The Current State of Michigan Basketball is Pretty Good
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For the second time in three years I have gotten to celebrate a Michigan team winning the national title. In 2023 it was the football team. Last night, it was the men's basketball team. Let’s discuss.
I really enjoy this feeling. There's truly nothing better than when your team is on top. It is the best in the world. I do want to say, as wonderful as this feels, the football title felt a little better. I just have to say that. College football is a little more important to me than basketball. I just wanted to put that out there. But that is to take nothing out of what the men;s basketball team achieved last night.
When the season started I didn't know what to think, especially in the NIL and transfer portal era. I had heard a bunch of good things about the guys they brought in. Aday Mara was tall. Morez Johnson Jr was tall and strong. Elliot Cadeau was going to be able to run the offense properly. And Yaxel Lendeborg was this jack of all trades type player. Throw in some of the guys that stuck around, Nimari Burnett, Will Tschetter, Roddy Gayle Jr and LJ Cason, this team was supposed to be good. But I thought I was going to miss Tre Donaldson and Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin and Devante Jones. Those guys were part of Dusty May's first season, in which he took an 8-24 team to the Sweet Sixteen. They seemed to be in a good place. But this was going to be all new. But, like I said, the media seemed pretty hyped about this new roster. And while I was skeptical, they started the season 12-0, and looked really good doing it. They may have started slow, but they went on a run where they were obliterating teams. And I'm not talking about the run of the mill lower level division 1 teams, they were beating up on highly ranked teams. I started to buy in. Then Wisconsin hit a million threes and cooled any of the good vibes I had about them earlier on. But then they went on another long win streak and I was back in. They got all the way to being ranked number 1 overall. It ruled. Then Duke punked them on national tv and I was back in a funk. Sure, Mara was an incredible defender and Johnson Jr was bullying dudes on both ends and Cadeau was killing it as the lead guard and Lendeborg was all I wanted him to be. But Duke took all of that away from me. I fully stopped believing. Then you can add on the struggle they had in the Big 10 tournament, they did make it to the title game, and won the regular season title, and I just kind of gave up. When the tournament seeds and games were announced, I knew Michigan was going to be a 1 seed, and I even had them in the Final Four. But they went on to cruise and crush the competition in the tournament. They went on an unprecedented run. After Howard was throwing flames in the first half from 3, Michigan went on to score 101 and win by 21. Then they crusted over the early tournament sweetheart Robbie Avila and SLU. They scored over 90 and won by 20 plus points again. And this was the game where Lendeborg became everything I ever wanted him to be. He went for 20 plus and made it look easy from everywhere on the court. He was a menace on defense. He was dunking on dudes left and right. It was dope. They went into the Sweet Sixteen facing one of the top offenses in all of college basketball in Alabama. They held them to 77 points, while they scored 90 yet again. They lucked out in facing Tennessee, a six seed, in the Elite Eight. They went on to beat them by 33 points, In an Elite Eight game. On national tv. In front of everyone. This was the moment where I fully bought in and truly believed they may be able to do it. They looked so much more dominant than any of the eight teams left. They looked even better in the Final Four. I was all in on Arizona winning it all all season. I fully thought they were the best team in men's college basketball. They had just beat Purdue, who beat Michigan in the Big Ten tournament. Well, Michigan proceeded to crush Arizona. They beat them so badly that their coach said that "no team has been able to do what Michigan did to them all year". Also, when accepting his coach of the year award, Tommy Lloyd mentioned that maybe they meant to send it to Dusty May. That was how badly Michigan beat them. They won a Final Four game by 18 points, and it wasn't even that close.
With the national title game last night, I didn't just want a win, I expected it. But, when the game tipped off, it went much different than I hoped. UConn muddied the game up and made it sloppy and slow. This worked to their advantage for a bit. They even held an 18-15 lead with about 11 minutes left. They were holding this elite Michigan offense to 15 points nine minutes into the game. I was terrified. I wasn't nervous, I was scared. I thought they were going to get beat, and beaten badly by a team and coach that knows how to win title games. But Michigan persisted, switched up the game plan a bit and went into halftime with a 4 point lead, 33-29. But the way the media was talking you would have thought UConn was ahead. And that was when a revelation hit me. Michigan played really poorly. They couldn't make a jumper. Lendeborg's injury was clearly becoming an issue. They hadn't made a three pointer. And yet they were ahead by 4 points. Going into the second half, while still scared, I felt calmer than I thought. I did yell once, but my son told me to calm down, and I did. Michigan never let UConn get any closer than that 4 points. They stretched the lead to 11 at one point. They made 20 straight free throws. When UConn played pressure defense, it was freshman Trey McKenney who came up big. Lendeborg started to attack the rim and either make a shot or shoot free throws. Mara's presence was felt on the defensive end. And Elliot Cadeau saved his best game for last. Without him, they may not have won last night. But this was this team's MO all year. They didn't need one guy. They had a team of players ready to make plays and step up when asked. Roddy Gayle had a huge putback jam early in the game. Morez Johnson Jr played excellent defense both in the paint and on the perimeter. I mentioned Mara, Lendeborg, Cadeau and McKenney. This was a full team effort and it showed last night. And while this team became known for offense as the season went on, they played an exceptional defensive game last night, especially in the second half.
Dusty May was clearly the right choice as the new head coach two years ago. I liked the hire when it happened, and I loved it even more after last night. He knows how to work the portal, and if he keeps up this level of recruiting high school players, as long as he doesn't leave for the pros anytime soon, Michigan men's basketball will be in good shape.
I'm on cloud 9 today. I have been talking to everyone and anyone that asks me how I feel about it all and let them know. This team went 37-3. I grew to love every player. I'm as big a Dusty May fan as there is right now. And they capped it all off by winning the title last night. This is so awesome and I am so happy right now. Go Blue.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.