2015–16 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team

The 2015–16 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team represented the University of Michigan during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played its home games in Ann Arbor, Michigan for the 49th consecutive year at the Crisler Center, which has a capacity of 12,707. The Wolverines were led by ninth-year head coach John Beilein. The team was known as Squad 100 or Team 100, because it was Michigan's 100th season as a basketball program, and 99th consecutive year as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

The 2014–15 Wolverines had entered the season coming off the school's winningest two-year stretch in history, but did not reach the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament after losing starters Caris LeVert and Derrick Walton to season-ending injuries in January. The 2015–16 team followed the first season in five years in which the school did not make the NCAA Tournament. In addition to the season-ending injuries for LeVert and Walton in the prior season, the team was coming off an offseason which saw Spike Albrecht and Zak Irvin have surgeries. Albrecht retired from the sport in December, although he later changed his mind. Later that month, Levert had an injury that ended his season. He only played in one conference game. He led the team in many statistical categories at the time of his injury and made midseason watchlists for various major national awards.

The team won two games in the 2016 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament and one in the play-in game versus Tulsa, also known as the First Four. The Wolverines finished the season 23–13. Following the season, Walton and Irvin were among the All-Big Ten conference honorees. Walton was a third team selection by the coaches and honorable mention selection by the media. Irvin was an honorable mention selection by both.

2015–16 recruits On March 11, 2015, Michigan offered a scholarship to German Euroleague player Moritz "Moe" Wagner, and he committed to Michigan on April 5. Brent Hibbitts accepted a preferred walk-on role with the class of 2015 over scholarships from Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Vermont, Appalachian State and American University.

Future recruits

2016–17 On August 7, 2014, Jon Teske, who lived in the Grand Rapids, Michigan suburb Grandville until he was 10 and his family moved to Medina, Ohio, committed to Michigan via Twitter. On April 16, 2015, Austin Davis of Onsted, Michigan committed to Michigan. On May 11, Tyus Battle committed to Michigan. At the time of Battle's signing, the entire set of scholarships for the class of 2016 seemed to be allocated. On June 19, Battle decommitted from Michigan. On July 28, Ibi Watson committed to Michigan from Caris LeVert's alma mater Pickerington High School Central. On September 9, Zavier Simpson committed to the team. He was ranked as the number 66 player and number 12 point guard by ESPN, number 55 and number 12 by Scout.com and number 87 player and number 44 guard by Rivals.com, making him the number 69 player and 13 point guard by 247Sports.com. Davis, Teske, Watson and Simpson all signed their National Letters of Intent on November 11, 2015.

Among the accomplishments of the recruits are Simpson earning the 2015 Ohio Associated Press Division I Player of the Year and Davis earning the 2015 Michigan Associated Press Class B Player of the Year awards as juniors, as well as Simpson's 2014 Ohio Division III state championship.

2017–18 On October 23, 2015, four-star recruit Jordan Poole became the first commitment for the Class of 2017 after a home gym visit from Beilein and assistant coach Jordan, and multiple Michigan campus visits. Poole had several competing offers, including Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Memphis, Marquette, and Auburn.

Departures

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes 44 F 6'7" 245 Peoria, Illinois Graduated with eligibility remaining; transferred to Indiana 30 G 6'6" 215 Fort Wayne, Indiana Ended playing career on medical advice

In June 2015, Max Bielfeldt announced that he had decided to use his redshirt year to play for the 2015–16 Indiana Hoosiers after the Hoosiers dismissed two forwards from the team the month before. Bielfeldt had considered several midwest schools; DePaul, Nebraska and Iowa State were his other finalists.

Preseason

In April 2015, Spike Albrecht had offseason surgery on his right hip to correct for a genetic condition that may also necessitate left hip surgery. Following the 2015 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, several pollsters (including ESPN, USA Today, and NBC Sports) omitted Michigan from the expected preseason top 25. However, some who immediately projected Caris LeVert to return to Michigan included Michigan in the rankings: CBS Sports (#18) and Sports Illustrated (#16). Bleacher Report ranked Michigan at 25, noting lower expectations if LeVert declared himself eligible for the 2015 NBA draft. On April 21, LeVert announced that he would return for his senior season. That same day, Max Bielfeldt was released from his athletic scholarship with one year of eligibility remaining. Despite all 13 of its scholarships being committed at the time, Michigan continued to recruit five-star 2015 McDonald's All-American Jaylen Brown and four-star Kenny Williams for the class of 2015.

A scholarship for one of the potential recruits became available on April 27, when Beilein and rising sophomore Austin Hatch announced that Hatch, who had survived two plane crashes that killed his parents, siblings, and stepmother, would no longer play for the team due to medical issues stemming from injuries he suffered in the second crash. Michigan applied for and received a "medical exemption waiver" from the NCAA for Hatch; the waiver allows a school to keep a student-athlete who has career-ending medical issues on scholarship. Hatch transitioned to being a student assistant coach; as such, he was no longer on the active roster but could otherwise fully participate in the program. However, Brown committed to California on May 1. Williams committed to North Carolina on May 2.

On September 9, Beilein announced that Zak Irvin would be sidelined for 6–8 weeks, but that he was expected to be available near the beginning of the season.

The October 15 Preseason Coaches Poll listed five teams from the 2015–16 Big Ten Conference, while three others, including Michigan, were receiving votes. Michigan had the most votes of teams not included in the top 25. Two weeks later the preseason AP Poll included six Big Ten Teams with Michigan listed at number 25. Athlon Sports listed Michigan at 22. Sporting News ranked Michigan at number 18. NBC Sports listed them at 17. ESPN's 10-person panel selected ranked Michigan 22. Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook selected Michigan 17. Sports Illustrated ranked all 351 teams and listed Michigan at 27. The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) ranked Michigan 23.

Caris LeVert was named a preseason All-Big Ten selection, for the second straight year. He was also one of three Big Ten selections to the 20-man Jerry West Award preseason watchlist. He made the initial 50-man John R. Wooden Award watch list on November 17. On December 2, Levert earned recognition on the 50-man Naismith College Player of the Year watchlist and 33-man Oscar Robertson Trophy watchlists. That same day, Albrecht was named an Allstate Good Works Team nominee.

The team hosted its annual media day on October 22. The preseason wound down with an open practice on November 2, followed by a "Squad 100 Selfie" promotion hour. The team had an exhibition game against on November 6, which pitted head coach Beilein's team against that of his son Patrick Beilein. Two days before the exhibition contest, Michigan extended Beilein's contract through the 2020–21 season.

Schedule

The 2015–16 academic year marked 150 years of intercollegiate athletics for the Michigan Wolverines and the 100th season of intercollegiate men's basketball for Michigan Wolverines men's basketball. Michigan participated in the 2015 Battle 4 Atlantis along with Gonzaga, Syracuse, Texas, Texas A&M, UConn, Washington, and Charlotte. Each of these eight teams travelled to the Bahamas for the three-game tournament from November 25–27, 2015, and each team played one game per day. Michigan played Penn State at the Madison Square Garden on January 30, 2016, as part of "Big Ten Day", a day-night doubleheader featuring a hockey and a basketball matchup between both schools. Michigan hosted Xavier in the inaugural Gavitt Tipoff Games on November 20, 2015. As part of a home-and-away with the 2014–15 and 2015–16 SMU teams, Michigan also played SMU in Dallas on December 8, 2015. The Wolverines made a trip to NC State for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, as well.

November On November 6, Beilein led the Wolverines over his son Patrick's team 74–52 in the team's only exhibition game as LeVert posted 22 points. Michigan began the regular season with a 70–44 victory over on November 13. The team was led by LeVert who posted a game-high 18 points and 5 assists in his return to the lineup and Aubrey Dawkins who added 15 points on 6–of–7. However Irvin remained on the sidelines. On November 16, Michigan defeated Elon as Walton led all players with 24 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Duncan Robinson added 19 points including all six shot attempts (5 three point shots). Zak Irvin made his first appearance with three assists. On November 20, Michigan suffered its first loss of the season to Xavier in the inaugural Gavitt Tipoff Games, despite a game-high 29 points by LeVert. Irvin made his first start of the season, scoring seven points and one rebound. During the game, the team unveiled its new logo, "We 100", on its pregame warmups which matched the team hashtag #squad100. Before beginning the 2015 Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas, Beilein noted that Mark Donnal would not be in the starting lineup going forward. On November 25, Michigan lost to (#18 AP Poll/#21 Coaches Poll) UConn at the Battle 4 Atlantis. After getting off to a 12–5 lead, Michigan fell behind by 36–22 at the half and as much as 19 points in the second half. When Michigan defeated Charlotte 102–47 on November 26, the team set Battle 4 Atlantis records for points, margin of victory and shooting percentage (61%). The game featured freshman Moritz Wagner's 19-point performance on 8–9 shooting from the field. Michigan allowed no second chance points. The team's 55-point victory was the largest for the Wolverines since 1946, when the team defeated Chicago by 58. It was also the largest defeat in Charlotte 49ers men's basketball history and the first time Michigan defeated Charlotte in three tries. Michigan defeated Texas 78–72 on November 27 on 14–25 three point shooting, including 11 in the first half to jump out to a 12-point lead.

December