Michigan men’s basketball will again play one of the nation’s most difficult schedules in 2026-27 as the Wolverines look to defend their national championship.
In addition to a 20-game Big Ten slate, U-M will face UConn, Marquette, Villanova and Duke in non-conference showdowns, plus a trio of tournament games at the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas. It’s a lineup Dusty May acknowledges “could beat us up,” particularly in November as the team establishes its identity after losing three first-round NBA Draft picks, Roddy Gayle Jr. and Will Tschetter.
“It’s going to be a challenge, but it’s going to be fun,” May said, via The Field of 68 show.
The Wolverines have reloaded their frontcourt via the Transfer Portal, adding Moustapha Thiam, J.P. Estrella and Jalen Reed, but the latter is recovering from an Achilles injury. Reed joins L.J. Cason (ACL), Marcus Moller (recovering from cancer treatment) and Lincoln Cosby (ACL) as players who could miss portions of the upcoming season due to their health. That, plus the NBA and eligibility departures from the 2025-26 side, means Michigan will be a much younger team this season.
But that inexperience doesn’t mean May wanted to shy away from a challenge.
“It’s a real unique opportunity where we have this group of veterans and then we have several young players and then we have the guys who are injured,” May said. “We can play these young guys in meaningful, tough games early on, and we may take some lumps because of our youthfulness, but they’ll get great experience, and we think our roster will be deeper and better long-term because of it.”
May and Co. pursued high-level opponents anyway, with the expectation that the schedule “will be rewarded” come NCAA Tournament time both in terms of how Michigan is perceived by the selection committee but also in how battle-tested the Wolverines could be for another March run.
“A couple reasons. Number one, it’s been rewarded,” May said of opting for marquee non-conference games. “I think a couple years ago, [Alabama coach Nate Oats], who’s always scheduled tough, I think they were maybe 7-5 and they were top-10 team. Now, they’d played 12 high-level teams, but they’re 7-5 and they were I think top-10 in all the computer metrics.
“So, you can play all these games and as long as you win a fair share of them, then you don’t get penalized. And I think that’s a good thing, because that’s the best thing for the enterprise of college basketball is brands, teams, major universities to play each other at the right times.”
And, as is the case in modern college athletics, finances play a meaningful role too. Neutral-site non-conference games can command big payouts for the programs in question. CBS Sports reported Michigan would make “north of $500,000” for the Duke game, while the Players Era Championship will reportedly pay, on average, “slightly north of $1 million” to each participating school.
“There’s a financial incentive,” May said. “We’re all trying to do the best we can to build rosters, and without finances, you can’t build a competitive roster anymore. And so, we’re all doing the best we can to piece it together and figure out different, creative ways to generate NIL money for our players and our programs.”