Michigan Has Taken Over College Basketball

The Michigan Wolverines are having an incredible season as they are 13-0 and beating teams by an average of 30.2 points per game. Now they are the favorites to win the national championship, and their dominance has come out of nowhere.

Today, we'll break down how they are dominating the sport by protecting the rim at a high level and utilizing ball movement and big men to score at a high level inside and outside the three-point line.

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Welcome to the Block Party!

The biggest reason Michigan has been wreaking havoc on its opponents is its defense, which is likely the best in the entire nation.

Through 13 games, Michigan has an adjusted defensive efficiency of 86.7 according to KenPom, which means the team is allowing 86.7 points per 100 possessions, adjusted for its strength of schedule. This is a very impressive mark because the Wolverines are the only team in college basketball with an adjusted defensive efficiency under 90.

The team does a lot of things at a high level on defense. They grab a lot of rebounds, they limit threes, and they don't let teams get to the free-throw line. However, I think their best trait on this end of the floor is their ability to protect the rim.

Against Auburn, there were two plays in which Michigan showcased its ability to make strong rotations and contest shots when its opponent gets into the paint.

Michigan allows opponents to shoot at the rim on just 27.1% of their field goal attempts, and they allow opponents to shoot just 44% at the basket. The Wolverines' field goal percentage allowed at the rim is the best in the entire nation. They do an excellent job of deterring teams from shooting around the basket, but when teams do try to score at the rim, they struggle to put the ball in the hoop.

Michigan's starting center, Aday Mara, is a huge reason why the team is so good at protecting the rim. The 7'3 big man averages 2.5 blocks per game and sports a block rate of 11.7%. He is one of just eight high major players with at least 2.5 blocks per game and a block rate of at least 10%.

He's not the only one contributing to the block party, though. Morez Johnson Jr. and Yaxel Lendeborg both have block rates over 5%, and as a team, Michigan blocks 15.9% of its opponents' two-point attempts (10th among high major teams).

Sometimes teams that play aggressively on defense and hunt for blocks struggle to limit fouls. That's not the case with Michigan, though, as the team allows 0.27 free throws per field goal attempt, the 27th-best mark in the nation. Below you can see a chart that shows how productive each team is at blocking shots and limiting free throws.

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Ball Movement and Big Men

Michigan is otherworldly on defense, but its offense isn't too far behind. The Wolverines rank 5th in adjusted offensive efficiency, and the way their offense operates is pretty unique.

One thing that impresses me about Michigan's offense is its ball movement. The team does a great job of getting everyone involved on offense and utilizing off-ball actions like screens to generate easy shots in the paint and outside the three-point line.

Michigan does not utilize isolation, instead preferring to run actions that get players open off-ball. The Wolverines do this at a high level, which is why they shoot 58.7% on twos and 42.7% on threes. They actually rank third in the entire nation in three-point percentage.

The team does not let any single player dominate the ball, and this is clear when you look at its usage rates. No one on the team has a usage rate of 24% or higher, and the team has five total players with a usage rate of at least 20%. The Wolverines love to get everyone some shots.

On top of this, they are one of the more productive playmaking teams in the nation. For example, Michigan averages 21.2 assists per game, and 62.6% of their field goals are assisted. The team averages the third-most assists in the league behind Cornell and Texas A&M.

Michigan also loves to use its big men together to generate easy shots at the basket. We saw this team do this a lot vs. both Gonzaga and Auburn earlier this season.

The Wolverines are extremely efficient when utilizing big men on offense. The chart below shows how often Michigan utilizes each playtype, and above each bar, you can see how many points per possession the Wolverines score utilizing each playtype.

Their most efficient playtype relative to how the rest of the country performs is high-low. These are plays in which two bigs connect for a shot at the rim. Michigan scores 1.19 points per possession on these plays, which ranks in the 99.5th percentile. That's insane efficiency.

Michigan also ranks above the 97th percentile in efficiency on plays like when bigs cut and roll, post-ups, and plays in which a frontcourt player is doubled and kicks the ball out to an open shooter.

This team is elite at utilizing their bigs on both ends of the floor.

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How Good is Michigan Historically?

When you look at Michigan's statistical profile, it's natural to ask how good is this team, historically speaking?

Turns out, they're pretty fantastic. I mentioned at the beginning of this article that Michigan has an adjusted net rating of 39.17. KenPom's data goes back to the 2002 season, and Michigan's adjusted net rating is only bested by 2025 Duke, which had an adjusted net rating of 39.29.

The Wolverines' average margin of victory of 30.2 points also appears to be the best ever. I've had trouble finding historical margin of victory data, but based on my research, it looks like the team with the closest average margin of victory to this Michigan team is 1967 UCLA, which beat its opponents by an average of 23.8 points per game. Obviously, the season is far from over, but the numbers make it clear that we are witnessing greatness.

On top of this, the individual performances we're seeing from Michigan's players are unreal.

Yaxel Lendeborg specifically is having one of the greatest seasons we've ever seen, and I don't say this lightly. Lendeborg is a do-it-all wing who’s shooting 77.2% on twos and 37.3% on threes while averaging 3.4 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game and sporting a stock (steals + blocks) rate of 8.6%.

Lendeborg does everything well. He is a hyper-efficient scorer who puts the ball in the basket from all over the floor. On top of this, he is an extremely active defender who crashes the glass and racks up steals and blocks at a very high rate. His production has been so good across the board that he has a box plus-minus of 20.6. This means that based on his production, he is estimated to be worth 20.6 points per 100 possessions.

This is the highest box plus-minus in the history of college basketball. The only other player to ever have a BPM of 20+ in a single season was Zion Williamson.

Lendeborg is not the only player on the team playing at a very high level. Michigan has six players with a box plus-minus of 10+, and all of their players who get serious playing time have a box plus-minus of at least 8.0. This is crazy because a BPM of 8.0 means you are having a great season, and having this many high-level players on one roster is unbelievable.

Simply put, the Michigan Wolverines are having a historically good season, and they are crushing teams on both ends of the floor. I love watching them play because they have a unique style on offense, while also being dominant on defense. We are just now entering conference play, but this team appears to be on track to win the national championship and cement its place as one of the best teams ever.