THE ESSENTIALS

THE OVERVIEW

Well: Michigan earned the right to play a team they'd beat by 21 even if they hit 10/11 threes in an agonizing late first half stretch; Howard did that and Michigan beat them by 21 anyway because they went 21/22 at the rim.

An hour or so after that, Saint Louis embarked on a comprehensive demolition of a Georgia team that was absolutely not ready for the smoke. Now Michigan faces down rec specs hero Robbie Avila and Josh Schertz, who's created beautiful flowing offenses at Indiana State and now Saint Louis.

SLU got off to a red hot 24-1 start before going 4-4 down the stretch, with a pair of losses to #69 Dayton, one in the conference tourney, and road Ls against Rhode Island and Georgie Mason. Unfortunately they were not able to schedule anyone of note in the non-conference, with Stanford the only P4 team on the schedule. SLU lost that by 1. They did beat #58 Grand Canyon and #38 Santa Clara, and they have a season sweep of VCU to their credit.

This is a dangerous team that is about to see size they have not seen all year. Should be fascinating.

[After THE JUMP: it's not just one guy]

Previously: Fall 2025. Spring 2025. Fall 2024. Fall 2023. Spring 2023. Fall 2022.

The spring rosters are upon us. Michigan doesn't like to betray too much information at this time so we have to wait until fall for the juicy stuff. Here are the things a non-nerd might care about.

• No weight changes. Michigan likes to wait until spring.
• Manny Beigel was moved to offensive line.
• Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi is listed as enrolled but won't be on campus until summer.
• Number changes: Rod Moore (#1), Jyaire Hill (#0), Andrew Marsh (#3), Jordan Young (#6), Kendrick Bell (#0), Dominic Nichols (#8), Deakon Tonielli (#88), Eli Owens (#44 as he said he would), Jamar Browder (#81), I'Marion Stewart (#28), and Ted Hammond (#92).
• CJ Charleston is STILL on the roster after a medical redshirt.
• Adrian Hamilton officially goes by Ace on the roster.

And here are some football bits from the first week:

• Lots of hype already for Savion Hiter, who was running with the ones in practice.
• Tommy Carr "is doing a nice job" and is the young QB standing out after BU, –Whittingham.
• Injured guys are still injured. Rod Moore, Andrew Babalola, John Henry Daley are all missing spring practice. JHD is targeting June 1.
• WR depth chart, via Whittingham: Marsh, Ffrench, Moa, Buchanan.
• Via first presser with Jay Hill, LBs named were Bowles, NOB, and Taylor in that order.
• ...Asked about DL (question was phrased in a way to draw out young DT hype) he brought up Jonah Lea'ea then started naming defensive ends.
• ...Snowden or Berry for nickel—probably both on the field. Vibe from this answer (started with Smith and got a pivot to Zeke) is Berry has a starting spot and if that's one of the top two corners Smith starts at nickel.
• ...Defense will resemble the 2023 one in style. Hill said he was researching a 2023 opponent's OC for a 2024 opponent and went down a rabbit hole watching how the 2023 defense operated.

I checked the 2024 BYU schedule for first-year OCs and am fairly certain the offensive coordinator in question was Jay Johnson of Michigan State, meaning the game he was watching was Hails vs Heils, which I find absolutely delightful.

[After THE JUMP: Things a nerd might care about.]

Sunday wasn't just Selection Sunday for the men, as we also received the unveiling of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament bracket. For Michigan, there was a bit of suspense going into Sunday night. Not that the Wolverines were on the verge of missing the tournament, of course, but whether their loss in the B1G semifinals to Iowa would drop them down a seed line. Ultimately, it did not, as Michigan stuck on the 2-line and will host games at Crisler Center today and Sunday, the second time in program history that the Wolverines are hosting in the NCAA Tournament. 

Today we'll recap the results of the B1G Tournament and then preview this weekend's games:

Looking back at the B1G Tournament 

Michigan ended up playing two games in the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament and I haven't published anything about those games since they happened, so let's look back at them together. My previous piece wrote about the BTT with the expectation that Michigan would play Maryland, who were the 6-seed that was slated to face the 3rd-seeded Wolverines. However I noted that Maryland did lose to (11) Oregon in the regular season, so there was a scenario where a second-consecutive Michigan/Maryland matchup may not come to pass. That is indeed what happened, as the Ducks knocked off the Terps by five to set up a meeting with Michigan in the first Friday night game. 

The first time Michigan and Oregon met, the Wolverines knocked the doors off the Ducks in the first half before their offense ground to a halt and they were forced to scratch and claw for a 2OT victory on the road. This one, on a neutral floor in Indianapolis, was a bit smoother. Michigan didn't obliterate Oregon in the first half but they were a bit better in each quarter, winning the first by five, the second by four, and the third by four, before slamming the door with a nine point win in the fourth. Add it all up and it was a comfortable 22 point edge across the full 40 minutes, 80-58. 

The story of that game for me was Michigan's rebounding advantage, which is how they were able to win the meeting in Eugene as well despite miserable shooting (+22 OREBs). This time the advantage wasn't quite as lopsided, but Michigan still finished +8 in OREBs, rebounding 47.5% of their misses. Oregon did well on the boards too, but were only at a 31% OREB%. The Wolverine three point shooting was dismal, 4/21 from beyond the arc, but they used the interior advantage to shoot 52% from two and were +8 in turnovers. Syla Swords had Olivia Olson had nice games with 17 and 16, respectively, and they overcame a rough outing from Mila Holloway (2/13, 0/5) to snatch a solid win. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: more article]