Michigan
Michigan Wolverines at Maryland Terrapins Preview: The worst of the mediocre
![Michigan Wolverines at Maryland Terrapins Preview: The worst of the mediocre Michigan Wolverines at Maryland Terrapins Preview: The worst of the mediocre](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rnRicyqNviGefOJLyNwveyGAxm4=/0x0:3936x2061/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24373185/usa_today_19821227.jpg)
I am tempted to use a photo of Michael Barrett’s strip-sack against Taulia Tagovailoa, as football gives me happy feelings and basketball…does not. The Michigan Wolverines have plenty of basketball games left on the schedule, but in many ways it feels like this is a lost season already.
That is a bummer because the Big Ten is very weak this year. A double-bye in the conference tournament does not seem hard to earn, yet Michigan is nowhere close to a top-four spot, and actually will likely end up playing on Wednesday in Minneapolis. With losses against the two worst teams in the conference per Kenpom, postseason hopes are all but gone.
Michigan draws another bottom-feeder in the Maryland Terrapins on Thursday who are struggling like the rest of the Big Ten. They, too, have losses against Indiana and Minnesota, as well as to Purdue. Kenpom has this team 81st in the country, which is still lower than the Wolverines, but this game is in College Park. With Hunter Dickinson and Mark Turgeon gone, this one lacks any real spark.
Michigan Wolverines (6-9, 1-3) at Maryland Terrapins (9-3, 1-3)
Date & Time: Thursday, Jan. 11, 7 p.m. ET
Location: Xfinity Center, College Park, MD
TV/Streaming: FS1
Four games is a little early to be focusing on conference-only stats, but for Maryland they are hard to ignore. No Big Ten team has a lower adjusted offensive efficiency than the Terps, thanks to a league-worst effective field rate and three-point percentage, with two-point shooting and turnover rate not much better. Maryland does grab a bunch of offensive boards and draws some free throws, but those are the only positives on offense.
Defensively, the story is quite the opposite, as the Terps are pretty solid with a top-30 unit nationally. The defense is really good interiorly, and while there may be some threes to be had, this has not shown up much in conference play. This game really profiles to be strength-on-strength, or maybe weakness-on-weakness, with both teams having a glaring weakness on one end of the floor.
Happy thoughts
There have not been many positive surprises this year, but the improvement of Terrance Williams is certainly high up that list. After three up-and-down years in Ann Arbor, the senior has taken a huge step forward, averaging 12.7 points per game on 34 minutes, shooting 41.5 percent from three. He has always displayed a high motor, and that has been even more noticeable this season.
Williams is far from perfect; his development feels a year late, and his defense is not exactly elite. Still, now is the time to focus on the positives! As the Maryland native returns home on Thursday, he is coming off two 20-point performances in the past three games. Another big offensive night would go a long way, especially with Dug McDaniel converting to a part-time attendee. It is anyone’s guess how a terrible Maryland offense will fare against the porous Michigan defense, but either way the Wolverines will need to score.
For a defense that is not porous…
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Michigan
Change in Michigan football ticket resale rules cost buyer $2.5M, lawsuit alleges
Michigan
A timeline of Michigan men’s basketball’s 2024 offseason
![A timeline of Michigan men’s basketball’s 2024 offseason A timeline of Michigan men’s basketball’s 2024 offseason](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/e9aLp6RfI7dKSC2qQP6yiIpRolo=/0x0:2400x1257/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25369804/usa_today_22871957.jpg)
It’s been a busy offseason for the Michigan men’s basketball team, including a coaching change, a whole new coaching staff and 10 new players from the transfer portal and the freshman class.
Let’s recap this offseason so far, with a timeline of one of the busiest offseasons for the program in recent memory. This will focus on additions to the roster and won’t touch on departing players.
March 15: Warde Manuel fires Juwan Howard
In a press release that dropped a few days after Michigan was eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament, Manuel announced after a “comprehensive review of the program,” Juwan Howard would not return.
Howard posted an 82-67 record through five seasons as head coach. While he led the Wolverines to an Elite Eight in 2021 and a Sweet Sixteen in 2022, Michigan finished 8-24 overall and 3-18 in the Big Ten last season, the fewest conference wins since the Wolverines went 2-12 in 1966-67. Combine that with numerous issues off the court and Manuel felt the program needed a fresh start.
March 24: Michigan announces hiring of Dusty May
After being without a head coach for a little more than a week, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that May was being hired at Michigan after six seasons as Florida Atlantic’s head coach. That successful FAU tenure included a Final Four run in 2022 and an NCAA Tournament bid the following season.
March 26: May introduced as Michigan’s head coach at press conference
Both May and Manuel spoke at this press conference, with May expressing excitement to get back to the Midwest and Manuel shedding light on what was a relatively quick hiring process.
March 29: 2024 guard Durral Brooks re-affirms commitment to Michigan basketball
While he initially committed to Michigan under Howard, Brooks was technically the first player May landed, re-affirming his commitment a few days after the introductory presser. Brooks played high school ball at Grand Rapids Catholic Central and is rated 202nd in his class on 247Sports composite.
April 4: Will Tschetter announces return
A little more than a week after the introductory presser, Tschetter announced he would be returning to the program.
Tschetter has been at Michigan for three years now, and despite the team’s struggles, he had a pretty solid individual season as Michigan’s sixth man in 2023-24. He averaged 6.8 points and 2.4 rebounds per game while shooting 51.9 percent (28-for-54) from beyond the arc and 58.2 percent from the field.
April 18: Dusty May announces coaching staff
Before Michigan officially brought in any new players, May filled out the rest of his coaching staff. That coaching staff includes:
• Mike Boynton Jr., assistant coach, former Oklahoma State head coach
• Justin Joyner, assistant coach, former associate head coach at St. Mary’s
• Akeem Miskdeen, assistant coach, former assistant at Georgia
• Kyle Church, assistant coach/general manager, formerly at FAU
• Drew Williamson, assistant coach/director of player development, formerly at FAU
• Brandon Gilbert, special assistant to the head coach, formerly at FAU
April 19: 2024 guard Justin Pippen, North Texas guard Rubin Jones commit to Michigan
Pippen was the first new player May landed. Pippen, the son of NBA Hall-of-Famer Scottie Pippen, played high school ball at Sierra Canyon in California and is rated 106th overall on the 247Sports composite.
The Pippen commitment kicked off a busy weekend for the Wolverines, which continued with Jones committing to Michigan out of the portal later that day. Jones is North Texas’ all-time leading scorer, and averaged 12.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 39.6 percent from the field, 41.6 percent from three and 77.3 percent from the free throw line last season.
April 20: Yale center Danny Wolf commits to Michigan
May landed another commitment later that weekend in the 7-footer. Last season, Wolf averaged 14.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 47.2 percent from the field, 34.5 percent from three and 71.7 percent from the free throw line at Yale.
April 21: Auburn guard Tre Donaldson commits to Michigan
The busy recruiting weekend for the program continued, with Donaldson also committing to May’s program. He started in 10 of Auburn’s 35 games this past season, averaging 6.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 19.3 minutes per game.
April 22: Ohio State guard Roddy Gayle Jr., Alabama forward Sam Walters also commit
Michigan picked up its first transfer from the Big Ten, with Gayle coming over from Columbus. Gayle started in 35 of Ohio State’s 36 games last season and averaged 13.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game while shooting 44.9 percent from the field, 28.4 percent from three and 83.2 percent from the free throw line.
Gayle wasn’t the only one to commit on the 22nd, as Michigan also landed Walters, who played 12 minutes per game as a freshman with the Crimson Tide. He averaged 5.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. He also shot 42.7 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from three-point range.
April 23: 2024 commit L.J. Cason commits to Michigan
Cason was the third player in the true freshman class to join Michigan. A combo guard from Lakeland, Florida, Cason was previously committed to FAU.
April 29: FAU center Vlad Goldin commits to Michigan
Michigan landed one of the key pieces to FAU’s 2022 Final Four run in Vlad Goldin. This past season was his best, as he started all 34 games and put up career-highs in minutes (25.0), points (15.7), rebounds (6.9) and blocks (1.6). He shot 67.3 percent from the field and 66.3 percent from the free throw line. May utilized Goldin in the pick-and-roll a lot at FAU, and could do the same thing at Michigan.
April 30: Nimari Burnett announces return
Burnett joined Tschetter as a player from Michigan’s 2023-24 roster to return to the Wolverines. He started all 32 games last season and averaged 9.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists and shot 39.9 percent from the floor in 31.3 minutes per game.
June 10: Summer workouts commence
The Wolverines have been practicing for a good portion of this summer, working to mesh with all the new faces on this roster. We haven’t gotten much new info since workouts started, aside from the solid podcast interviews Brian Boesch has conducted with players , assistant coaches and Dusty May on Defend The Block.
August 5: Roster released
The Michigan Wolverines released their roster for the 2024-25 season last week. There is technically still one scholarship spot remaining; if May and his staff don’t want to add another player, they could either give that scholarship to a walk-on or utilize it to pursue another transfer or a 2025 recruit next season.
Michigan
Jessica Fields, sister of Steelers’ Justin Fields, commits to Michigan women’s basketball
![Jessica Fields, sister of Steelers’ Justin Fields, commits to Michigan women’s basketball Jessica Fields, sister of Steelers’ Justin Fields, commits to Michigan women’s basketball](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2023/03/20/PDTF/0b91b6cd-a538-49bb-ac6a-38744e2767ad-USATSI_20272931.jpg?auto=webp&crop=4717,2654,x0,y239&format=pjpg&width=1200)
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The Michigan women’s basketball program added a significant addition to its 2025 recruiting class. And she has a last name that is familiar to Wolverines fans.
Power forward Jessica Fields committed to coach Kim Barnes Arico and Michigan on Sunday. She is the younger sister of former Ohio State football and current Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields. Fields’ sister, Jaiden Fields, played softball at Georgia. Fields does not yet have a ranking on 247Sports composite rankings, but picked the Wolverines over offers from Northwestern and Georgetown.
REQUIRED READING: Michigan women, Kim Barnes Arico living up to lesson from UConn coaching legend
Fields committed to Michigan after visiting each of the three finalists. She announced her commitment on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday afternoon.
“I was ready to wrap up my recruitment process,” Fields said to On3 Sports. “I started very early in eighth grade, so it’s been a very long process. I got to see both of my siblings go through it, so I always looked forward to when coaches would finally focus on me in visits instead of being the little sibling running around.”
Fields is entering her senior season at Mount Paran Christian School in Kennesaw, Georgia. Fields joins 4-star guard McKenzie Mathurin in the 2025 recruiting class for the Wolverines. Mathurin is the No. 7 overall player and the No. 2 shooting guard in the recruiting class. She committed to U-M on Aug. 7.
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