The college basketball season is just on the horizon, which means our preview coverage ahead of the 2025-26 season is coming to a close. Before the season tips off, here are five bold predictions for the Michigan
Wolverines.
Yaxel Lendeborg will post a new career high in points in a single game — and will top that mark six times after that
Lendeborg has gotten a lot of preseason hype, and it wouldn’t exactly be a bold prediction to say he’s going to be named to an All-Big Ten team since he was named to the preseason team. I do think he’ll challenge Braden Smith for Big Ten Player of the Year, but I’m not super confident he’ll win considering how good Purdue is supposed to be this season.
Let’s go a different route with Lendeborg — his career-high was 30 points against East Carolina last season, and he topped that in the exhibition loss to Cincinnati with 31. It wouldn’t be bold to say he’ll top his career-high once, but due to his ability to score in bunches and score from all three levels, I think he tops that 30-point mark seven times this season.
Elliot Cadeau will lead the Big Ten in assists
Michigan was intentional with its roster construction this season, getting a great passing point guard in Cadeau and lob threats to surround him with.
At North Carolina, Cadeau ranked second in the ACC last season by averaging 6.2 assists per game. The Big Ten is a deeper conference, and players like Smith, Michigan State’s Jeremiah Fears and Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton will challenge him for the assist crown.
With how good Michigan is supposed to be — and with how many scoring threats will be playing around Cadeau — I think he’ll lead the conference in assists.
A Michigan player will lead the Big Ten in rebounds for the second season in a row — and it won’t be a regular starter
Danny Wolf led the Big Ten in rebounds last season, partially because he was always playing next to Vlad Goldin, who almost always boxed out the other team’s best rebounder. Nevertheless, it was still impressive he averaged 9.7 rebounds per game.
All that to say, I think Morez Johnson Jr. will be in a similar situation this coming season.
Michigan has several big men to help box out in Aday Mara, Will Tschetter and Lendeborg, and Johnson will oftentimes share the floor with at least one of them. And it’s important to note that at Illinois last season, he grabbed 6.7 rebounds per game, a mark that ranked 13th in the conference.
I love the energy Johnson brings, and if he keeps coming off the bench, he may have the rest advantage over the big men he’s guarding. Factor in the fact he was statistically one of the best rebounders in college basketball before getting injured last season, and this is my favorite prediction in this piece.
Trey McKenney will win Big Ten Freshman of the Year
This was my pick in the SB Nation preseason poll, and I’m sticking with it. McKenney is in the best shape of his life after dropping 18 pounds in the offseason, and he has the ability to take over games with his scoring prowess.
There are two main reasons I’m concerned about this one. For one, with all the depth on this roster, he may not have the playing time to earn the award. Secondly, there are a lot of talented freshmen that could challenge him, including but not limited to Maryland’s Darius Adams, Penn State’s Kayden Mingo, Illinois’ Keaton Wagler and Northwestern’s Tre Singleton.
These awards are always hard to predict, but I’m confident McKenney’s scoring combined with the minutes he’ll get will help him earn the honor.
Michigan will be a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament
There are a few juggernauts in the sport this season — Purdue, Houston and Florida come to mind — but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Michigan is close to a juggernaut itself.
Michigan will have an NBA-caliber forward at the 4, a great distributing guard in Cadeau, and reliable returnees in Tschetter, Nimari Burnett and Roddy Gayle Jr. Combine that with all the size on the roster, the depth, the talented freshman class and a coaching staff that is no longer new to the Big Ten, and there’s a lot to like about this squad.
I think Michigan earns the fourth 1-seed this season behind Purdue, Houston and Florida. Michigan is a legit national championship contender, which is a sentiment that hasn’t been true for this program in a long time.
