Michigan Basketball: 2024-25 season preview for the Wolverines

Season Outlook

Thanks to all of the offseason changes, Michigan fans should be able to put the nightmare 2023-24 season behind them rather quickly. Nonetheless, they will have many aforementioned challenges on their schedule this year, and there could be some ups and downs throughout the year.

A return to the NCAA Tournament is very much within the realm of possibility, however, the Wolverines would need to have a strong showing in non-conference play, including a few wins in their five games versus power conference opponents, otherwise, Michigan will have an uphill battle should they wish to make the NCAA tournament. Earlier this year, schools such as Oklahoma, Seton Hall, and Pittsburgh all were left out of the field of 68 due to their poor showing/lack of quality wins in their non-conference slate, so taking advantage of these opportunities will be impairative.

In Big Ten play, Michigan will have plenty of opportunities for quality wins, both at home and on the road. Their six combined games versus Purdue, Michigan State, and Illinois will be crucial for the Wolverines, and should they win at least half of those games, it would be a huge boost for Michigan. Protecting their home floor versus their other Big Ten opponents will be crucial also, and Michigan has a good opportunity to do just that this year.

But most important of all, perhaps, will be picking up some strong road wins. And they will have several opportunities for signature road wins, most notably UCLA, Indiana, Nebraska, and Ohio State. If the Wolverine are able to finish .500 or better in road games, they will likely find them in a good spot come Selection Sunday in March.

All in all, with such a brand new roster and coaching staff, there's still plenty of questions (mostly good ones) that are yet to be answered about this Michigan team, and we may not know all the answers until they've played a few games. That being said there's a lot of talent and experience across the board for this Michigan team and that could prove to be vital as the season wears on.

The floor for this year's team is likely a .500 (or slightly under) finish and a 12th-14th place finish in the Big Ten, which would be far from ideal but would still be a significant improvement over last season. On the other end, the ceiling could prove to be extremely high for this team. While Purdue remains the favorite, they will likely be a little more vulnerable this year without Zach Edey. But behind them? There's a collection of teams that could challenge Purdue this year, and Michigan might just be one of them. That being said, it will still be tough for Michigan to finish first in the Big Ten, but there are more than enough pieces to make Michigan's ceiling a top-3 finish.

Despite all the changes and new faces, the "most likely" scenario for this year's Michigan team is around a 13-7 record in Big Ten and a 20+ win regular season that would place them 5th or 6th in the final Big Ten standings and would be enough to get the Wolverines back in the Big Dance for the first time since 2022.