, not a bang, for Michigan.  With those 3 losses, they finished tied with Maryland for 2^nd place.  Due to the tiebreaker, Michigan was the #3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, and it sure looked like they weren’t going to win more than one game in the tournament.  Since they had one of the top 4 seeds, they didn’t play until Friday, and they had to play (#20) Purdue.  Yes, again.  Fortunately, the rubber match went to Michigan, as they beat Purdue easily, 86-68.  The semifinal game was on Saturday, against (#11) Maryland.  Yes, the same Maryland team that beat them 10 days before in Crisler Arena.  This was a close, exciting game, and Maryland up 80-79 with 5 seconds left.  Fortunately, Michigan had the ball, and Tre Donaldson went the length of the floor for the game-winning layup with 0.4 seconds left.  Michigan beat Maryland, 81-80.  It was very exciting.  The final game was on Sunday against (#18) Wisconsin, and it was also close and exciting.  It was all tied up (53-53) with 1:34 left, and Michigan scored the last 6 points to beat Wisconsin 59-53, and win the Big Ten Tournament Championship.

On to the NCAA Tournament.  Michigan was given a worse seed than they deserved (a 5-seed), but they managed to make it to the Sweet Sixteen anyway.  They played in the South Region of the tournament, and played their first two games in Denver.  They beat (12-seed)  UC San Diego 68-65, then they beat (4-seed) (#19) Texas A&M 91-79.  It was a big deal that Michigan made it to the Sweet Sixteen, and they went to Atlanta with hopes of an upset over the 1-seed (#4) Auburn.  Nope.  They played well for the first 28 minutes, and they had built a decent lead, 48-39, with 12:26 to go.  Then the roof fell in.  In the next 5 minutes, they gave up a 20-2 run, and that was it.  Auburn held them off the rest of the way, and won 78-65.  Season over.  Those 5 minutes cost them any chance of a magical ending.  It was a shame.

Still, it was a fun, successful season, much better than expected.  Michigan only had one “bad loss” (at Minnesota), a couple expected losses (at Purdue and at MSU), a few losses in “toss up” games on neutral courts (Wake Forest, Arkansas, and Oklahoma), and a few losses in “toss up” games at home (MSU, Illinois, and Maryland).  They had some great wins: the Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament, at Wisconsin, at USC, at UCLA, at Indiana, home vs. Purdue, at Ohio State, all 3 games in the Big Ten Tournament, and both wins in the NCAA Tournament.  Out of all those wins, the win at UCLA stands out.  That was the high point of the season.  Beating UCLA in Pauley Pavilion by 19 points is huge.

Final Grades

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

Freshman Eligibility

• Durral “Phat Phat” Brooks (C/C-) – Phat Phat got his chances to show what he can do, and he didn’t take advantage of them.  He played in 15 games, and scored 12 points.  He has plenty of potential, but he sure didn’t produce during his freshman season.

• L.J. Cason (B/B+) – L.J. played the most of the three scholarship freshman, and he did pretty well.  He got better as the season went on, and he played important minutes in the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.  He played in 30 games, and scored 130 points.  He didn’t shoot particularly well: 42-for-114 (36.8%) overall, 15-for-61 (24.6%) from deep.  He’ll need to work on that.

• Howard Eisley Jr. (Inc./Inc.) – Howard was on the Scout Team, and he didn’t play much.  He played in 3 games for 4 minutes, and he missed both of his shot attempts for the season.

• Justin Pippen (B-/B-) – Justin played in a lot of games (28), but didn’t produce much.  He only scored 44 points, on mediocre shooting: 12-for-44 (27.3%) overall, 8-for-30 (26.7%) from deep.  He did a decent job as a point guard, and he was a capable defender.

Sophomore Eligibility

• Harrison Hochberg (Inc./Inc.) – Harrison was on the Scout Team, and didn’t play much.  He played in 6 games for 8 minutes, and scored 4 points.

• Charlie May (Inc./Inc.) – Charlie was on the Scout Team, and didn’t play much.  He played in 5 games for 6 minutes, and he didn’t attempt a shot.

• Sam Walters (B-/B-) – Sam missed the last 13 games of the season, reportedly with a back injury.  He played in 23 games, and scored 114 points (5.0 points/game).  He shot pretty well: 37-for-87 (42.5%) overall, 26-for-71 (36.6%) from deep.

Junior Eligibility

• Nimari Burnett (B/B+) – Nimari was a steady-but-not-flashy presence on the team this season.  He started all 37 games, and scored 347 points (9.4 points/game).  He was the best 3-point shooter on the team: 66-for-165 (40.0%).

• Tre Donaldson (A/A) – Tre had several very good games, several good games, and a couple duds.  Still, he was a leader out there, and he ran the offense very well.  He started all 37 games, and scored 419 points (11.3 points/game).  He led the team in assists (151), against 81 turnovers, which is not a bad ratio.

• Roddy Gayle Jr. (B+/B) – Roddy had a few very good games, several good games, and a few duds.  He missed one game with an injury, and started 25 games (Rubin Jones started in his place for the other 12 games).  He scored 354 points (9.8 points/game).  He’s a ferocious rebounder for his size (124 rebounds), and he dished out 79 assists.

• Will Tschetter (B/B) – Will did a nice job coming off the bench and giving the team a spark.  He often played (small) center, and he held his own.  He played in all 37 games, and scored 235 points (6.4 points/game).  He was the leading scorer among the bench players.

• Danny Wolf (A/A) – Danny was the biggest surprise on the team this season.  He was very good at Yale, but he blossomed into a weapon at Michigan.  He started all 37 games, and scored 489 points (13.2 points/game).  He was the leading rebounder on the team (360).  He was 2^nd on the team in assists, with 132.  Not bad for a 7-footer.  He often brought the ball upcourt in transition, and he played “point center” quite often.  He ran a mean pick-and-roll game with Goldin.  On the downside, he occasionally got a little too “creative” (crazy) with the ball, and he led the team in turnovers by a wide margin (120).

Senior/Grad Eligibility

• Ian Burns (Inc./Inc.) – Ian was on the Scout Team, and didn’t play much.  He played in 7 games for 9 minutes, and missed both of his shot attempts, both 3-point attempts.

• Vladislav Goldin (A/A) – Vlad started the season slow, but he got better as the season went on.  He started all 37 games, and scored 615 points (16.6 points/game).  He was the leading scorer on the team, and he had the best shooting percentage (222-for-366 = 60.7%).  He was the 2^nd leading rebounder on the team (260), and the leading shot blocker (51).

• Jace Howard (C-/D) – Jace is a scholarship player, but he got playing time as if he were on the Scout Team.  He played in 5 games for 19 minutes, and he scored 4 points.

• Rubin Jones (B-/B) – Rubin was the most disappointing of the transfer players this season.  He played in 33 games, and started 12 of them in place of Roddy Gayle Jr.  He scored 118 points (3.6 points/game).

Awards

Here are my awards for this season’s team:

• Most Valuable Player: Vlad Goldin.  This was a really close decision between Goldin and Wolf, but Goldin was a little more consistent and a little less sloppy with the ball.

• Most Improved Player: Nimari Burnett.  He played pretty well last season, but he kicked it up a notch this season.

• Best Defensive Player: Tre Donaldson.  He led the team in steals, and he did a good job guarding the main guard on the opposing team most of the season.

• Sixth Man: Will Tschetter.  He won this last season as well.  He often played (small) center, but he can also play either forward position.

Looking Ahead

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 following 2 players are out of eligibility:

• Vlad Goldin – We will really miss him.  He was the backbone of the offense this season, and a pretty good defender.

• Rubin Jones – He had his moments, but he also had many forgettable games.

Who Has Already Entered The Transfer Portal?

The following 4 players have already entered the Transfer Portal:

• Tre Donaldson – This is a huge loss.  He was a very valuable part of the team, and he will be missed.  He has already committed to playing at Miami (FL) next season.

• Jace Howard – He didn’t get to play much this season, after playing a lot earlier in his career.  I can see why he’s disillusioned.  He should be able to find a team where he can contribute more.

• Justin Pippen – It isn’t clear why he would want to leave.  He got to play quite a bit, and he appeared to have a bright future at Michigan.

• Sam Walters – He is replaceable, but it would have been nice to keep him.  I suspected something was up when he stopped playing after February 8^th.  His back injury shouldn’t have kept him out for almost 2 months.

Who Might Enter The Transfer Portal?

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Phat Phat Brooks enter the Transfer Portal.  He didn’t get much chance to play this season, and he could be a mainstream player at a smaller school.

Who May Declare For The NBA Draft?

The only player with eligibility who might realistically declare for the NBA Draft is Danny Wolf.  He is currently projected as a late 1^st round pick.  It’s hard to turn down an offer like that, but there is a rumor that Michigan might offer him $2.5 million in NIL money to stay.  We’ll see.

Who Does That Leave As Returning Players?

After all the announced and potential departures listed above, who does that leave?  The following 6 mainstream players could be back next season:

• Phat Phat Brooks – As I said above, it wouldn’t surprise me if he enters the Transfer Portal.  If he comes back, he’ll need to have quite a “sophomore jump”.

• Nimari Burnett – He hasn’t said one way or the other if he’ll return, but it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll enter the Transfer Portal, so his choices are to return for one final season or quit playing college basketball.  He isn’t considered an NBA prospect, but he could decide to try to play internationally.

• L.J. Cason – He has hinted that he’ll be back next season.

• Roddy Gayle Jr. – He has definitely said that he’ll be back next season.

• Will Tschetter – He has definitely said that he’ll be back next season.

• Danny Wolf – As I said above, he could enter the NBA Draft, or he could stay at Michigan for another year and a lot of NIL $$$.

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

Coach May has already picked up 3 players from the Transfer Portal:

• Elliot Cadeau – He is the replacement for Tre Donaldson at starting point guard.  He was the starting point guard for North Carolina this season.  He played for 2 years at UNC, so he’ll have junior eligibility next season.  He’s 6’1” tall, and weighs 180 pounds.

• Morez Johnson Jr. – He played his freshman season at Illinois, so he’ll have sophomore eligibility next season.  He’s 6’9” tall, and weighs 255 pounds.

• Yaxel Lendeborg – He played for 2 years in junior college (Arizona Western) and 2 years at UAB, so he’s a graduate transfer, with one year of eligibility left.  He is currently in the NBA Draft, but it isn’t clear if he will stay in the draft or come to Michigan.  He was the #1 player in the Transfer Portal.  He’s 6’9” tall, and weighs 240 pounds.  He’s an obvious power forward.

Who Might Coach May Pick Up From The Transfer Portal?

There are rumors that Coach May is actively pursuing Aday Mara, a 7’3” center who played his first two seasons at UCLA.  He’s currently in the Transfer Portal.  He would be a great replacement for Vlad Goldin.

Who Are The Incoming Freshmen?

There are currently 3 incoming freshmen committed to Michigan for next season:

• Oscar Goodman – He’s from New Zealand, where he played on the various national teams in international competition.  He enrolled early (January 2025), so he was on the team for most of the season, but could only practice with the team, not play.  He’s 6’7” tall, and weighs 220 pounds.

• Winters Grady – He’s a 4-star small forward, with a nice shooting touch.  He’s 6’6” tall, and weighs 200 pounds.

• Trey McKenney – He’s a 5-star guard, and the highest ranked of Michigan’s recruits.  He was Mr. Basketball in Michigan this season, and he looks to be the shooting guard of the future at Michigan.  He’s 6’4” tall, and weighs 225 pounds.

What’s Next?

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

Go Blue!

The (#22) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games as the #5 seed in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament in Denver this past week, and they won both of them.  On Thursday (03/20/2025), they beat the #12 seed U.C. San Diego 68-65, then on Saturday (03/22/2025), they beat the #4 seed (#19) Texas A&M 91-79.   Michigan’s record is now 27-9 (14-6 in Big Ten).

What Happened?

Sweet!  Actually, Sweet 16!  By winning both games this week, Michigan is advancing to the Sweet 16.  This is a Really Big Deal.  After a miserable 8-24 season last year, no one expected Michigan to bounce back this fast and this far.  Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to establish the Sweet 16 as it exists today (1975), Michigan is the first team to go from a 24-loss season to the Sweet 16 the next season.  Amazing.

Both games were close and exciting, and Michigan won both games in the final minutes.

Game Flow

The UCSD game started out with a bang for Michigan.  Before the first media timeout, Michigan had raced out to a 10-0 lead.  UCSD didn’t score until the 14:55 mark, to make it 10-2.  Michigan kept their lead in the 7-9 point range, and finally pushed it over 10 points (20-8) with 10:20 to go.  They kept the lead in the 10-12 point range, and finally pushed it up to 14 points (41-27) at halftime.  Michigan started the 2^nd half with a free throw to push their lead to 15 points (42-27) at the 19:11 mark, and that was the high point.  The rest of the game was a slow, grinding comeback by UCSD.  They went on a 12-0 run to get within 3 points (42-39) with 16:46 to go, and they got within 1 point (45-44) with 14:40 left.  Michigan responded, and pushed the lead back up to 7 points (51-44) at the 12:19 mark, then up to 10 points (56-46) with 11:10 to go.  UCSD kept grinding, and they tied it up (63-63) with 3:05 left, and went ahead (65-63) with 2:29 to go.  Look at the final score (68-65); Michigan scored the last 5 points to win by 3.  It was a gritty win.

Michigan was an underdog in the Texas A&M game, both by seeding (#5 vs. #4) and according to Las Vegas.  The game started out close and exciting, with several ties and lead changes.  It was all tied up (10-10) at the 14:07 mark, when Michigan opened up a small lead, 17-11, with 12:55 to go.  TAMU tied it up (17-17) with 11:34 to go, then they went ahead for a while.  They were up 6 points (29-23) with 6:17 left in the half, when Michigan went on a mini-run to tie it up (31-31) with 4:16 to go.  Michigan led by 1 point (35-34) at the 2:18 mark, but TAMU scored the last 5 points of the half to lead 39-34 at halftime.

The 2^nd half didn’t look very promising for Michigan.  TAMU expanded their lead to 9 points (48-39) at the 16:51 mark, then 10 points (51-41) with 15:46 to go.  They kept their lead around 8-10 points for the next couple minutes, and they were still up 8 points (60-52) with 13:04 left.  Michigan managed to get the deficit down to 4 points (61-57) with 12:07 to go, then 2 points (63-61) at the 10:18 mark.  TAMU pushed their lead back up to 6 points (67-61), and Michigan managed to get back within a point (67-66) at the 8:11 mark.  UM finally caught up and went ahead (71-70) with 6:08 left, then pushed the lead to 5 points (75-70) with 5:17 to go.  They never trailed again.  TAMU got as close as 3 points (75-72) at the 4:59 mark, but Michigan went on a crucial 6-0 run to put the game out of reach, 81-72, with 3:43 left.  TAMU got as close as 3 points (82-79) with 1:29 to go, but UM closed the game with a 9-0 run to win going away.

Stats

The stats for the UCSD game were decent.  Michigan shot decently overall (24-for-57 = 42.1%), they shot 3-pointers pretty well (9-for-27 = 33.3%), but they shot free throws poorly (11-for-20 = 55.0%).  They won the rebounding battle (43-37), but they lost the turnover battle (14-8).  They won this game with decent shooting and rebounding, but they almost lost it with poor free-throw shooting and turnovers.

The stats for the TAMU game were also just decent.  Michigan shot decently overall (28-for-65 = 43.1%), they shot 3-pointers decently (6-for-22 = 27.3%), and they shot free throws well (29-for-36 = 80.6%).  They won the rebounding battle (48-39), but they barely lost the turnover battle (9-8).  They won this game with free throws and rebounding.  They scored 29 points at the free throw line!

Who Started?

The starters for both games were Nimari Burnett, Tre Donaldson, Vladislav Goldin, Rubin Jones, and Danny Wolf.

Who Looked Good?

We have an unexpected star this week: Roddy Gayle Jr.  He wasn’t the leading scorer in the UCSD game, but he did hit double figures, with 11 points off the bench.  He was the big star and the leading scorer in the TAMU game, with a season-high 26 points.  Remember when Roddy missed 16 3-point attempts in a row back in February?  Well, he finally found his shot, and just in time.  He shot 1-for-3 from deep vs. UCSD, and 4-for-6 vs. TAMU.  He was great.

Goldin was the leading scorer in the UCSD game, with 14 points, and he was almost the leading scorer in the TAMU game, with 23 points.  He also had 12 rebounds vs. TAMU, for a big double-double.  He was great.

Donaldson hit double figures (12) vs. UCSD, and almost hit double figures (8) vs. TAMU.  He did a good job running the offense.

Wolf hit double figures (14) vs. TAMU, and almost hit double figures (9) vs. UCSD.  He also had 11 and 9 rebounds.  He did his part.

L.J. Cason had a good week, with 6 points vs. UCSD and 11 points vs. TAMU.  He looked very calm and confident out there on a big stage.

Will Tschetter chipped in 7 and 2 points off the bench this week.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Burnett had one decent game (6 points vs. UCSD) and one terrible game (0 points vs. TAMU).

Jones had one lousy game (3 points vs. UCSD) and one decent game (7 points vs. TAMU).

Who Else Played?

Phat Phat Brooks played in the final minute of the TAMU game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Ian Burns played in the final minute of the TAMU game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Harrison Hochberg played in the final minute of the TAMU game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Charlie May played in the final minute of the TAMU game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Who Didn’t Play?

Sam Walters didn’t play again this week.  He’s still recovering from a lower back injury.

Jace Howard and Justin Pippen were the other scholarship players who didn’t play this week.

Howard Eisley Jr. was the only Scout Team player who didn’t play this week.

What Does It Mean?

Getting to the Sweet 16 is huge for this team.  This far exceeds most people’s expectations, including mine.  I was going to be happy if Michigan finished in the top half of the Big Ten standings, won a game in the Big Ten Tournament, and made it to the NCAA Tournament.  I was happy when they came in 2^nd in the Big Ten standings, very happy when they won the Big Ten Tournament, and extremely happy when they won two games in the NCAA Tournament and made it to the Sweet 16.  As my son said, they’re playing with “house money”.

What’s Next?

This week, Michigan continues play in the NCAA Tournament, as the #5 seed in the South Region.  Play shifts from Denver to Atlanta, where Michigan plays the #1 seed, (#4) Auburn, on Friday (03/28/2025, 9:39 p.m., CBS).  If they win that game, they play the winner of the (#2 seed) Michigan State vs. (#6 seed) Mississippi game on Sunday.

Auburn is currently 30-5 (15-3 in SEC), with impressive wins over (#4) Houston, (#5) Iowa State, (#12) North Carolina, Memphis, (#16) Purdue, Missouri, (#23) Georgia, (#6) Tennessee, (#2) Alabama, (#17) Kentucky, and (#8) Mississippi.  They have no bad losses.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, and they don’t have much height: a 6’10” player (their leading scorer) and a 6’11” player who averages 5 points/game.  Look at that list of impressive wins; Auburn is legit.  Are they unbeatable?  No, Texas A&M beat them, and Michigan just beat Texas A&M.  Can Michigan beat them?  Sure, but they will need to play their best game of the season to do it.  They will need to shoot 3-pointers like they did in the beginning of January, and they will need to keep their turnovers down.  If Michigan can stay close with 4 minutes to go, they stand a chance against any team in the country.

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

Go Blue!

The (#22) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played three games as the #3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis this past week, and they won all three of them, and the Big Ten Tournament Championship!  On Friday (03/14/2025), they beat the #6 seed (#20) Purdue 86-68, on Saturday (03/15/2025), they beat the #2 seed (#11) Maryland 81-80, and on Sunday (03/16/2025), they beat the #5 seed (#18) Wisconsin 59-53.   Michigan’s record is now 25-9 (14-6 in Big Ten).

What Happened?

Wow, what an exciting long weekend in Indianapolis!  Michigan staggered into the Big Ten Tournament on a 3-game losing streak, with no one giving them much of a chance of winning more than one game, but they surprised everyone (including me) by winning it all.  They dominated Purdue in Friday’s game, then hung in on Saturday and Sunday to win both games in the final minute.  In three days, they beat three teams ranked ahead of them in the polls.  It was awesome.

Game Flow

The Purdue game started out ugly, with Michigan missing their first 3 shots, and Purdue jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead at the 18:20 mark.  That was the high point for Purdue.  Michigan went on a great 12-0 run, to lead 12-6 with 15:30 to go, and they never trailed again.  They pushed their lead as high as 10 points in the 1^st half, and generally kept it around 4-6 points for the rest of the half.  They led by 4 points (40-36) at halftime.

The 2^nd half was wonderful.  Michigan started the half with a 9-3 run to push their lead back up to 10 points (49-39) at the 16:25 mark.  They let Purdue creep back within 7 points, but they answered that run with one of their own, to push their lead up to 12 points (57-45) with 13:53 to go.  At this point, the game was over.  Michigan held off every Purdue run, and kept the lead around 14-16 points the rest of the way, winning by 18 points.  It was a fun, low-stress game.  It was great to see Michigan return to the form they showed in the first half of the season.

The Maryland game was close and tense at the beginning, with lots of ties and lead changes in the first 10 minutes.  With 10:18 left in the half, Maryland led 18-16.  Less than 30 seconds later, they had pushed the lead up to 7 points (23-16) with 9:43 to go.  It took a while, but Michigan slowly clawed their way back, and reclaimed the lead, 27-25, at the 5:04 mark.  Maryland answered, and went back on top (32-29) with 3:44 to go.  They were still up by 3 points (34-31) with 2:00 left, when Michigan started their big run.  Michigan closed the half with a 7-0 run, to lead 38-34 at halftime, then they kept the run going after halftime, scoring the first 11 points to push their lead to 15 points, 49-34.  It looked like Maryland was done, but not so fast.  They kept chipping away at Michigan’s big lead, and got it down to 10 points (49-39), then 5 points (49-44), before Michigan got going again.  They pushed the lead back up to 11 points (61-50) at the 11:42 mark, and it looked like they had weathered the storm.  Nope.  Maryland went on a long, grinding 14-0 run to reclaim the lead (64-61) with 7:48 left.  The rest of the game was close and tense again, with lots of ties and lead changes.  Neither team got more than 3 points ahead the rest of the way.  The last minute was very exciting.  The score was tied (76-76) with 43 seconds left, then Michigan went up by 3 points (79-76) with 28 seconds to go.  Maryland made a basket and 2 free throws to lead by 1 point (80-79) with 5 seconds left, and then it was hero time for Tre Donaldson.  He took the inbounds pass after a made free throw by Maryland and went 94 feet for the winning layup with 0.4 seconds left.  It was amazing!

When the Big Ten Tournament bracket was announced last week, it sure looked like Michigan was going to have to get by Michigan State in the championship game if they wanted to win it all, but Wisconsin took care of that by upsetting the Spartans 77-74 on Saturday.  Michigan had already beaten Wisconsin 67-64 in Madison way back on December 3^rd, 2024, but that was a long time ago.  Michigan played very well on Friday in their first game of the tournament vs. Purdue, when they were well-rested, but they looked a little tired vs. Maryland on Saturday.  Would they have enough gas left in the tank to beat Wisconsin?  It turns out: yes, but just barely.

The Wisconsin game was a low-scoring, ugly affair, with both teams looking tired and off their game.  Both teams shot poorly overall (22.1% for Wisconsin, 32.2% for Michigan) and from deep (17.9% for Wisconsin, 27.3% for Michigan).  The game started out close and slow, with a few ties and lead changes.  It was all tied up 7-7 at the 14:35 mark, when Michigan started to pull away.  They opened up a 5-point lead (12-7) with 11:46 to go, but it didn’t last.  Wisconsin went ahead 13-12 with 9:18 left, and the rest of the half was a bunch of ties and lead changes.  With 3:16 to go, it was tied up again, 21-21, and Wisconsin scored the only 2 points in the last 3:16 to lead 23-21 at halftime.

The 2^nd half had a little more scoring.  Wisconsin scored the first 6 points of the half, and pushed their lead to 29-21 at the 16:37 mark.  In such a slow, low-scoring game, an 8 point lead is huge, and things weren’t looking good for Michigan.  They looked even worse 3 minutes later, when Wisconsin went up by 11 points, 38-27, with 13:11 to go.  Fortunately, Michigan woke up and rattled off a 7-0 run to get back in the game, 38-34, with 11:21 left.  Wisconsin kept their lead in the 4-6 point range for the next 4 minutes, and it was 45-41 at the 7:26 mark.  Michigan finally erased the deficit completely (45-45) with 5:50 to go, and finally got ahead (53-51) with 1:54 left.  Wisconsin tied it up 53-53, and Michigan scored the last 6 points to win 59-53.  It was a gritty, gutty win.

Stats

The stats for the Purdue game were solid.  Michigan shot well overall (30-for-58 = 51.7%), they shot 3-pointers pretty well (8-for-26 = 30.8%), and they shot free throws very well (18-for-22 = 81.8%).  They won the rebounding battle (40-34), but they barely lost the turnover battle (6-5).  They won this game with solid shooting and nice, low turnovers.

The stats for the Maryland game were very good.  Michigan shot pretty well overall (31-for-66 = 47.0%), they shot 3-pointers well (7-for-18 = 38.9%), and they were excellent at the free throw line (12-for-13 = 92.3%).  They crushed Maryland on the boards (47-18), but they lost the turnover battle badly (19-6).  They won this game with great shooting and rebounding, but they made it close with 19 turnovers.  In 51 years of following Michigan basketball, I can never remember rebounding numbers like that.

The stats for the Wisconsin game were miserable, the worst I can remember for a winning effort.  Michigan shot terribly overall (19-for-59 = 32.2%), they shot 3-pointers terribly (9-for-33 = 27.3%), but they were excellent at the free throw line again (12-for-13 = 92.3%).  They lost the rebounding battle (46-40) and the turnover battle (8-6).  They won this game by shooting better than Wisconsin, even if it was bad shooting.

Who Started?

The starters for all three games were Nimari Burnett, Tre Donaldson, Vladislav Goldin, Rubin Jones, and Danny Wolf.

Who Looked Good?

Goldin was the star of the tournament, with double figures in all 3 games (15, 25, and 11 points).  He was the 2^nd leading scorer for Michigan in the Purdue game, the leading scorer in the Maryland game, and tied for the leading scorer in the Wisconsin game.  He also grabbed 8, 10, and 5 rebounds, giving him a double-double in the Maryland game.  He was great.

Donaldson was the hero of the Maryland game, as described above, and he hit double figures in all 3 games (13, 12, and 11 points).  He was also on fire with assists: 5, 9, and 8.

Wolf hit double figures in two of the three games, with 18, 21, and 8 points.  He was also the leading rebounder in all three games, with double-digit rebounds in two of the three games: 11, 14, and 8, giving him two double-doubles.

Burnett had a good tournament, with 7, 10, and 8 points.

Jones had a decent tournament, with 8, 2, and 5 points.

Roddy Gayle Jr. chipped in 11, 9, and 2 points off the bench this week.

Will Tschetter chipped in 8, 2, and 6 points off the bench this week.

L.J. Cason chipped in 6, 0, and 8 points off the bench this week.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

No one looked not-so-good this week.

Who Else Played?

Phat Phat Brooks played in the final minute of the Purdue game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Ian Burns played in the final minute of the Purdue game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Harrison Hochberg played in the final minute of the Purdue game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Who Didn’t Play?

Sam Walters didn’t play again this week.  He’s still recovering from a lower back injury.

Jace Howard and Justin Pippen were the other scholarship players who didn’t play this week.

None of the other Scout Team players played this week: Howard Eisley Jr. and Charlie May.

What Does It Mean?

Winning the Big Ten Tournament Championship is huge for this team.  They limped through the last couple weeks of the regular season, scratching out unimpressive wins over Nebraska and Rutgers, while getting blasted by Michigan State (twice), Illinois, and Maryland.  They looked like they were through for the season, but a few days rest really revived them.

Since they won the Big Ten Tournament, they got the Big Ten’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.  They got shafted a little bit on the seed (#5) and the region (South), but they’re in.  It’s a little galling to see teams that Michigan finished ahead of or tied with in the regular season standings and beat in the Big Ten Tournament get better seeds than they did: Maryland = 4-seed, Wisconsin = 3-seed, and Purdue = 4-seed.  Michigan: the Rodney Dangerfield of basketball teams (“We get no respect”).

What’s Next?

This week, Michigan plays in the NCAA Tournament, as the #5 seed in the South Region.  They open play against the #12 seed, U.C. San Diego, on Thursday (03/20/2025, 10:00 p.m. EDT, TBS) in Denver, CO.  If they win that game, they play the winner of the (#4 seed) Texas A&M vs. (#13 seed) Yale game on Saturday.

U.C. San Diego is currently 30-4 (18-2 in Big West).  They won the Big West Tournament, giving them the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.  They have no impressive wins, and unimpressive losses to San Diego State, Seattle U, U.C. Irvine, and U.C. Riverside.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, and they don’t have much height: one 6’10” player.  This is a team that Michigan should be able to beat, but they need to play the way they did this past week, not like they did the last couple weeks of the regular season.

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

Go Blue!