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In 2025, the Michigan Wolverines aren’t just dominant. They’re giants presiding over the college basketball scene with an iron fist. Yes, there are numerous undefeated teams left in the nation, but the Wolverines are the lone squad with four straight 30-plus point blowouts on their résumé. Two of them against top 25 programs.
They defeated all three teams on their way to the Players Era championship in Las Vegas by a combined 110 points. They have the best defensive rating in the country, according to KenPom. They force opponents to shoot just 34.6 percent from the field. And their roster boasts one of the best transfer classes in the country, a top-15 recruiting class and numerous high-impact returners, led by starting point guard Elliot Cadeau and projected lottery pick Yaxel Lendeborg.
“Everybody that we picked up from the transfer portal kind of had a chip on their shoulder,” Elliot says. “Whether it was like they weren't in the situation they wanted to be in or they felt like they kind of underachieved in the situation that they was in. I feel like that kind of gives us the attitude that we play with on the court.”
Four players out of Dusty May’s nine-man rotation are spending their first seasons in Ann Arbor, Cadeau and Lendeborg included. Elliot’s dictating the flow of the game while averaging 8.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists a game after spending the past two seasons at UNC. And Yaxel’s skyrocketing up draft boards with 15.8 points, 7.6 boards and 1.4 blocks a game following his rise from JuCo to UAB.
Alongside Illinois transfer Morez Johnson Jr, former UCLA Bruin Aday Mara, freshman Trey McKenney and returners like Roddy Gayle Jr, Will Tschetter and Nimari Burnett, the Wolverines have a collection of players who are unselfish to their core. A trait that the latest SLAMU cover stars both share.
For as long as he’s brought the rock up the court, Elliot Cadeau has loved to create for others. His game is a symphony of orchestrating open buckets out of thin air. Perfectly placed lobs and pick-and-roll reads make the game easier for everyone rocking the Maize and Blue. And with what feels like an endless amount of weapons to swing the ball to, that selflessness is being reciprocated back to the Wolverine’s head honcho.
One of the best passers in the nation is surrounded by fellow dimers, like 7-3 Aday Mara. Whenever Elliot sees two on the ball after a screening action with his big man, his first instinct is to hit the short roll so Aday can make a play of his own. “Just setting people up to set people up, if that makes sense,” Elliot explains.
The 6-1 New Jersey native is in constant communication with his teammates to analyze different ways to get them open. Earlier in the season, he caught a clip of a unique two-man action between Sixers stars Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, and promptly sent the highlight to Aday. The next day, the two were in practice, testing out the timing for themselves.
“Out of everybody I’ve ever played with, nobody has been this unselfish,” Yaxel says about his point guard. “He's just one of those guys that will see you before you even see yourself being open. One of those guys that'll kick [it] up the break and let you start instead of him initiating it. So it's something that's really a blessing to play with, especially because it makes the game so much easier for everybody else.”
More often than not, it’s Yaxel who’s on the receiving end of a well-timed drop-off in the lane or at the rim. The former two-time All-AAC selection at UAB has gone from a highly-touted transfer to one of the best players in the nation. He set the tone early, dropping a 25-point double-double and a 31-piece in the preseason. But Elliot describes him as the type of star you’ve got to ask to shoot more because you know it’s a bucket every time.
“I consider him a superstar player, and I’ve played with not a lot of those. He'll go some games when he shoots seven shots, six shots, and I've never seen that before,” Elliot says. “Like, he has the green light. He can shoot 20 shots a game if he wanted to. The coaches would all be happy with that. The team would all be happy with that. But he chooses to look out for us and not do that.”
The 6-9 wing has been wickedly efficient with the Wolverines, dropping nearly 16 points a game on 61.3 percent shooting from the field and almost 40 percent from three. And that’s all on just nearly nine shots a contest. His defensive tendencies didn’t just transfer to the Big Ten; they’ve expanded into 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals through 8 games this season. And he’s putting up a career-high two threes per game.
He spins around bigs in the post for and-ones with ease. Fast breaks see him take it himself and twist defenders into a daze. He’s quick enough to skate around the midrange into a smooth pull-up. And his finesse around the rim leads to equal amounts of put-backs and up-and-unders.
“I feel like I've been developing into more of a pro-style game instead of a set-oriented type of game,” Yaxel says. “This year it’s just a fast-paced, if you're open, shoot it. If you're not open, create for somebody else to get open. Which is pretty much what it's like in the NBA. So I'm falling in love with this kind of play style.”
The Wolverines sit at No. 2 in the latest AP ranking, but the doubters are persistent. They were at their loudest after Michigan’s second game of the season, just barely escaping Wake Forest in overtime. Outside of Aday’s and Elliot’s production, Yaxel says the team couldn’t get anything going consistently offensively. Winning despite the lack of offensive production proved to him everything he needed to know about the character of the guys he was going to battle with.
“Being that we can win those kind of games where we can't do anything right and still win, that kind of gave us a sense that, like, we're just a super scrappy team. Once this starts clicking, then we're gonna be on we're gonna be on the heater. Once this goes right, then we're gonna be looking like the best in the nation,” Yaxel says.
“As soon as we started playing man, we've been getting all this overrated talk from the jump. And I feel like that's something that's gonna be stuck with us for a little while and motivates us to show everybody that that's not who we are.”
After defeating Auburn in Las Vegas, Yaxel ascended to the TNT booth at Michelob Ultra Arena to share a bit more about just exactly who the 2025-26 Michigan Wolverines are. Scrappy. Defensive oriented. Selfless. Championship-bound. Alongside Michigan legends and Fab Five members Jalen Rose and Chris Webber, Yaxel was going in-depth on all that his teammates bring to the table. But in the very back of his mind, a thread was being woven.
“Just speaking to them made me want to give them a tribute to all that they've done. And then after our win at Gonzaga, Coach was talking to Jalen Rose as well, and they asked a question about him saying, ‘Can we get a number five banner up there?’ So that's made me say, like, Let's just think about and remember the guys who started it all here for Michigan.”
Just as Yaxel and Elliot had packed into the car to head over to their digital cover shoot, Yaxel had an idea. “You want to wear black socks?” he asked Elliot. “He was like, Yeah, let's do it,” Yaxel says. The two ran back into the locker room, grabbed the socks, their Jordans and got back into the car.
Thirty-two years after the Fab Five’s rebellious statement and two seasons removed from an eight-win season, the Wolverines are back to setting the standard in college hoops. The rankings, the championship odds are just fluff. Stacking digits in the win column is the main point of attack, while making an indelible mark in the history of Ann Arbor.
“Yeah, I want people to say that we're the most connected group, the funnest group to watch, to play, the most exciting. And then individually, I do want people to remember me as a super high-energy guy that can just make plays if you need to. Like, a smiley guy, but a dawg,” Yaxel says.
“I want this team to be remembered as the best Michigan team ever,” Elliot adds. “I know that's a high bar, but I feel like we have the talent. We have the coach. We just have the ability to do that this year.”
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