Michigan

Michigan basketball enters Players Era tourney with ‘growth mindset’

Published

2 months ago

November 24, 2025

Press Room

Michigan basketball enters Players Era tourney with ‘growth mindset’

Four games into the 2025-26 season, Michigan basketball remains unblemished.

The No. 6 Wolverines (4-0) haven’t always looked flawless, but they’ve found ways to get wins against different styles. A zone team (Oakland), a pair of Power Four opponents (Wake Forest and TCU) and most recently a pesky mid-major (Middle Tennessee State) have all provided different tests.

The slate gets even harder this week when Michigan travels to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival men’s championship tournament, featuring 18 teams – 11 of which are in the top 50 of KenPom entering the event. So, what are coach Dusty May’s goals entering this type of environment?

“Hope for some vitamin D, hope we stay healthy and hope these three games in three days show us what we need to do or continue to do better to win the Big Ten Tournament,” he said. “I know some coaches or programs don’t value as much (the tournament). … but we want to be in position to compete for it.

“So three games in three days gives us an opportunity to prepare like that, to take care of our bodies and prioritize the next game immediately.”

Michigan won the Big Ten Tournament last season and May clearly is already thinking ahead. That said, it’s not the only goal the Wolverines have in the desert. Michigan has struggled to get its 3-point shooting going, hitting below 33% in each of its past three games and 20% or worse in two of them.

The tests don’t get easier for U-M this week, facing San Diego State on Monday, Nov. 24 (10:30 p.m., TruTV) which is No. 19 nationally in defense per KenPom and Auburn the following night (8:30 p.m., TNT), which is No. 36.

It’s unclear who the Wolverines will play for their third game, which could be either Wednesday or Thursday, and depends on how the first two go. Either way, with three games in 72 hours, there’s a chance Michigan will go a bit deeper into its bench, which could include some time for sharp shooting freshman Winters Grady.

“I could see us in the near future going with a little bit longer, deeper rotation,” May said.

Michigan won the Fort Myers Tip-Off a year ago during feast week, which served as a spring board for a 5-0 start to Big Ten play and helped them figure out their Danny Wolf-led identity.

Michigan is still figuring out its rotations this year, as far as lineup combinations, minute allocations and assessing which pairings lead to certain outcomes on each side of the court. May has said that he’s pleased with his team’s start in some ways, namely the toughness.

“Nothing gives me confidence we’re going to pick up a few quality wins other than we have a really good team, we’re capable of playing really good basketball,” May said following his team’s 84-61 win over MTSU. “I haven’t watched San Diego State, I’ve watched Auburn. Obviously we’re very familiar with them, they sent us home last year.

“The confidence I have to go get a couple wins is simply because we have a really good staff and really good players. Now it’s the time to turn the page and start studying what we need to do.”

What U-M needs to do is protect the ball better. Its turned the ball over 56 times the past three games and SDSU is No. 17 in the country, forcing turnovers on 23.8% of opponents possessions.

The Aztecs are deep, with their bench playing 43.4% of all minutes. Auburn, meanwhile, is run-and-gun team. They rarely turn it over (No. 24 nationally), shoot well inside the arc (62.4%, No. 24) and do so because they get so many high-percentage looks on putbacks (44.0% offensive rebounding rate, No. 10).

“We’ve got to be able to learn on the fly where we don’t have time to practice in between – we go straight from a film session, walk through and be able to apply things,” May said. “That’s the secret sauce of elite teams. So hopefully we’ll see us doing that on the fly.”

Should U-M win the tournament, it would be a positive on multiple levels, most notably some Quad 1 wins for the resume.

But the staff has been around the sport long enough to know the week will not make or break the season one way or the other.

“We are 100% a growth mindset program. We need to be better (when we return) next week than we are today,” May said. “We need to continue to learn more about our team and whether we win or we lose, we’re not going to be too high or too low because our season is long and we have a high, high ceiling.”

Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

Source link

Click to comment

Michigan

Applications for spring turkey season in Michigan is open through Feb. 1. What to know

Published

1 hour ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Applications for spring turkey season in Michigan is open through Feb. 1. What to know

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources opened applications through Feb. 1 for Michigan’s spring turkey season.

Officials say there are some changes to the 2026 season, such as the number of turkey management units, which are designated areas open to hunters.

“These regulation changes uphold the goals for the spring turkey hunting season: maximizing hunter opportunity while also maintaining satisfactory hunting experiences across the state,” said Adam Bump, DNR upland game bird specialist.

Here’s what to know about licenses for the upcoming turkey season. For more information on other regulations, visit the DNR’s website.

How much do the applications cost?

Turkey season applications cost $5 each and are available online on the DNR’s website, at any license agent or through the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app.

A map of license agents is available online.

Who is eligible to apply?

Hunters aged 17 and older during the hunting period are eligible to apply for a license as long as they have a hunter education certificate or an apprentice license.

Anyone between the ages of 10 and 16 can purchase a turkey youth license. Anyone age 9 and under can participate through a mentored hunting program to receive a license. Youth turkey licenses are valid for all three management units and season dates.

Where and when can I hunt?

In 2026, the DNR announced that it had reduced the turkey management unit from 14 to three — Upper Peninsula, northern Lower Peninsula and southern Lower Peninsula. The units also determine the type of license hunters can obtain and when they can hunt.

View a map of the turkey management units below:

Michigan Department of Natural Resources

A Hunt 0110 license is for the Upper Peninsula, with an April 18-May 31 hunting season. Hunt 0134 license is valid for the northern Lower Peninsula and is available from April 18 to May 1. The Hunt 0302 license is available for the southern Lower Peninsula from April 18 to May 1. A Hunt 0303 license is also available for the Southern Lower Peninsula (May 2-31).

These licenses have a limited number available.

Other licenses include Hunt 0234, which is for statewide (April 25-May 31), and Hunt 0301, which is for private land (April 18-May 31). Hunt 0234 is valid on private and public lands in the Upper Peninsula and the northern Lower Peninsula, but private only in the southern Lower Peninsula, as well as Fort Custer military lands, with permission.

How can I get a license?

Hunters who apply for a license are entered into a random drawing system. The drawing results are available on March 2.

The Hunt 0234 license (statewide) and Hunt 0301 license (private land) do not require people to enter a drawing. These licenses can be purchased beginning at 10 a.m. on March 16. Hunters can check their drawing results online or on the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app.

“These changes will give hunters longer seasons and bigger units to hunt in,” said Bump.

Anyone who is not selected in the drawing can purchase a leftover license beginning at 10 a.m. on March 9. Anyone who did not enter the drawing can purchase a leftover license on March 16.

How many licenses are available?

There is a 6,000-license quota for Hunt 0110 (Upper Peninsula), an 18,000-license quota for Hunt 0134 (northern Lower Peninsula), a 6,000-license quota for Hunt 0302 (southern Lower Peninsula April season) and an 8,000-license quota for Hunt 0303 (southern Lower Peninsula May season).

Hunt 0234 (statewide) and Hunt 0301 (private land) licenses are unlimited.

Source link

Michigan

Michigan football signs former No. 1-ranked running back

Published

13 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Michigan football signs former No. 1-ranked running back

Michigan football moved quickly to help fill its running back room on Thursday, adding the No. 1-ranked rusher in the 2024 recruiting class to the roster.

Taylor Tatum, who spent the last two seasons at Oklahoma, signed with the Wolverines for the 2026 season, The Ann Arbor News/MLive confirmed.

Tatum, listed at 5-foot-10 and 212 pounds, has three seasons of college eligibility remaining.

He appeared in 12 games for the Sooners, most of it during his true-freshman season in 2024. That first season, Tatum rushed for 278 yards and three touchdowns, highlighted by a five-carry, 69-yard game in Oklahoma’s season opener against Temple.

Tatum was hampered by injuries in 2025, appearing in just one game against South Carolina, where he rushed once for negative-1 yard.

A former four-star recruit, Tatum was considered the nation’s No. 1 running back in 2024 out of Longview High School in Texas, where he set the school record for career rushing touchdowns (53). He picked Oklahoma over Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, USC, among others.

Tatum was also a member of the Oklahoma baseball team, though he didn’t appear in a game in 2025.

The signing comes just a day after Michigan’s leading rusher in 2025, Jordan Marshall, announced his return to the Wolverines. Since the transfer portal opened last Friday, reserve running backs Bryson Kuzdzal and Jasper Parker have entered. Parker has since signed to play at Arkansas next season.

Meanwhile, Michigan awaits a decision from its other star back, Justice Haynes, who’s left the door open to a return to college. A pair of freshmen backs, Savion Hiter and Jonathan Brown, also joined the team this week.

Tony Alford, Michigan’s running backs coach, was one of three assistants retained by new head coach Kyle Whittingham.

Source link

Michigan

Kyle Whittingham knows what Michigan football needs

Published

1 day ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Kyle Whittingham knows what Michigan football needs

Michigan football is primed to win now, new coach Kyle Whittingham said this week on “The Dan Patrick Show.”

The Wolverines have made far too many headlines off the field, which is why Whittingham told Patrick the organization needs to simply get back to focusing on the reason they’re all together as a team − football.

“The place doesn’t need a rebuild, it needs a reboot of trust and getting rid of the drama and just get back to playing Michigan football without all the distractions,” Whittingham said. “It didn’t come from the players. The players were not involved. It was not some player issue – it was just the peripheral.

“Guys here have a great attitude, I met with everyone of them last week at the bowl site. Quality young men, care about academics, excited to be at Michigan, but they’ve dealt with a lot over the last few years.”

Whittingham, 66, takes over as the 22nd head coach in program history after a pair of scandals rocked the previous two men who held his job.

Jim Harbaugh led the Wolverines from 2015-23 − and left on top by winning a national championship − but also was found to have a lack of institutional control in his program by NCAA investigators after two separate NCAA violations occurred under his watch: impermissible recruiting and illegal sign-stealing.

More recently, Sherrone Moore was fired in scandal after he was found to have had a relationship with a subordinate and was subsequently arrested after he allegedly went to her house and threatened his own life − he was jailed for two nights and charged with felony home invasion, misdemeanor stalking and misdemeanor breaking and entering.

Patrick asked if there was any selling point Whittingham needed to hear specifically from Michigan. Whittingham said when he stepped away from Utah in mid-December there were only a handful of program’s he would have even entertained. He called Michigan “a special place.”

“Needed to hear that Michigan was what I thought it was,” he said. “Hey’re committed to winning here, we do have some challenges with entrance requirements, there is a little bit of a hurdle there, but talk about athletes, resources, tradition − it’s all here at Michigan.”

Whittingham also quipped about the irony of previously being a team that wore red (Utah) whose primary rival wore blue (BYU) to flipping that. It’s also not lost on him that his mentor, Urban Meyer, went 7-0 against Michigan in his tenure in Columbus − Whittingham joked at his opening press conference that Meyer’s name alone might be considered a “four-letter word” in Ann Arbor.

“Blue was our rival at Utah for years,” he said. “Now I’ve got to get used to saying, ‘Go Blue.’”

Whittingham is in the throes of one of the busiest times on the college football calendar. The transfer portal opened for a 15-day window Jan. 2-16, setting off a scramble to both retain players, scout the database and find appropriate fits for the team.

Whittingham has only known his roster and coaches for approximately 10 days – he said while down in Florida he was going to “lock himself” in a room at Schembechler Hall in Ann Arbor to watch film on the players on his roster. He has been able to keep Bryce Underwood, Andrew Marsh, Andrew Babalola, Blake Frazier, Evan Link, Jake Guarnera and Zeke Berry − the last two of whom had put their names in the transfer portal before indicating their return to U-M for 2026.

With money flowing, back-channeling frequent and poaching at an all-time high, Whittingham doesn’t see college football’s current model as something that will last as currently constructed for more than a handful of years.

“It is not sustainable, there’s no question about that,” Whittingham said. “Something’s gotta give. Within a 2- to 4-, 5-year window, you’re going to see a major overhaul of Division I football. I think it’s going to become more of a minor league NFL model. I think you’re gonna see a salary cap, collective bargaining, players as employees.

“I think all that’s coming because we cannot maintain this pace.”

Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

Source link