Michigan wraps up its preseason slate tonight against Toledo (7:30 p.m., BTN) at the Crisler Center in a charity exhibition benefitting Mott Children’s Hospital. The Wolverines dispatched Oakland on Sunday with relative ease and now face what should be a more challenging and traditional opponent in Toledo.
The Rockets defeated Grand Valley State 76-71 in their opening exhibition game and are projected to be ranked No. 177 in KenPom’s initial preseason ratings.
Here’s what to watch for in Michigan’s second and final preseason exhibition game.
Consistent MAC winners
Toledo has won the MAC regular season in four consecutive years without winning the conference tournament. As painful as that is for Rocket fans, the program is very healthy—perhaps too healthy. Toledo lost several key contributors from last year’s team to high-major schools via the transfer portal: Ra’Heim Moss (Oregon), Dante Maddox (Xavier), and Tyler Cochran (Minnesota).
Toledo has the luxury of reloading, though. The Rockets have excelled at elevating transfers from other MAC schools and have added Seth Hubbard (Western Michigan) and Isaiah Adams (Buffalo) from the conference this year.
The team should hinge on the development of two sophomores who were starters last year and named to the MAC All-Freshman Team. Michigan native Sonny Wilson runs the show from the guard spot while redshirt sophomore Javan Simmons anchors the interior at 6-foot-7, 235 pounds. Wilson led the Rockets in scoring in their exhibition win with 15 points.
Wilson and Simmons provide a foundation for the Rockets, but this group needs to replace a significant amount of perimeter shooting. Last season, Wilson and Simmons were just 20-of-71 from 3-point range combined, and the three outgoing high-major transfers combined to make 128 triples.
In their exhibition opener, Toledo led by as much as 17 in the second half, but a five-point win over a GLIAC opponent hints that this is still a group figuring things out with new personnel.