The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MAY 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 73 T he 2025-26 Michigan men's basketball team is the greatest in the program's history. This author offered this opinion when it was controversial. I pro- claimed it after head coach Dusty May and the Wolverines clinched their berth in the Final Four. The Maize and Blue had already set a school record for most wins in a season. They had conquered the mighty Big Ten by an astounding four games. They had been the first squad in 50 years to go un- defeated on the road in Big Ten play. They had one of the five best adjusted efficiency margins of the KenPom era. There were questions all that week leading up to the Final Four about whether this was the best Michigan squad of all time. Some pundits said no, that they could not be better than the Fab Five given the Fab Five's two runs to the national championship game and three of their members' NBA talent. While the Fab Five may have been one of the most impactful groups on basketball culture ever, they never won as many games as the 2025- 26 squad did, and they never won a Big Ten championship. While Chris Web- ber, Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard may all have more NBA success than the mem- bers of the 2025-26 team, that does not decide who is the best college team. Other pundits also said no, but they cited 1988-89 — the only Michigan en- semble to win the national championship. They contended that the best Michigan basketball team of all time has to be the only one that has cut down the nets on the final night of the season. While fair, the roads that the two teams took to the Final Four were very different. The 1988- 89 team did not win the Big Ten champi- onship. It lost six conference contests in 18 tries. The 2025-26 team dropped only one out of 20. The 1988-89 team defeated only five teams ranked in the AP Top 25 prior to the Final Four. The 2025-26 team? Eleven. The 2025-26 team had steam- rolled its competition to a clear No. 1 seed, whereas 1988-89 got hot at the perfect time behind Glen Rice. The reason I made this proclamation before the Final Four is because No. 1 seed Arizona was equally as good as Michigan. The matchup was hyped as one of the best Final Four games in the past decade, and as I wrote previously, these teams would have been the clear national title favor- ite any other year. A loss to this Wild- cats team in the national semifinals, par- ticularly if it was close, should not have robbed this U-M team of the title of being the school's best ever. But then it was a moot point, and my hot take became cold. Because trans- fers Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara, Morez Johnson Jr. and Elliot Cadeau, returners Nimari Burnett, Roddy Gayle Jr. and Will Tschetter and freshman Trey McKenney left no doubt about their place in school history. Notwithstanding that Lendeborg — the Big Ten Player of the Year and first- team All-American — played only about five healthy minutes, they overwhelmed Arizona in all facets. They held a double- digit lead the entire last 25 minutes and led by as many as 30 points be- fore coasting to an 18-point win. Then despite their worst shooting night of the entire season (40.0 eFG%) against No. 2 seed UConn, who had been the sport's premier program, the Wol- verines outworked and out-defended the Huskies to capture the Maize and Blue's second national title. The Wolverines found a way to win, like they had all season long. They could win with offense. They finished fourth in adjusted offensive efficiency (128.2), eighth in shoot- ing (58.3 eFG%) and 25th in assist rate (61.0 percent). A roster that had been unfairly labeled as "mercenar- ies" had, remarkably quickly, formed an incredibly special connection that led to unbelievably unselfish basket- ball. Guided by Lendeborg's drive to just be one of the guys, Cadeau's pass- first focus and Mara's exquisite vision at 7-foot-3, the Wolverines always looked for the open teammate and to make the right play rather than pad their own points. Michigan displayed this by generating at least 19 assists in each of its first five NCAA Tournament games. They could also win with defense. They were first in adjusted defensive ef- ficiency (88.5) because no one protected the rim better than they did. Michigan was second in two-point defense (43.8 2PT%) and fourth in average two-point- attempt defense (7.3 feet). The length of Mara, Johnson and Lendeborg terrified opponents from driving deep. And as the Wolverines kept missing their jumpers against UConn, they banded together on the other end because the Huskies could not make anything around the tin (12- for-35 on twos) and held on to win the national championship. And with it, they cemented themselves as the best Michigan basketball team ever. No question. ❑ INSIDE THE NUMBERS ❱ DREW HALLETT The Greatest Of All Time The U-M basketball team ran away not only with the Big Ten title, but the NCAA championship as well — cementing its legacy as the best team in program history. 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.