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
Whitmer to Michigan lawmaker trying to overturn same-sex marriage: ‘Hell, no!’
Respect for Marriage Act passes Congress. Here’s what we know.
Congress has passed historic legislation protecting same-sex marriage rights. Here’s what the Respect for Marriage Act does.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
A state representative on Tuesday introduced a resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 decision making same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.
In a brief news conference after the House session, state Rep. Josh Schriver, R-Oxford, said the high court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, “defaced the definition of marriage, undermined our God-given rights, increased persecution of Christians and confused the American family structure.”
He also said that children raised by same-sex couples face more challenges in education, employment and self-sufficiency, though he did not provide any evidence to back up his claims.
He ended his news conference by calling on conservatives to “do the right thing,” reassert the “sovereignty of Christ as our King,” and “restore the order of the family.”
He did not take questions from the news media.
Initially, Schriver’s office said his resolution had 12 co-sponsors but when presented during the state House of Representatives’ session, Schriver’s name was accompanied by only six others, all conservative state legislators.
The resolution was referred to the House Committee on Government Operations, which is where proposals typically go to die.
Even if it wasn’t nearly assured death in committee, Schriver’s resolution would carry no legal weight. It is not actionable. The U.S. Supreme Court does not revisit cases based on resolutions from state legislators.
But Schriver’s move comes at a time when members of the LGBTQ+ community are nervous because their rights are under siege.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order threatening to withhold federal funding from hospitals that provide transgender people under age 19 with gender-affirming medical treatment. Two federal judges have paused Trump’s action as the executive order is being challenged in federal court. In another executive order, Trump declared the policy of the United States is to recognize two genders, male and female, and that those were assigned at birth.
In addition, Idaho’s State House of Representatives voted to support a resolution similar to Schriver’s.
Meanwhile, Schriver’s action drew outrage from Democrats, civil rights and advocacy organizations.
“In Michigan, everyone has the freedom to marry who they love,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a brief video broadcast over Facebook. “It’s not only the law of the land, it’s a nonnegotiable. Right now, however, some extreme members of the Michigan Legislature are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn marriage equality. Here’s my response to that: Hell, no.”
Jay Kaplan of the American Civil Liberties Union Michigan called Schriver’s move “largely a cruel, symbolic gesture. It has no legal effect.
“With all the issues impacting Michiganders, with issues regarding the economy … why is he introducing this resolution? It’s merely a distraction. The court made clear 10 years ago the right to get married is a fundamental right and to deny that to same-sex couples … is unconstitutional.”
Of Schriver, Kaplan added: “If he’s against same-sex marriage, he doesn’t have to have one.”
State Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, who attended Schriver’s briefing, took questions after the representative left the room.
“This was just as buffoonish as I expected it to be,” Moss said. “… I think people respect their LGBTQ neighbors, their LBGTQ family members … They contribute to family security, to economic security for people here in the state of Michigan.”
Schriver is no stranger to controversy. Last year, he lost his staff and committee assignment when he touted a racist conspiracy theory on X, formerly Twitter. The widely discredited theory, known as the great replacement theory, posits that there is a top secret operation underway to replace white people in majority-white countries.
Free Press staff writer Clara Hendrickson contributed to this report.
Contact Georgea Kovanis: gkovanis@freepress.com
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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As temperatures rise in Michigan each summer, so to do the chances of harmful algal blooms (HABs) developing in our lakes, causing a risk to both ecosystems and public health.
HABs are formed wherever there is rapid growth of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, which are naturally found in lakes, rivers and ponds. Some cyanobacteria found in blooms contain toxins that can be harmful to people and animals, and often present as blue-green, yellow or brown streaks, foam, or thick paint-like scums on the water surface, according to the Michigan Departments of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE)
To help keep track of these harmful algal blooms across the state, EGLE has teamed up with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to update its online reporting form to include harmful algal blooms. Now the public can easily report suspected HABs to the state by filling out the form at Michigan.gov/HABs. Individuals can also make a report by calling EGLE’s Environmental Assistance Center at 800-662-9278.
“This new online form is an easy and efficient way for Michiganders to help monitor and safeguard our water resources,” said Jerrod Sanders, director of Water Resources Division at EGLE, in a news release. “This tool improves efficiency and helps us respond to potential risks more effectively.”
It will also allow EGLE and MDHHS staff to better understand how HABs develop, and creates the potential to send out public notifications about what areas to avoid as a way of keeping people and pets safe when they’re detected.
Breathing in or swallowing water with HAB toxins can cause asthma-like symptoms, difficulty breathing, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, runny eyes and nose, weakness, headaches or dizziness. Skin contact can also cause rashes, blisters or hives.
“If you had contact with or swallowed water with a suspected HAB and feel sick, call your health care provider or seek medical attention as soon as possible,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive.
Locations of HAB reports verified by EGLE and results of cyanotoxin testing will be displayed on the Michigan Harmful Algal Bloom Reports Map for the public to review.
For more information on health effects, causes and reports on the occurrence of HABs in Michigan lakes, visit Michigan.gov/HABs.
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