From the worst in the Big Ten to one of the best? 247Sports believes Michigan basketball under Dusty May could be something of a Cinderella story.
May has been on the job for just a few months and has completely revamped the Wolverines in that time. Keeping three players from the previous roster, May brought in some high-profile transfers to help rekindle the maize and blue’s previous success. After having gone 8-24 last year and missing the NCAA Tournament each of the past two years, it’s a tough ask for the Wolverines to be competitive in May’s first year, but 247Sports believes that of the 18 teams in the Big Ten, Michigan is in the upper-tier — at least on paper.
Isaac Trotter puts the new-look Michigan team as the fifth-best program entering 2024-25, behind UCLA, Indiana, Purdue and Oregon, but ahead of rivals Ohio State and Michigan State.
You can read more about the reasoning in the article, and while we’re inclined to agree that Michigan will be a tournament team this upcoming season, we do have to see how the pieces fit before we proclaim the maize and blue are back. But given how disappointing the past two years have been, even if Michigan ended up being in the middle of the pack, that would be a successful start for May and his staff.
But certainly, that’s not how the Final Four coach sees his new squad, as he shared in his introductory press conference he intends to win right away instead of getting into a long rebuilding process.