Big Ten Basketball Preview: Michigan Wolverines

What’s up y’all? We are back with another Big Ten Basketball preview, and today we’re talking about the mighty Michigan Wolverines. UM finished last season with a 27-9 record and finished tied with Maryland (14-6) for 2nd place in the Big Ten and would end up winning the conference tournament. They would enter the NCAA Tournament as a 5 seed, where they would eventually fall to the #1 overall seed Auburn Tigers in the Sweet Sixteen.

As is the case in college athletics these days, even when you don’t have a new head coach, the Wolverines lost a significant number of players in the off season, with three graduating, one declaring for the NBA Draft, and five more players transferring out. Among those leaving were junior forward/center Danny Wolf (13.2 PPG), senior center Vladislav Goldin (16.6 PPG), and junior guard Tre Donaldson (11.3 PPG). These were Michigan’s top three scorers last season, as well as their two best playmakers in Donaldson and Wolf (4.1 and 3.6 assists per game, respectively) and their top two rebounders in Wolf (9.7) and Goldin (7.0).

So, right off the bat, they had to replace about 41 points, 8 assists, and ~17 rebounds per contest. First off, they got their playmaker in junior guard Elliot Cadeau, a transfer from North Carolina who averaged 6.2 assists last season in 37 starts and is a fairly decent scorer as well (9.4 PPG). Then they went out and grabbed maybe my favorite name in this past transfer cycle, Yaxel Lendeborg, a 6’9” grad-transfer forward who spent his last two seasons at UAB, averaging 17.7 points, 11.4 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. And to make up a little more of the size they lost in Goldin, they also brought in Aday Mara, a junior center from UCLA, who’s 7’3”, 240 lb. frame should help solidify the paint. Mara played in 33 games for the Bruins last season, averaging 6.4 points, 4 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks… in a little over 13 minutes per game. If he sees a decent bump in playing time, he has a chance to be a very large contributor for Michigan.

When I look at the landscape of Big Ten basketball, Michigan is always there near the top. They just are. That’s what they do. They’ve won three conference tournaments in the last eight years, including 2025. So, honestly, I have no issues writing them in as a legitimate player in the Big Ten this season as well. I think they’ve constructed a solid roster, and I really like Dusty May as a coach. The Wolverines will travel to Eugene to play Oregon this season, and I can promise you now, tickets for that game will go fast. So don’t wait to grab them when they hit the market.

As always, ‘Sco Ducks