From On3
In 2018-19, Michigan’s last season under John Beilein, the Wolverines had seven buy games against low- or mid-major opponents out of 11 non-conference clashes. In 2023-24, the program’s final year under Juwan Howard, that number was five. In the two campaigns with Dusty May at the helm, it was five in 2024-25 and four in 2025-26. Expect it to dwindle even further as time passes, too, even as college basketball programs will have the ability to schedule 32 regular-season games (as opposed to 31) beginning in 2026-27.
“I think we’ve cut our money games in half from last year to this year, and even more than that from years prior,” May said earlier this season on the ‘Inside College Basketball’ podcast. “We’re going to try to play as many of these games as possible, and it’s just so much better for recruitment, for retention. It’s tough, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Asked how many of the Michigan’s 12 non-conference games he wants to have against other high-majors, May said, “Twelve, ideally.” That was met with a bit of shock from the podcast host, Jon Rothstein.
“Absolutely, we will soon,” May continued. “I anticipate next year playing nine or 10, and then the following year probably 11 or 12. There might be certain times in the schedule … Oakland was a great game for us. They’re a great basketball team, they’re well-coached, and they play a zone, so it forces us coaches who are nuts to get our zone package in and get those reps in early in the year, so if you see it you can at least have something to point back toward. There might be games like that, that serve a particular purpose, but overall, we love these big games.
“The Players Era was awesome. At TCU prepared us. Wake Forest in Detroit was a great environment …”
“Tough, but fun” could sum up Michigan’s 68-63 loss to Duke in Washington D.C. over the weekend. Duke and Illinois started the trend last season, meeting up in the nation’s capital. In the handshake line several days later, following an Illinois win over Michigan, May asked Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood if he’d play the Duke game again despite losing by 33 points.
“One hundred times out of 100,” Underwood replied.
“That tilted the scale for me, and then also when you hear [college basketball reporters] talk about how many eyeballs are on non-conference games in January and February, it’s good for the sport,” May said. “We want to put Michigan under the spotlight and our guys, we want to see them perform on that stage. So, it makes sense on all fronts. We would do it a couple times, even though I’m going to be probably banging my head against the wall trying to prepare for that game in the middle of the Big Ten season.”
Having gone through the experience, which included an open shoot-around in front of fans and media with ESPN’s College Gameday on the floor, May feels the same way Underwood did a year ago.
“One hundred percent,” May said if he wants to do it again. “We have a responsibility to do what’s best for the enterprise of college basketball, to do what’s best for the University of Michigan, for the Big Ten Conference. I can’t wait to see what the ratings were. But the buzz, all of the attention around the game was very NCAA Tournament-like. So, we have a game simulation of the energy, the distractions that are around a game.
“And then we dealt with some adversity. We got in whatever time the night before, we had travel issues and this and that, and that’s part of having to prepare differently and make decisions on the fly and how do we respond to this and how do we not.
“I think we learned a lot, and it will have us better-prepared for the NCAA Tournament. Obviously, you don’t want to lose a game in February, but I’m very confident our guys are going to bounce back and play well going forward.”
Michigan will go to Villanova for a return game as part of a home-and-home series that began this season, and the Wolverines are slated to participate in the Players Era in Las Vegas for the second-straight year. Beyond that, nothing else is scheduled, but expect some big-time showdowns.
“We’re working on a couple big non-conference games that we’re close to finishing the schedule,” the Michigan coach said. “The TV partnership really helps. We tell them that we’re open to play certain dates, and they go to work. So, yeah, we’re going to play more marquee games.”
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