Wolverine Digest

'Overachiever': ESPN provides glowing assessment of Michigan Basketball program

Following an impressive turnaround from the Michigan Basketball program, the future looks bright for head coach Dusty May and the Wolverines.
Chris Breiler|
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Even with a disappointing loss to 1-seed Auburn in the Sweet Sixteen, there's no question that the 2024-25 season was a success for the Michigan basketball program. After finishing as the worst team in the conference just a year earlier, head coach Dusty May reconstructed the roster from the ground up and captured the Big Ten tournament championship in his first season.

Although the Wolverines are losing significant talent from this year's roster, May has already proven more than capable of making big moves in the transfer portal. In fact, he's already secured a commitment from former North Carolina point guard Elliot Cadeau. And with needs to replace a pair of 7-footers in Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf (although nothing is official with Wolf yet), expect May to make more big moves in the portal in the coming days

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But looking ahead, there's plenty of optimism in Ann Arbor when it comes to the future of the basketball program. That optimism was reflected in a recent article from ESPN, where the Wolverines were labeled as an "overachiever" this season.

The arrow is pointing unquestionably up in Ann Arbor. In less than 12 months, Dusty May took the Wolverines from last place in the Big Ten to the NCAA tournament's second weekend. Historically, that's more like it for a program that saw unprecedented success under John Beilein and during the first half of Juwan Howard's tenure.

Things turned south under Howard after an Elite Eight appearance in 2021 and a "we were lucky to be here" Sweet 16 run as an 11-seed a year later. By 2024, the Wolverines had bottomed out, resulting in May's hiring and a quickly rebuilt 27-win roster.

Not many expected the Wolverines to turn things around quite so quickly, but don't expect it again moving forward. May's job will be to take the next step. If he comes even close to matching the results from 2013-22 - one national title game, two regional finals and three more Sweet 16s - he could get a statue next to Bo Schembechler.

- Enjoy more Michigan Wolverines coverage on Michigan Wolverines On SI -

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Chris Breiler
CHRIS BREILER

Christopher Breiler launched Winged Helmet Media and began covering the Michigan Football program in an unofficial capacity in 2017. He then joined Wolverine Digest as part of the FanNation network in 2021 as a contributing writer, where he served as both a writer and a photographer on game days. In 2024, he took over as the Managing Editor for Michigan Wolverines On SI. His love for Michigan Football brought him into the industry, and his passion for being a content creator has led to some amazing experiences along the way.

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