BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – This story is part of a series that will continue through October. Is Indiana better than each of its Big Ten opponents?
Nine categories were chosen. There will be no ties in individual categories. Think of it like you would the Supreme Court.
The categories: Point guard play, free throw shooting, inside scoring, perimeter shooting, rebounding, perimeter defense, rim protection, how much proven Power Five talent is on the roster, and intangibles.
The daily series will cover both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, and it will alternate between the teams.
We continue the men’s side of the series with new-look Michigan. Much of the focus from the Indiana point of view has been on new Michigan coach Dusty May.
The Indiana graduate and team manager at the end of the Bob Knight era was considered to be a potential Indiana coach had the Hoosiers parted ways with Mike Woodson. Indiana did not, and May left Florida Atlantic to try to revive the Wolverines.
May has a big job ahead of him. Michigan bottomed out in 2024 with an 8-24 record, their worst since 1961. The Wolverines’ .150 Big Ten winning percentage was their worst since 1967 and fifth-lowest in school history.
As it is with many programs that struggle, May turned to the transfer portal to replenish the Wolverines. Guard Nimari Burnett, forward Will Tschetter and guard Jace Howard are the only returning Wolverines from 2024.
Here’s how the battle between the Hoosiers and Wolverines shakes out.
• Point guard play – There are good options for Michigan, but none who qualify as a lead-pipe cinch to lock down floor leadership. Gone is Dug McDaniel, who was equal parts brilliant and maddening. May brought former North Texas guard Rubin Jones (3.7 apg) and former Auburn guard Tre Donaldson (3.2 apg) on board. Another good passer, though not a point guard at his former school, is ex-Ohio State guard Roddy Gayle Jr. (3.1 apg), who changes teams in the bitter Ohio State-Michigan rivalry.
Indiana is in better shape here with Myles Rice, Trey Galloway and Gabe Cupps. Edge: Indiana.
• Free throw shooting – Michigan ranked eighth in the Big Ten and 261st nationally, but May gave the Wolverines a big upgrade here.
Gayle (83.2%), Alabama transfer Sam Walters (82.5%), Donaldson (78.4%), Jones (77.3%), Tschetter (72.2%), Burnett (72.1%) and Yale transfer Danny Wolf (71.7%) all clear the 70% bar. Indiana, which has two players in 2024 who did the same, can’t compare. Edge: Michigan.
• Inside scoring – The best known transfer May wooed to Michigan is one of his own standouts. Center Vlad Goldin (15.7 ppg) is a load. The 7-foot-1 Russian is deadly at the rim with a 67.3% conversion rate, good enough to lead the American Athletic Conference in 2024. Wolf, another 7-footer, averaged 14.1 points in the underrated Ivy League.
The backcourt battle between Indiana and Michigan will be one to watch, but Malik Reneau (15.4 ppg) and Oumar Ballo (12.9 ppg) get a slight edge here because they’ve produced against Power Five competition consistently over their careers. Edge: Indiana.
• Perimeter shooting – This is another area that May shored up considerably. Michigan finished 10th in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting at 35.9%.
The Wolverines should do better than that this time. Tschetter (51.9%), Jones (41.6%), Donaldson (41.2%), Walters (39.4%), Burnett (34.7%) and Wolf (34.5%) all easily clear the 30% bar. The Hoosiers can only claim three shooters who did the same in 2024. Edge: Michigan.
• Rebounding – Ballo (10.1 rpg at Arizona) and Reneau (6 rpg) loom large here for the Hoosiers. For his size, Goldin (6.9 rpg) was not dominant on the glass for FAU. Wolf (9.7 rpg) was very good at Yale, but will it translate to the Big Ten? Hard to bank on that. Edge: Indiana.
• Perimeter defense – Rubin Jones (1.5 spg) brings an opportunistic playmaker to the backcourt defense. Donaldson had solid advanced defensive stats at Auburn, but there’s not much to go on as far as Michigan being able to shut down opposing backcourts. The same finger can be pointed at Indiana. Rice essentially cloned Jones’ stats at Washington State. Galloway and Cupps have both played good defense. That’s enough to give Indiana the advantage in this category. Edge: Indiana.
• Defense at the rim – Goldin and Wolf narrowly lost the inside scoring and rebounding battles, but they will take this big man category. Goldin (1.6 bpg) and Wolf (1.3 bpg) will make life tough for those who penetrate the lane against the Wolverines. Edge: Michigan.
• Proven Power 5 ability on roster – The standard here is whether a player averaged 25 minutes or more at the Power Five level at their current or former school.
Michigan has a lot of retained players and Power Five transfers, but only Gayle and Burnett topped the 25-minute-per-game mark. The Wolverines suffer here on a bit of a technicality. Goldin was certainly a national-level center, even though he has not yet played in a Power Five conference.
Still, even if you threw Michigan a bone and included Goldin, Indiana has Kanaan Carlyle, Mackenzie Mgbako, Ballo, Galloway and Reneau with proven Power Five experience. Edge: Indiana.
• Intangibles – May should be able to stabilize Michigan, which seemed to lurch from one problem to the next in the 2020s. Some of them were self-inflicted, but many weren’t. However, it’s going to take time. Michigan didn’t get a wonderful Big Ten schedule rotation, either. The Wolverines play conference favorite Purdue, highly touted Rutgers and powerful rival Michigan State twice. Indiana has chemistry questions and defensive issues to overcome too, but the Hoosiers are a more advanced state of development than Michigan. Edge: Indiana.
• Verdict – Indiana takes a 6-3 victory here, but it’s closer than it appears. The inside scoring and rebounding judgments were close, and the Hoosiers don’t completely dominate any of these categories. May has built an interesting roster. How quickly he can pull it all together will determine whether Michigan basketball will wake up from its recent slumber.
Previous Is Indiana Better Than Men’s Basketball Results
Oregon – Indiana 7-2.
Rutgers – Indiana 7-2.
Maryland – Indiana 6-3.
USC – Indiana 6-3.
Penn State – Indiana 5-4.
Minnesota – Indiana 6-3.
