5 highlights from Michigan basketball’s surprisingly fun season

Even with some low points, the 2024-25 season was nothing short of wildly successful for Dusty May and Michigan Basketball. Relive some of the highlights from a memorable start to a new era:

The Michigan Wolverines could not have performed much better in Year 1 under Dusty May, just about perfecting the one-year turnaround. While the 2024-25 campaign was not quite flawless, it was a season full of highlights and one that brings clear hope for the future. Though the names will change over the course of the offseason, it sure looks like everything is back on track in Ann Arbor.

No one expected a banner to be raised or a trip to the Sweet 16, but sure enough, fans were treated to both this year. While it is hard to whittle down the biggest moments of this exciting season, below are the five things I will remember most fondly from May’s first year in charge, which hopefully set the bar going forward for the rest of his tenure.

NYD in LA

Winning the Fort Myers Tip-Off was great from a culture standpoint, and beating a ranked Wisconsin team in Madison grabbed plenty of attention, but it really felt like this season kicked off with the formal start of the Big Ten schedule. The Wolverines headed to Los Angeles with a 10-3 record and a chance to put the conference on notice. They certainly accomplished that by sweeping USC and No. 22 UCLA, heading home with plenty of confidence.

This pair of wins showed Michigan’s offensive potential, with the Vlad Goldin-Danny Wolf combination thriving and the three-point shooting hitting a blistering 48.1 percent. The games also foreshadowed the rest of the season, with the visitors giving up double-digit leads and falling behind in the second half in both games, but still finding a way to pull through. While the highs of this two-game swing were never quite replicated, they were an important validation of May’s plan.

Giant Slaying

Michigan found itself with an 18-5 (and 10-2) record in early February, but without many marquee wins. The schedule featured plenty of decent teams, but aside from Wisconsin, it lacked a signature victory at the top of the resume. Add in the beatdown in West Lafayette a couple weeks prior, and it was fair to ask if this squad was actually that impressive.

A back-and-forth rematch against No. 7 Purdue gave the No. 20 Wolverines everything they could handle, but the narrow victory really solidified the team’s quality. There was no big blown lead, but instead a 10-point second-half comeback by the home team, and hope remained for the conference title. While Michigan ultimately fell short of this goal, a top-10 win helped things stay afloat during the late-season slump.

Just Enough

The last few weeks of the season will not be immortalized, but they did give us Nimari Burnett’s buzzer beater over Rutgers. That win required far too much effort and followed the ugly affair at Nebraska, but had either contest ended in a loss, the rest of the year might have played out differently. Instead, we got a memorable moment and a fun way to look back on Burnett.

While the former transfer faded down the stretch, it is hard to overstate his importance to this roster. As the main returning player, and one of just three overall, expectations were fairly mild for Burnett heading into the year. Instead, he started the season on fire from three and ended up leading the team at 40 percent and 66 makes. With so many new transfers, May needed Burnett (and Will Tschetter) to be the glue, and he stepped up in a huge way.

Don’t Let Donaldson Get It Back

This season will be remembered for the Big Ten Tournament championship, and that does not happen without Tre Donaldson. The point guard went cold over the last month of the year and was looking like a liability, but he decided to show up in Indianapolis, hitting the full-court sprint, near buzzer beater against Maryland, then nailing a big three with two minutes left in the title game when Wisconsin was up by one.

Donaldson carried this into the NCAA Tournament as well, making two more massive shots. His three with two minutes to go gave Michigan the lead for good after UC San Diego came all the way back and jumped in front. The next round, he iced the game with a ridiculous left-handed falling layup in the game’s final minute. Donaldson was an imperfect point guard, but provided what this team needed and will always be remembered for these four monumental buckets to close out the year.

Forget the Odds

Michigan’s season looked to be over as Texas A&M took a 10-point lead with 13 minutes remaining in the Round of 32, good for an 89-percent win probability. What came next is simply hard to believe: a 41-19 close against a top-10 defense, winning the rebounding battle against the country’s best team on the offensive glass to earn a spot in the Sweet 16.

There were many moments in the second half that will be talked about for years. Roddy Gayle coming alive at the perfect time tops the list, but the effort of LJ Cason should not be forgotten either, and Donaldson’s aforementioned acrobatics were the perfect way to stop the Aggies’ final push. In a season full of ups and downs, this chaotic final stretch really encapsulated everything leading up to this moment and cemented the year as an unequivocal success.