Michigan’s Dusty May earned the Big Ten Coach of the Year award in media voting for the Wolverines’ dominant season.
Illinois’ Brad Underwood is acknowledged by Illini Nation as a superb recruiter who rebuilt this system, although his teaching stays suspect by a faction of followers who need to see higher outcomes come match time in March.
May wears a smile most of the time, whereas Underwood is extra related to a perpetual scowl.
This intriguing distinction in types and personalities was on show Friday afternoon in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on the United Center, the place basketball followers have been handled to a pair of shut video games and two of the nation’s most proficient rosters.
Top-seeded Michigan survived an uninspiring efficiency to hold off Ohio State 71-67, whereas fourth-seeded Illinois blew a 15-point lead and faltered down the stretch in a 91-88 overtime loss to Wisconsin.
The Wolverines (30-2) meet Wisconsin, the one Big Ten crew to beat them in the common season, in Saturday’s opening semifinal, whereas the Illini licked their wounds and took the lengthy bus trip again to Champaign to await Selection Sunday, understanding a No. 2 seed might be out the window.
“It’s going to be terrible,” guard Kylan Boswell mentioned. “It’s going to be quiet, with Brad coming up and down (the aisles) talking. But we deserve it, because we should have won this game and got too complacent.”
Can the Illini console themselves understanding it wasn’t the top?
“We just can’t wash it away,” heart Zvonimir Ivišić mentioned. “We’ve got to look at ourselves, see the mistakes we made, fix those mistakes and go to the tournament ready.”
The finish of the second half and time beyond regulation noticed the Illini annoyed over ticky-tack fouls, missed free throws and an total lack of focus. Underwood was on his toes a lot of that point together with his fingers in the air and a glance of disgust cemented on his face. His crew appeared to take his lead.
Boswell mentioned “the loss of focus maybe when we had our (15-point) lead” was the dagger.
“We can’t really go six minutes without scoring with a 15-point lead, let them come back and think you’re going to win,” he mentioned.
Added Ivišić: “We can’t change what we can’t control, and that cost us … the calls and fouls or whatever.”
Underwood pointed to the disparity in free throws. Badgers star Nick Boyd scored 38 factors and hit 12 of 13 free throws, whereas John Blackwell scored 31 and hit all 9 free throws. Wisconsin went 25-for-30 from the road, whereas the Illini went 9-for-15.
“Maybe it’s the United Center,” Underwood mentioned. “When we lost to Alabama here we didn’t hit free throws either.”
Well, that’s one idea.
Michigan heart Aday Mara dunks towards Ohio State in the second half through the Big Ten Tournament on the United Center on March 13, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
1 of 13
Michigan heart Aday Mara dunks towards Ohio State in the second half through the Big Ten Tournament on the United Center on March 13, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Between video games Friday, I requested Wolverines ahead Morez Johnson Jr., who performed below Underwood at Illinois earlier than transferring final summer season to Michigan, to check the coaches.
“I believe they’re both really good coaches,” Johnson replied. “They both have their ways in the way they coach. Every coach is different, every coach is unique. Some coaches are just not for everybody. You’ve got to find the coach that’s for you.”
Johnson determined that May could be the coach for him and made the transfer after his freshman season with none laborious emotions. But when the groups met Feb. 27 in Champaign, the Illini’s Orange Krush pupil part waved an AI-generated photograph of Johnson wearing a clown face and a jersey that mentioned “traitor” and booed each time he dealt with the ball.
Johnson, a 6-foot-9 sophomore out of Thornton High, had the final chortle, scoring 19 factors and including 11 rebounds in a 77-67 win.
“That’s part of it (when) you transfer to a Big Ten school,” he mentioned Friday. “They say it’s a rivalry. I don’t think it’s a rivalry with this school. But it is what it is.”
Johnson scored 11 factors and added seven rebounds in the win over Ohio State, a comparatively nondescript efficiency by the No. 3 Wolverines, who dominated in convention play all season. The Athletic boldly referred to as it the very best regular-season crew in the Big Ten because the unbeaten Indiana Hoosiers of 1976.
Too quickly?
Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg was held to 5 factors on 1-for-4 capturing, however 7-3 heart Aday Mara (17 factors) and level guard Elliot Cadeau (15 factors, seven assists) helped decide up the slack.
In the top, not like the Illini, the Wolverines acquired the massive rebounds and refused to wilt.
“The ones that really resonated late were just Rez and Aday, our big guys going and getting the rebounds above the rim,” May mentioned of Johnson and Mara. “They got some real ones.”
The Illini seemingly get out of sync if Keaton Wagler isn’t on his sport, whereas Michigan was capable of get by regardless of Lendeborg’s disappearance on offense.
“If it’s not Yaxel’s night, somebody else will step up,” Cadeau mentioned. “You see Trey McKenney step up, have a really good game, make a lot of shots. When (Lendeborg) is having a good night, we’re the best team in the country. When he’s not having a good night, I feel like we’re still the best team in the country.”
Perhaps, although even Cadeau conceded the Wolverines must have a “different mindset” Saturday towards the Badgers.
“Just playing a lot harder because, if we play the way we did today, I don’t think we’ll win tomorrow,” he mentioned.
May, who coached Florida Atlantic to the Final Four in 2023, has carried out a stellar job in his two seasons at Michigan. But Big Ten coaches voted for Nebraska’s Fred Hoiberg as their Coach of the Year, so maybe May’s success has riled some of his friends.
Either means, the gamers know his worth.
“He’s a great leader for us, and puts us in position to win,” Johnson mentioned. “He’s straight forward with everyone, and very honest. He never bites his tongue to keep someone happy. There’s none of that here, and he holds everyone accountable. He’s a great developer.”
And he’s put them in place for greatness, whereas Illinois retains ready to take that subsequent step ahead.
