In the end, Michigan basketball was too big to fail

On a night where they shot a season-worst 2-of-15 from three, where their injured star looked like a shell of himself, where they lost the rebounding battle and played a style and pace for more conducive to their opponent’s strengths, on a night where seemingly everything that needed to happen in order for Michigan to be once again deprived of its long-awaited second national championship … none of it mattered.

To quote Ellis Pine, “you can’t stop what’s coming,” and Dusty May’s Wolverines have seemed like they’ve been coming for the top of the college basketball mountain since November.

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That statement is a far cry from the days of the not-so-distant past when no level of success felt like a certainty for the maize and blue.

A little over 24 months ago, Michigan was at a crossroads. “Breaking point” might be a more accurate descriptor.

The Wolverines had just gone 8-24 overall and 3-17 in the Big Ten, good for the worst season in the modern history of the program. Ann Arbor legend Juwan Howard was shown the door after five up-and-down seasons, and weeks later, Michigan beat out the likes of Louisville and Vanderbilt to hire May away from Florida Atlantic.

Three Michigan players — Nimari Burnett, Will Tschetter and walk-on Harrison Hochberg — experienced every moment of the 8-win season and still chose to stick with the program through the transition. On Monday night, 741 days after May was hired, all three climbed the ladder inside Lucas Oil Stadium to cut down a piece of the national championship net.

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Of course loyalty, while an attractive subplot and an easy storyline to latch onto, might not be the central theme of the 2025-26 Michigan Wolverines. Not the team that just became the first in the history of college basketball to win a national championship with five starters who all transferred into the program.

So what is the central theme?

Well … big matters.

Think Big.

May’s potential to be one of the primary faces of the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/end-michigan-basketball-too-big-045857738.html

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Publish date : 2026-04-07 04:58:00

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