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Heading into Juwan Howard’s fifth season in Ann Arbor, we’ve seen a bit of everything from his program defensively.

The Wolverines were solid in Howard’s first season, finishing 28th in adjusted defensive efficiency. Then, they soared to 4th nationally and had one of the best defenses in college basketball in 2020-21.

Since then, Howard hasn’t been able to sustain similar success. The Wolverines had their worst defensive finish since 2015-16 in Howard’s third year, and they improved last year, but it wasn’t by much, finishing 47th nationally.

Early in Howard’s tenure, it felt like he had a relatively rigid defensive scheme. Michigan played almost exclusively drop coverage against ball screens and excelled at minimizing opponent 3-point attempts by staying home and not over-helping, at the expense of not forcing many turnovers. The “guard your yard” approach worked until it didn’t.

As the Wolverines faltered defensively over the last two seasons, we’ve seen Howard experiment more aggressively. The Wolverines have tried to mix up ball screen coverages and integrate a zone defense that shifts into man-to-man mid-possession. It’s hard to know to what extent those changes were philosophical versus attempts to plug holes, but this year should be telling.

With three departing starters and three incoming transfers, Howard’s fifth roster is as close to a blank slate as we’ve seen since Year 1. This team should be Howard’s best defensive group since that 2020-21 season, but there’s work required to determine how the new pieces fit together best.