INDIANAPOLIS – Before the season began, Michigan head coach Dusty May led his team in a retreat activity.
He pulled up a box score of Michigan’s game against Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament a season prior. It was a poor shooting night for the Wolverines, but a win nonetheless. May asked his team if anyone knew how many points Roddy Gayle Jr. had.
Nobody knew the answer.
May asked how many points then-junior forward Will Tschetter had.
Nobody knew the answer.
At halftime of the national title game against UConn on Monday, Michigan led 33-29. Neither team shot the ball well in the first 20 minutes. It was not pretty, but Michigan led. In the locker room, May revisited a familiar story to his team.
“Remember when we put that [Wisconsin] score sheet up?,” Tschetter, now a senior, recalled May saying. “Nothing matters stats-wise. All that matters is that we’re cutting down nets in 20 minutes.”
May’s team listened, but in reality, never had to change its mindset. With a 69-63 win over UConn on Monday to win a national title, the only designation the Wolverines wanted since day one will now be attached to their group forever.
National champions.
The title of “team” does not do this Michigan group justice. It is a family, a brotherhood, a hive mind determined to win at all costs. Individual stats did not matter at the retreat. They still did not matter when maize and blue confetti trickled down from the rafters at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“When you bring a group this talented together and they decide from the beginning that they're going to do it this way and they never waver and they never change, that's probably the most uncommon thing in athletics now,” May said. “It's a tribute to their character but also those in their circles around them, their coaches, their parents, their mentors.”
The Wolverines finished the season 37-3, earning a Big Ten regular season title and of course, a national title. It was the first Michigan basketball national championship since 1989 and the Big Ten’s first national championship since 2000. After finishing the season 8-24 just two seasons ago under Juwan Howard, May’s two-year turnaround of the program embodies everything that is new in college basketball.
Of the eight players that played in the national championship for Michigan, six were transfers into the program. Four of Michigan’s five starters -- Aday Mara, Yaxel Lendeborg, Elliot Cadeau and Morez Johnson Jr. -- were in their first year in the program after transferring. With the prevalence of the transfer portal, roster continuity and chemistry should have been difficult to develop. The chemistry and shared mindset should not have come easy for Michigan. It should not have felt like this team had played together for years.
For Michigan, it was not about having the best players, it was about having the right players.
“That was damn-near day one when we had total buy-in from our squad,” Tschetter, one of two returners, said. “We all came together to win. It was our main goal. Win. Win. Win. It wasn’t shots. It wasn’t Instagram followers. It wasn't highlight reels. It was to win at all costs.”
“They tucked us in under their wing and showed us the Michigan way,” Lendeborg, a first-year transfer, said. “They could have easily gotten hurt or something because the new guys were coming in, stealing their minutes, stealing their points, but they didn't care. All they cared about was winning, and look where it led us.”
Michigan won its six NCAA Tournament games by an average of 19 points. Complete domination of the field. For the Wolverines, it was not just about winning. It was about winning together. Next year, the jerseys, the fan base and the arena may stay the same, but the group of people that make up the 2025-26 Michigan program have a limited time together. This edition of Michigan basketball only had a limit of 40 games together, coming into the tournament. They made the most of it.
“As a father, you want these guys to have the best experience of their life,” May said. “To be honest, I feel better about their experience and how much joy they got for playing this game. For those guys to share that joy of playing the game and being on the team, it’s pretty rewarding.”
“I wouldn’t call it a team. I would call it a family,” Mara said. “That is why we got here. Because I am not playing with teammates, I am playing with brothers.”
Michigan was a team built on unselfishness, togetherness and determination. It was a team that embodied the new age of college basketball. More than anything, it was a team that embodied love and brotherhood.
Now, the family that is the 2025-26 Michigan Wolverines will hold the title of national champions for the rest of time.
