Who will be this year's Michigan at the Players Era Festival?

After the 2025 Players Era Festival, all the talk was about Michigan. A 30-point win and two 40-point wins over Auburn, San Diego State, and Gonzaga, respectively, were a shock no one saw coming.

Surely the Wolverines wouldn't be able to sustain that dominance, right? Wrong. Michigan didn't lose until mid-January, won the Big Ten by four games, and cruised to a National Championship.

This fall's Players Era Festival is as exciting as ever, featuring 24 teams in two separate brackets. The format is changing drastically, but several teams could still be ready to surprise the college basketball world in November.

What made 2025-26 Michigan so special?

Many people forget that Michigan wasn't seen as an elite team before the Players Era Festival. The Wolverines started at No. 7 in the preseason AP poll, a clear step below preseason No. 1 Purdue.

Michigan also had an odd start to the 2025-26 season. After a season-opening victory over Oakland, the Wolverines nearly blew a 13-point second-half lead to Wake Forest before winning by one in overtime. TCU then led Michigan for almost the entire first 33 minutes of its next game before the Wolverines snuck out with a four-point win. Against Middle Tennessee, Dusty May's team found itself in a one-point game nearing halftime before finally pulling away in the second half.

Michigan entered the Players Era Festival 4-0, but it wasn't a flashy, comfortable 4-0. The pieces were still coming together. Dusty May was also a relatively young coach who wasn't entirely proven at the power-conference level and didn't already have a National Championship victory.

The Players Era 8: No Cinderellas

According to a post from the Players Era official X account, the eight teams that will be participating in the Players Era 8 are as follows: Florida, Notre Dame, Houston, Rutgers, Kansas, UNLV, West Virginia, and Auburn.

Florida is nearly a consensus top-3 team in the country and is returning so much that they already possess the expectations 2025-26 Michigan would eventually reach. Many of the other teams in this field aren't seen as clear top-25 level. Kansas and Houston are the only two real options here, but even those aren't great fits. Bill Self and Kelvin Sampson are legends and two of the most accomplished coaches in the sport. While their teams are expected to be good, not top-tier, a sudden breakout from either wouldn't carry the same weight as Michigan's run.

The Players Era 16: Where the sleepers live

According to the Players Era official X account, the following teams will be participating in the Players Era 16: Tennessee, Maryland, San Diego State, Iowa State, Saint John's, Oregon, Louisville, Texas Tech, Gonzaga, Kansas State, Baylor, Alabama, Michigan, Creighton, TCU, and Miami (FL).

Again, many of the teams in this field are either not consensus top-25 teams or have veteran coaches who've experienced too much prior success to fit the underdog mold. Conveniently, the top two candidates here are ACC foes, both a step below Duke.

Candidate #1: Louisville Cardinals

Pat Kelsey is a fairly young coach who came up from the mid-major ranks, but is still trying to prove himself at the highest level. Louisville brought in a massive haul of talent that puts it around the top-ten level.

A frontcourt of Flory Bidunga, Obinna Ekezie Jr., Alvaro Folgueiras, and Gabe Dynes could become as dominant as 2025-26 Michigan's. Jackson Shelstad is good, but he is looking to stay healthy and make a jump to turn this team into a true contender.

Candidate #2: Miami (FL) Hurricanes

Jai Lucas is entering his second season as a head coach. He has far less prior experience than Kelsey, but is widely viewed as a strong, young head coach who left Duke's coaching staff to turn around a program that won just seven games the season before.

Miami isn't viewed quite as fondly as Louisville yet. A breakout for Miami feels more like an emergence into strong Final Four contention rather than a historically dominant 1-seed like Michigan.

The Hurricanes' frontcourt features Caleb Gaskins, Somto Cyril, and DeSean Goode. That frontcourt doesn't have as much size as others, but it can still become one of the strongest units in the country. Acaden Lewis, a Villanova transfer, provides steady point guard play for the squad, and Shelton Henderson looks to make a sophomore jump that turns him into a first-round NBA draft pick.

Why 2025-26 Michigan won't be replicated

If any team has a true shot at becoming what Michigan was last season, it's Louisville. However, Pat Kelsey has serious doubts and much more to prove than Dusty May did. Kelsey is just 1-6 overall in the NCAA Tournament and has a 13-16 record in Quadrant 1 games in his two seasons at Louisville. To his credit, he was only the higher seed in two of those seven NCAA Tournament games, but that 1-6 record will stick with Kelsey until he turns it around.

Dusty May entered the 2025-26 season 6-3 in the NCAA Tournament, a record that included a Sweet Sixteen appearance at Michigan and a Final Four appearance at Florida Atlantic. May was a great coach just waiting to become elite. It's irrational to put Pat Kelsey in that category, which is why Louisville won't be a 30-plus-win team entering the tournament as a 1-seed. Even if Louisville could win a national championship, it won't look anywhere close to as dominant as Michigan.

Miami will have a breakout of its own

So, no team will be just like Michigan. The argument can be made that Miami could become a lite version of that Michigan team, though.

The bracket is manageable for Miami. The Hurricanes face TCU in round one, a team they're clearly a step above. In round two, Michigan is the most likely opponent; this would be the toughest challenge of the event. If Miami gets past Michigan, Gonzaga or Alabama are the most likely options awaiting the Hurricanes. Neither team is seen as far superior, if at all, to Miami, unlike Michigan.

In the championship, Miami would most likely see one of the following teams: Tennessee, Iowa State, Saint John's, or Louisville. Again, Miami is not far off from any of these teams. The Hurricanes just didn't have quite as loud of an offseason as Tennessee, Saint John's, or Louisville.

Jai Lucas is just 37 years old, much younger than the other coaches covered so far. Todd Golden, at 39 years and 8 months, is the youngest coach to win the NCAA Tournament since it expanded to 64 in 1985. Aside from Golden, every head coach since 2015 Duke was at least 49 years old at the time of their championship(s). While Jai Lucas has many believers, a 37-3 national championship season from him in his second-ever season as head coach would be unlike anything ever seen in modern college basketball.

Miami will not become Michigan. However, expect the Hurricanes to be an under-the-radar team that loudly emerges onto the scene, primed to make an electric Final Four run.

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