The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1543845
APRIL 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 65 M ichigan men's basketball just completed a historic regular season that culmi- nated with an outright conference championship. Head coach Dusty May and the Wolverines are the first school ever to post at least 19 Big Ten victories. They are the first to win the Big Ten by at least four contests since 2008-09 Michigan State. They are the first to be unblemished on the road in the Big Ten since college basketball's last undefeated team (1975-76 Indi- ana). They are the first with at least 21.5 points per 100 possessions more than their Big Ten foes since 2004- 05 Illinois (plus-24.3). At this point of the campaign, this edition of the Maize and Blue is the greatest team in program history and in the upper pantheon of most dominant Big Ten teams ever assembled. Any other year, Michigan would clearly be the best team, have the most impressive résumé, and be a signifi- cant favorite to cut down the nets on the final Monday of the college hoops season. Not this year, however. This year is an exception because it has two other exceptional teams. Duke and Arizona can line up shoulder to shoulder with Michigan and tout their accomplishments just as proudly. They, too, finished the regular season 29-2. They, too, won their high-major confer- ence championships by multiple games. They, too, have at least 14 Quad 1 wins with 15 apiece — no other school has more than nine. They, too, also suffered their two defeats by no more than eight total points — Duke by four, Arizona by seven and U-M by eight. This is not the norm. To put this into context, from 2015-16 through 2024-25, but excluding 2020-21 because its regular season was shortened due to COVID-19, only twice did a high-major school drop two or fewer games. Virginia both times— in 2017-18 and 2018-19. That is it. This year, though? Three different pro- grams did it. One more than the past de- cade combined. Michigan, Duke and Arizona have not been lucky either. These teams deserved their incredible success. They are unde- niably the three best teams in the coun- try, and only Florida is within range. Ac- cording to KenPom, as of March 8, Duke was first in adjusted efficiency margin at +40.62, Michigan was second at +39.36 and Arizona was third at +37.35 this year. That is not what is amazing, though. What is amazing is that all three of those adjusted efficiency margins are in the top five for the entire KenPom era, which dates back to 1996-97. The list would be 1998-99 Duke (+43.01), 2025-26 Duke, 2025-26 Michigan, 2024-25 Duke (+39.29) and Arizona. This does not nec- essarily mean that these teams are three of the five best college basketball teams of the past three decades. Adjusted effi- ciency margin is based on the average D-I team for a given season, and the average D-I team for a given season can be better or worse than other years. However, it demonstrates Michigan, Duke and Arizona are tremendous. For Michigan and Arizona, these have been dream seasons thus far. These are two prestigious programs that have had great past success. The Wolverines have appeared in eight Fi- nal Fours and hung one national title banner in 1989. The Wildcats have punched their ticket to four Final Fours and secured a national championship in 1997. Yet this season's squads feel like the best of each school's history, striving to bring back the national glory that has eluded them for so long. For Duke, while this may not be considered a dream season for the Blue Devils given their status as the titan of college basketball the past few generations, this is still about as good as it gets even for them, and they are salivating at trying to get their first national title in over a decade (2015). All three of these teams must be thinking that this has to be their year. While it is called "March Madness" for a reason, any madness seems likely to be snuffed out by the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight. It seems more and more likely each day that these three programs (and Florida) are a clear tier above every- one else. They are the four best teams in adjusted defensive efficiency, are all in the top 10 in adjusted offensive efficiency, have tremendous length, hit the boards hard and dominate the paint on both ends of the floor. That type of play travels to any arena. It should carry each of them to Indianapolis where the Final Four awaits. There, destinies would clash for what would be one of the best Final Fours ever. A battle royale of some of the best teams that fans have seen in recent memory. Of teams who have had storybook seasons. But only one will get the fairytale ending with the confetti raining upon them. Despite that, in any other year, it would have been all three of them. ❑ INSIDE THE NUMBERS ❱ DREW HALLETT The March Of Destinies Will Tschetter and Michigan put together a historic regular season, but so have Arizona and Duke. Each of these three exceptional teams achieved an adjusted efficiency margin that ranks in the top five over the last 30 years. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Staff writer Drew Hallett has covered Michigan athletics since 2013. Contact him at drew.c.hallett@gmail.com and follow him on X (Twitter) @DrewCHallett.