What we learned from Michigan’s Players Era demolition

Michigan rolled through the Players Era Championship in style last week, knocking off San Diego State, Auburn, and Gonzaga in three consecutive blowout wins in as many days, and staking its claim as the best team in college basketball.

Now that the dust has settled and Thanksgiving dinner has been digested, the Wolverines made a compelling case. Predictive metrics love the Wolverines, who have faced one of the more difficult schedules in the opening month, and the three games in Las Vegas proved that this group has the upside that many hoped for in the preseason.

With some time to reflect on the performances in Vegas, here’s a deep dive into the numbers, metrics, observations, and what we learned about Michigan through the first month of the year.

Michigan has the best rim protection in the country

Michigan’s recipe for success starts with defending the paint, and it does it better than any team in the country.

The Wolverines lead Division I with a 36.9% 2-point shooting allowed, and they’ve done so against the 8th-toughest schedule in college basketball.

The Wolverines grade out in the 95th percentile in paint points allowed, outscoring opponents 42-23.7 in the paint. Teams are shooting just 51% at the rim against Michigan, making 6.6 shots per game at the basket.

Michigan makes it challenging to make shots at the rim, but the rim protection goes beyond that. The Wolverines are also preventing shots at the rim at an extremely high rate, forcing teams to take deeper paint shots, pull-up jumpers, and floaters.