After an offseason that feels like it drags on forever, college basketball is finally back, and Michigan is set to begin defending its national title Monday night.
That makes this the right moment to fire off a few bold calls for the Wolverines’ 2026-27 season. Last year’s attempt wasn’t exactly a masterpiece - I predicted Michigan would land a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament and finished 1-for-5 - so the goal here is simple: do better.
One of the biggest swings is this: Michigan will have an All-Big Ten First Team guard, and it won’t be Elliot Cadeau.
The pick is Trey McKenney, and I’m staying with it after making the same call on SB Nation Preseason Ballot on Land Grant Holy Land. McKenney was a key bench piece last season, and his game kept moving in the right direction as the year went on.
He also showed how serious he is about his body and his craft last offseason, dropping 18 pounds through constant workouts and a switch to sugar-free candy. Tony Garcia also reported in an excellent piece posted on The Detroit Free Press ($) that Michigan had to temporarily disable his key card because he tried to get into the Player Development Center less than a week after the Wolverines won the national title.
McKenney can score at all three levels, has taken a big step defensively, and looks destined for the NBA soon enough. If Michigan ends up in the top three of the Big Ten, he should be a major reason why.
Another fresh face who should make noise is freshman forward Quinn Costello. I think he’ll lead Michigan in bench scoring more often than Roddy Gayle Jr. and L.J.
Cason did combined last season. Michigan’s bench led the team in scoring in only three games a year ago, with Cason doing it twice and Gayle once.
Costello is going to blow past that on his own.
At Big Ten Media Day, Cadeau called Costello a future NBA player and said he might be Michigan’s best three-point shooter. That kind of shooting matters even more on a team that may not have three lottery picks waiting for next June. The Big Ten is a grind, and I can see Costello catching fire in more than a few conference games and leading the Wolverines in scoring six times.
Gayle is another player I expect to take a real step. His three-point numbers have been up and down since he shot 42.9 percent from deep on 1.4 attempts per game as a freshman at Ohio State, never topping 31.8 percent since then.
But this setup should give him plenty of clean looks, with Cadeau and McKenney collapsing defenses and kicking it out. He also knows this offense well, which should help him settle in and shoot better on more volume.
That’s a big ask - a 43 percent three-point season would put him among the top 15 shooters in the sport based on last year’s numbers - but I think Gayle gets there. If he does, it could push him into late first-round territory.
Michigan’s defense should also have a rim protector who stands out nationally. I’m picking Cincinnati transfer center Moustapha Thiam to follow in Aday Mara’s footsteps and lead the Big Ten in total blocks and blocks per game for the second straight year. Mara did it last season with his length, basketball IQ and quick instincts, and Thiam brings a lot of those same traits.
Mike Boynton Jr. is a defense-first coach, so that end of the floor is going to matter. Thiam has already shown well as a shot-blocker in three exhibitions, and I think he’s good enough to own the league’s block numbers just like Mara did a year ago.
Boynton is also the center of the final prediction. According to the contract Maize n Brew received via FOIA request, he has to hit two of four performance benchmarks to make Year 2 of the deal guaranteed. Those benchmarks are void if Michigan reaches the Final Four, but with Duke, Houston, Florida, Illinois and Michigan State all sitting near the top of the sport, I don’t see that happening.
Even without last season’s depth, Michigan still has experienced guards, Gayle as a fifth-year wing who can help on both ends, transfer big men and some promising young pieces. That’s enough, in my view, for the Wolverines to clear three of the four benchmarks.
I’d put them at 24 regular-season wins, which would be five fewer than last year, and finishing third in the Big Ten behind Michigan State and Illinois. From there, I think Michigan has enough talent and experience to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
In Other News...
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Michigans search for its next athletic director is no longer a quiet background project. The university has brought in TurnkeyZRG to help replace outgoing Director of Athletics Warde Manuel, and the firms involvement gives the process a more formal, high-stakes feel as the school works toward a decision that will shape the departments next era. The search began on Oct. 1, 2026, and the eventual hire will be made by the university president and Board of Regents.
The timing matters because the new AD will inherit two of the schools most visible programs at a moment when both football and basketball are under plenty of scrutiny. Michigans coaching contracts already include performance benchmarks, so the next athletic director will not just be managing budgets and facilities, but also overseeing expectations that are built into the job. For a department with championship-level ambitions, this is the kind of hire that can ripple well beyond one office. [Read more 🡒]
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Pro Football Focus grades pointed to an unexpected trio at the top of the defensive report card, with linebacker Chase Taylor and defensive tackles Jonah La'ea and Enow Etta drawing the best marks for their work in run defense, tackling and pass rushing. Michigan finished with 14 total quarterback pressures, a sign the pressure was there even if some secondary issues in coverage still need cleaning up. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Escaped Rutgers But One Wolverines Problem Is Getting Harder To Ignore
Michigan got out of Rutgers with a win, but the way it got there only sharpened the concern around a run game that has not looked nearly as sturdy as it should. Against a defense that had been vulnerable on the ground, the Wolverines managed just 3.6 yards per carry, their least effective rushing outing against Rutgers this season, and the offense again had to work harder than expected to move the ball and finish drives.
The defense did enough to keep Rutgers from stringing together much through the air, but two explosive plays still flipped field position and kept the game uncomfortable deep into the afternoon. Add in the continuing issues with scoring and kicking, and the broader picture is hard to miss: Michigan keeps finding itself in tight games, and the margin for error is shrinking. [Read more 🡒]