Just two years after a disastrous 8-24 season, the University of Michigan Men’s Basketball team has taken home the 2026 National Championship. The Wolverines finished the season 37-3, a new record for wins in a season for the program. This was the first national championship in basketball for Michigan since 1989, and was arguably the best team assembled in the new transfer portal and NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) era. 

One of the main reasons for the success of this Michigan team is head coach Dusty May. This was May’s second year at Michigan after joining the program from Florida Atlantic University where he took the program to the Final Four in 2023,  Last year under May, the Wolverines finished the regular season 22-9, and then won the Big Ten Tournament Championship as the #3 seed in the conference. They were placed as a #5 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost in the Sweet Sixteen to number one overall seed Auburn, a huge improvement from the previous year.

After the season, the team had to completely revamp their roster as two of their best players, Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin departed for the NBA.  May brought in four transfers, all of whom would start. His first transfer was point guard Elliot Cadeau, who had struggled at North Carolina and was looking for a new start. He then got an athletic 6 ‘9 power forward from Illinois, Morez Johnson Jr.  His next transfer was his biggest one, forward Yaxel Lendeborg. He was the top ranked transfer, who considered going to the NBA before coming to Ann Arbor. Michigan’s last transfer was an unproven 7’3 center from UCLA, Aday Mara. The other big addition to the roster was freshman recruit and McDonald’s All American Trey McKenney. The expectations were high for the team preseason, being ranked seventh in the country. 

• Michigan started off with wins but were struggling against their more quality opponents, beating Wake Forest in overtime and TCU by only four and later dominated Middle Tennessee St. for their fourth win in as many games.
• Michigan participated in the Player’s Era Tournament in Las Vegas, where they dominated all of their appointments by 30 or more points, including two top 25 teams and would go on to win the tournament. 
• The Wolverines took a bad loss on Jan. 10 to an unranked Wisconsin team at home 91-88, giving them their first loss of the season at 14-1.
• Michigan then went on to win ten straight, climbing all the way to number one in the country.  These wins included wins against fifth ranked Nebraska, at seventh ranked Michigan State, a seventeen point comeback at Northwestern, and a win at then seventh ranked Purdue. 
• On Feb. 21, the 24-1 Wolverines traveled to Washington D.C. to play third ranked Duke and lost 68-63 after shooting 6-25 from three point range to give the Wolverines their second loss of the season. 
• Michigan bounced back, beating an injury riddled and undersized Minnesota team. Their next matchup was on the road at Illinois, where the Wolverines were able to win comfortably, but it was at a cost. It was later announced that backup point guard L.J. Cason had torn his ACL and would be out for the rest of the season. 
• Michigan finished the regular season by winning the rest of their games, posting an impressive 28-2, as well as 19-1 in conference play, winning the Big Ten regular season title by a convincing four games. 
• In the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan beat both Ohio St. and Wisconsin before losing to Purdue 80-72 in the tournament final for their third loss of the season.

Michigan was placed as the one seed in the Midwest Region in the NCAA Tournament and would play Howard, the 16 seed. Michigan struggled slightly in the first half against Howard, mainly because of Howard’s three point shooting, but were quickly able to pull away in the second half, winning 101-80. 

In the second round, Michigan was matched up against nine seed St. Louis, arguably the best team from a mid-major conference all year and a dominant force in the Atlantic Ten Conference. St. Louis was able to keep it close in the first half, a reoccurring theme with this Michigan team, but once again were able to pull away after halftime adjustments and cruised to another dominant 95-72 win. Yaxel Lendeborg finished the game with 25 points and really started to showcase his three point shooting, going 3-5, as well as a highlight dunk. This win by Michigan solidified their place in the Sweet Sixteen, making it their seventh straight Sweet Sixteen when making the tournament. 

Michigan was set to play four seed Alabama in the Sweet Sixteen, and started off the game slow, trailing 11-4 at the first media timeout. Michigan caught up but again didn’t finish the half well and were trailing by two at halftime. However, Michigan came out strong  in the second half and were able to win comfortably 90-77. This win sent Michigan to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2021, where they lost to UCLA.. 

There were some upsets in the other half of the bracket in the  Midwest Region, leading to six seed Tennessee being the other representative in the Elite Eight. The game was mostly evenly matched for the first ten minutes, until Michigan started pulling away to build a twelve point lead at the half. The second half was complete domination by Michigan and the Wolverines won by an astonishing 33 points 95-62, led by Yaxel Lendeborg’s 27 point game. This was the first time a team had won by more than 30 points in the Elite Eight since the 1989 Michigan team, the last time the Wolverines had won the national championship. This also sent them to their first Final Four since 2018.

In the FInal Four, Michigan was matched up against fellow one seed Arizona which quickly became one of the most anticipated Final Four matchups in recent history. These two teams were statistically both top five teams all time in the KenPom (an advanced statistic) era, which is basically this entire century. Michigan started the game very strong, and never looked back. Michigan never trailed in the game, leading by as many as 30 points on their way to a 91-73 victory to advance to the national championship game where they would play UConn, who were making their third championship appearance in four years. Unfortunately, during the Arizona game, star Yaxel Lendeborg sprained his MCL in his left knee, and was a questionable decision for the final game of the year. 

Michigan was favored in the title game, but UConn had lots of experience, and the game was expected to be very competitive. Michigan started off the game slow on offense, but they weren’t giving up many points on defense either. The halftime score was 33-29 favoring Michigan, even though they hadn’t hit a shot outside the paint all game. Michigan came out of the half with a little momentum, and were able to create some separation, extending the lead to eight points. The rest of the half was very scrappy, with Michigan only hitting two threes all game, one of them being a shot by freshman Trey McKenney with 1:50 left in the game to put Michigan up nine. Despite a late push by UConn, Michigan held off to win 69-63 and secured their first national championship in 37 years. Point guard Elliot Cadeau was named Final Four Most Outstanding Player, and Yaxel Lendeborg was able to fight through injury and score 11 points in the win. After the game, Michigan was listed as the second best team in the KenPom era, cementing itself as an all time great team in college basketball.