The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546004
2025-26 YEAR IN REVIEW BY CHRIS BALAS T hree weeks after Michigan beat UConn to win the sec- ond national championship in school history, now former U-M head coach Dusty May finally met with the media to discuss the Wolver- ines' title and look forward to what we thought would be another run at a title in 2026-27. Instead, it would be his last press con- ference as Michigan's coach. Just before summer practice was to begin, May ac- cepted the Dallas Mavericks job, replaced by assistant Mike Boynton Jr. He'd found a perfect opportunity, and the college game had become more difficult than he could have imagined. He admitted as much when he said at that last presser that he barely had time to enjoy the title run while putting this year's roster together. For one night, though, he and his fam- ily were finally able to realize what they'd accomplished. "[My wife] Anna and I watched the last episode [of the 'Made For March' docu- series on Paramount+], and I just looked at her and said, 'Did that really happen?'" May recalled. "She just smiled and kind of laughed, and I think we hugged each other and said, 'Yeah, that happened. And how did this happen? And why did this happen to us? How did we get here?' Those types of things. "It was a pretty cool moment just with her and me." It takes guts to open the doors to a me- dia outlet for an extended period, but that's how much confidence May had in his team. They didn't let him down. Be- hind NBA lottery picks and big men Yaxel Lendeborg (Golden State), Aday Mara (Oklahoma City) and Morez Johnson Jr. (Dallas), U-M cruised through the first five games of the NCAA Tournament be- fore winning it all with a 69-63 victory over UConn in the final. Lendeborg, injured in a 91-73 semifinal blowout of Arizona, played 36 minutes in the final, scoring 13 points on 4-for-13 shooting and grabbing 2 rebounds. Still, he was U-M's MVP, a consensus All-Ameri- can and the Big Ten Player of the Year. He averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds and played in all 40 games with 39 starts. MALE TEAM OF THE YEAR MEN'S BASKETBALL 28 THE WOLVERINE ❱ AUGUST 2026 THE ONE AND ONLY Men's Basketball Title-Winners Are An Easy Choice For Male Team Of The Year Honors The Michigan men's basketball team recorded a historic single-season program record of 37 wins during its 2025-26 championship campaign. PHOTO BY ANDREW MASCHARKA/MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY