Replacing Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske was not an insurmountable task — especially with the freshmen and transfers coming in — but it was completely reasonable to expect Michigan to take a step back on both ends of the court this season. The two departing seniors were extremely impactful in facilitating the offense and clamping down on defense, so the Wolverines entered the year as a middle-tier Big Ten team.
Clearly just about everyone was wrong. Juwan Howard’s squad again started off the season hot, but this time has not slipped up, even with an ill-timed three-week hiatus.