Last week, we started our offseason series of ranking the best Michigan men’s basketball players since the first time the Wolverines won a national championship back in 1989 to celebrate a 37-year history of Michigan basketball between titles. Today, we look at the next tier up, and it’s a significant one from our scoring model from a batch of already quality list of players in the first rendition of this series.
Michigan
Michigan basketball isn’t invincible, and its first loss shows why
Dusty May talks Michigan basketball after 28-point win over Villanova
Dusty May talks Michigan basketball after 28-point win over Villanova on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025.
Michigan basketball’s first loss of the 2025-26 season – a 91-88 thriller on Saturday, Jan. 10 – was likely a surprise to most.
But U-M players and and coaches saw the seeds planted for the result over the past two weeks, with four consecutive games without the Wolverines feeling like they’d played up to their standard.
“The right team won,” Dusty May said after his team’s first loss.
Michigan led by 14 with 7:38 left in the first half, but let Wisconsin back into the game with a 20-7 run going into halftime. The run included three 3-pointers, part of the Badgers’ season-high 15 3s.
“Give Wisconsin credit,” May continued. “They came in here, took a punch early, they responded and went in at halftime with positive momentum. They came out in the second half and knocked us on our heels a little bit.
“They made plays; our plan, our coaching, our playing wasn’t up to our standard.”
It was similar to U-M’s game earlier in the week, when the Wolverines allowed Penn State to go on a 12-0 second-half run before escaping with a 74-72 victory in Happy Valley.
At Crisler Center, however, the bill came due for the Wolverines not going hard in practice – where U-M had done the work behind its 14-0 start to the season.
“To be honest, the only thing I’m disappointed in is when we started playing, competing at a high level, it looked different,” May said. “We can’t be a team, with what we’re playing for, that has two different levels of intensity.
“That’s what happened … but I don’t want to take anything away from Wisconsin. They came in here, they took it.”
‘They exposed some things’
One of Michigan’s few flaws is in dealing with stretch bigs. That’s especially apparent now after freshman Aleksas Bieliauskas drilled five 3-pointers, including four in less than three minutes of the second half.
Aday Mara is a fantastic rim protector, but he’s not built to move out to the arc; when bigs who can shoot are able to pull him away from the basket, it’s a problem.
“We changed our coverages, changed our personnel, we didn’t do a good enough job,” May said. “We worked three days on that. … We knew it was coming, you know it’s coming … When they make the first couple, there’s such an overreaction.
“They exposed some things with our plan and our team that we thought were going to be issues this year,”
The Wolverines began sticking the Badgers harder on the perimeter, fighting over screens instead of going under them. The change slowed Wisconsin’s 3-point shooting – the Badgers closed the game at just 3-for-10 beyond the arc after making 12 of their first 23 – but it also allowed more dribble-drive penetration, mostly by Nick Boyd.
He scored 22 against U-M and May, his coach at Florida Atlantic. That was second only to Wisconsin’s John Blackwell, who had 26 points – the third double-digit scoring game in four tries by the Birmingham Brother Rice alumnus against the school that passed on him.
“They did a good job of exploiting the mismatches and finding a way to get open,” said Nimari Burnett, who scored 10. “Something we’ll look at in film –we can take this lesson and apply it to other games.”
‘Processes have to improve’
Michigan solid on offense, at least, topping 80 points for the 13th time in 15 games.
Elliot Cadeau – who sat much of the first half in foul trouble – frequently thrived in one-on-one situations en route to 19 points, his second-best total this season. Morez Johnson Jr. missed just one shot and finished with 18 points.
But for the fourth game in a row, U-M shot under 33% on 3s, going 8-for-25 (32%) against Wisconsin.
“We’ve got to find some solutions to get better shots,” May said.
Shooting comes and goes, as May and Co. have tried to point out. Effort should not, though.
But on Saturday, Wisconsin got more second-chance points (15-8) and was virtually even in rebounding – U-M finished with a 32-30 edge, but Wisconsin prevailed, 15-11, in the second half.
Michigan won its first 14 games of the season in large part because of superior talent. While that’s a prerequisite for a deep March run, the grind behind the scenes is every bit as important.
Of Michigan’s three days of prep from Tuesday-Saturday, Cadeau and May said, only one was acceptable.
“Our processes have to improve, our practice habits, our day-to-day habits have to be at a championship level,” May said. “Or we’re simply going to rely on the other team not playing up to their standard, or our talent. That’s not a real healthy way to get through the Big Ten season.”
The Penn State win offered solace that when the going got tough, the Wolverines would find a way. Faltering against Wisconsin wiped away that illusion.
Michigan’s goals – a Big Ten title, a March Madness run – are all still attainable. But only if U-M feels this sting and plays with the same desire opponents are now bringing against the Wolverines, night in and night out.
Even in practice.
“It’s like a smack in our face,” Burnett said. “No team is going to go undefeated – obviously, we hoped to do it – but like I said, just need to learn from it.”
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.
Michigan
Ex-NFL All-Pro unimpressed by Michigan QB Bryce Underwood — who could become backup: ‘Don’t understand’
Former All-Pro NFL safety Eric Weddle is not a believer in Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood.
During an appearance on the “Zero 2 Sixty” podcast, Weddle, who attended the Wolverines’ spring practices, said that it would not be surprising if Michigan’s backup quarterback is playing instead of Underwood come this fall.
“Mark my words, I was out there for spring ball,” Weddle said. “Don’t be surprised if the backup [is] playing early because that Underwood kid, you know, I don’t think he could throw or play quarterback, so we’ll see.”
Weddle, who spent 14 seasons in the NFL with the Chargers, Ravens and Rams, explained that quarterbacks should be taught to play their position first, and be an athlete second, adding that this is what he tells his son, Gaige Weddle, who is a 2028 four-star QB recruit.
“I don’t understand. I don’t understand, like it’s just quarterbacks in general, but I don’t understand how the position is not being taught like from the pocket,” Weddle said. “Like I try to coach Gaige that you are a quarterback first who can be an athlete.
“You’re not an athlete who plays quarterback…You get to the next level, everyone’s as fast as you, everyone’s as strong as you, like your mind, processing, pocket awareness, feel, and getting the ball out on time is what I’ve stressed to him most, as a quarterback.”
Weddle’s comments come after Underwood, the consensus No. 1-ranked 2025 QB recruit out of high school, had a somewhat underwhelming freshman campaign with Michigan.
Through 13 games with the Wolverines, Underwood, 18, threw for 2,428 yards with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions while posting a 60.3 completion percentage, helping lead Michigan to a 9-4 record.
He added 392 rushing yards with six scores on the ground.
Underwood also had a disappointing performance for Michigan in a 41-27 Citrus Bowl loss against Texas, passing for 199 yards — going 23-for-42 — with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Despite the poor showing, Underwood recently told reporters that he has high expectations for both himself and the Wolverines heading into the 2026 season.
“Just like the whole team, and everything that happened to us even after the season, I had to get over it,” Underwood said on May 21. “That was the only option we had. It’s the only option I had. We went through a lot, but I think we’re going to be more player-led this season.
“I feel like we are more of a team now.”
The Spartans have a plethora of players coming in for official visits this weekend.
Few are bigger than 4-star cornerback/wide receiver Gideon Gash.
Gash is a 6-foot-4, 205-pound speedster out of Detroit Catholic Central High School in Novi, Michigan. He holds a 91 rating from 247Sports, which ranks him as the third-best recruit in Michigan for the 2027 class and the fifth-best athlete in the entire class. His 91 rating is also good enough to rank him as the No. 70 overall recruit in the nation.
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His composite score is nearly as good as it gets at 0.9701. That keeps him ranked as the fifth-best athlete in the recruiting class while moving him up to the second-highest-rated recruit in the state of Michigan. His composite score is also the 70th-best mark nationally.
If you’re reading this and thinking you thought the Spartans already had a Gash on the roster, you’d be correct. In fact, they have two.
Older brother Caleb Gash is a redshirt sophomore on the Spartan roster and plays safety for Joe Rossi and the defense. Then, earlier this year, another older brother, Samson Gash, signed his commitment to the Michigan State Spartans. Samson was ranked as the seventh-best recruit in the state of Michigan in the 2026 class and the No. 43 wide receiver in the country. So, in fact, there are already two Gash brothers on the Spartans’ roster, with Gideon still deciding where he wants to play following his final years of high school football.
The Gash brothers are certainly not new to the game. Their father, Sam Gash, enjoyed a successful football career of his own. He played at Penn State from 1987-1991 before being selected in the eighth round of the 1992 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. He also spent time with the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, and New Orleans Saints during his NFL career. Gash was a Super Bowl XXXV champion and a two-time Pro Bowl selection. Following his playing days, he went on to coach in the NFL with the New York Jets, Detroit Lions, and Green Bay Packers.
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Gideon Gash has been one of Pat Fitzgerald’s most important recruiting targets since arriving at Michigan State. Alongside Joe Rossi and James Adams, Fitzgerald has played a key role in the Spartans’ pursuit of the talented athlete. Based on the recruiting efforts so far, it appears Michigan State would prefer to see Gash on the defensive side of the ball, where he could line up alongside his older brother Caleb.
Gash was named the 2026 MVP of the Polynesian Bowl National Showcase & Combine after clocking a blazing 4.35-second 40-yard dash.
As a junior in 2025, Gash was a two-way standout for Detroit Catholic Central, helping lead the Shamrocks to a 14-1 record and a Michigan Division 1 state championship. He played both wide receiver and cornerback throughout the season.
On offense, Gash caught 19 passes for 540 yards, averaging 28.4 yards per catch, while scoring eight touchdowns. Defensively, he totaled 74 tackles, three tackles for loss, nine pass breakups, one interception, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. He also added a kickoff return touchdown.
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In the state championship game against Cass Tech, Gash delivered one of his best performances of the season. He recorded six tackles and one pass breakup on defense while hauling in three receptions for 126 yards and three touchdowns on offense.
According to 247Sports, Gash currently appears warm on four programs: Michigan State, Texas Tech, Alabama, and Oklahoma. He also holds offers from Auburn, Boston College, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, LSU, Louisville, Michigan, Missouri, Northwestern, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
There is certainly no shortage of interest in one of the nation’s top athletes, meaning the Spartans will have to work hard to fend off some of the premier programs in college football.
Having two brothers already on the roster is a great starting point for Michigan State. However, it will take a strong official visit this weekend to continue building momentum and potentially put the Spartans in an even better position moving forward.
No. 22 – F Morez Johnson Jr. – Score: 78.4
The first player from Michigan’s 2025-26 team has made it on the list, and it’s the bodyguard himself, Morez Johnson Jr. His stint in Ann Arbor was short, but impactful. After transferring in from Illinois, he found his way into a starting lineup with two other players 6-foot-9 or taller in Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara. The trio wreaked havoc all season long thanks to their length and athleticism in a scheme tailor-made by head coach Dusty May.
Johnson was one of the most efficient players in the country, averaging 13.1 points per game on a 62.3 percent clip. He also led the team with 7.3 rebounds per game and was commonly considered one of the best defensive players on the floor with his ability to guard all five positions. He was a Second-Team All-Big Ten and was on the All-Big Ten Defensive Team as well.
No. 21 – F Deshawn Sims – Score: 78.9
In the transition from Tommy Amaker to John Beilein, Deshawn Sims was a part of a special group that propelled the program to relevancy again. Sims was the 19th player in program history to reach 1,500 career points, and the 15th to surpass 700 rebounds. Consistency was key, as he played in 129 consecutive games over four seasons, starting 92 of them.
Everything came together for the Wolverines in the 2008-09 season when Sims and co-star Manny Harris led the team to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in more than a decade. The team underperformed in 2009-10, but Sims’ play stayed consistent.
Along with the elite company Sims established with his longevity, he was also a three-time All-Big Ten honoree and averaged 16.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game over his final two seasons.
No. 20 – F Ray Jackson – Score: 81.6
Not only did we have the introduction to the 2026 championship team, but this stretch also introduces us to the Fab Five with forward Ray Jackson, the final member of the historic 1991 class.
Jackson not only has the pedigree tied to the culture that surrounded the Fab Five and their two runner-up finishes in the NCAA Tournament, but he was also a great player. One could argue he was the most unheralded of the bunch and deserves more credit than he does. Somehow, he was only a two-time All-Big Ten performer, but he averaged 17.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in his final three seasons with the program.
He ascended from the last of the Fab Five to a premier Big Ten player during his four-year career, helping guide Maurice Taylor — an honorable mention in this series — to being a member of the All-Big Ten freshman team when Jackson was a senior.
Jackson’s impact was profound, not just for his role in the Fab Five but for the transition out of it with future players who had impossible shoes to fill. The Wolverines not only stayed afloat, but remained tournament teams in the years following, which would have meant more had that era not been tarnished with “scandal” for a fraction of what is being done today in the NIL world.
- The Top 25 Michigan men’s basketball players since 1989: No. 25-23
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