For here on out, college basketball rosters are going to change significantly every season, and the 2025-26 Michigan Wolverines are no exception. Tre Donaldson, Danny Wolf, and Vlad Goldin are all gone,
meaning (at least) three new faces will fill the starting lineup. Despite the contributions of that trio, Dusty May is in a great spot heading into year two, with plenty of national expectations placed upon his squad.
Michigan comes into the season ranked No. 7 in the AP Poll and 11th in Kenpom. Purdue looks like a force, but the Wolverines should compete for a conference title behind star transfer Yaxel Lendeborg, a Preseason All-Big Ten honoree, and Final Four dreams are well within scope. The journey begins Monday against the Oakland Grizzlies before picking up significantly.
Oakland (0-0) at No. 7 Michigan (0-0)
Date & Time: Monday, Nov. 3, 8:30 p.m. ET
Location: Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, MI
TV/Streaming: FS1
These two local programs have met a decent number of times, most recently in the 2020-21 campaign. After the Wolverines needed overtime to escape that early matchup, they went on to win 16 of their next 17 games, prompting many to ask “How good is Oakland?!” as the team ventured on to a Big Ten championship. Since then, the Grizzlies had their own magical run in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, but came back down to earth last season.
Two Stats to Watch
Turnover Rate: 324th
In case anyone (mercifully) forgot, Michigan had consistent struggles taking care of the ball last year. While there was a hope that early issues would resolve as the roster full of transfers got more familiar with each other, that never really materialized — the Wolverines were dead last in conference play. All five starters had a turnover rate of at least 18%, making it more of a systemic problem.
Unfortunately, both exhibition games this fall have shown more of the same. Complicating matters is new point guard Elliot Cadeau, who had one of the nation’s worst turnover rates (26.1%) at UNC last season. While Oakland did not force a turn of turnovers last season, Michigan’s sloppiness seemed opponent-invariant. Continued issues taking care of the ball is how these sorts of matchups end up closer than they should.
That being said, I think it is unreasonable to expect a perfectly clean game on Monday. This will be the first competitive game for this newly composed roster, and Cadeau is not going to fix his game overnight. Keeping that in mind, fans will just have to endure some of the early-season faults and hope that this year they actually do slow down at some point.
Offensive Rebounds: 16 (vs. Cincinnati)
It was only an exhibition game, but Michigan’s 16 offensive rebounds against Cincinnati would have been the second-highest total last season. All three transfer bigs — Lendeborg, Aday Mara, and Morez Johnson — grabbed three apiece, and their size is going to be a huge factor all season. Given how frustrating it was to see the Wolverines on the glass for much of last year, expect a significant change in this department.
The Grizzlies have the standard roster turnover themselves, though expect to offer some decent size. The key returnee is Buru Naivalurua, who was second on the team in both points (13.9) and rebounds (7.1) last season, and incoming transfers Isaac Garrett and Michael Houge will join him in the frontcourt. Obviously, Michigan has the size advantage here, but this should be a good early measuring stick.
Kenpom’s preseason projections have Oakland 196th overall with the 255th-ranked defense, so even with some turnover struggles and potential jittery shooting, Michigan has plenty of cushion. The one thing that should be good right away, though, is effort and fundamentals, both of which will determine this squad’s rebounding ability, especially on the offensive end. Even if the shooting percentage starts off cool, there should be enough second chances to put up some significant points.
