Who’s college hoops’ best team? Michigan makes case in Players Era title romp

LAS VEGAS — Complete and utter dominance.

A three-day run unlike anything college basketball has ever seen.

Michigan Wolverinesranked seventh this week, just put together the most impressive multi-team regular-season contest… ever.

This city has many attractions that are definitely worth visiting. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday they were outshone by the guys from Maize and Blue.

First they beat San Diego State by 40.

Less than 24 hours later, the Wolverines roasted No. 21. Auburn by 30.

But this was not enough. Because on Wednesday night in the Players Era Championship game against No. GonzagaDusty May's team routed the Zags 101-61 to win the most important regular-season tournament in history—and set records in the process.

How funny was Michigan in Vegas? It's funny: The Wolverines are the first team in history to beat ranked teams by more than 30 points in consecutive games.

This has never been done in men's Division I history.

Until Wednesday.

It was also Michigan's largest lead over a ranked team in program history, outscoring a third-place team by 37 points. Purdue in 1987. I have even more: As of this week, Michigan has played 536 games against ranked opponents in its history. Only twice did he beat one of them by at least 30 points.

That number doubled on consecutive nights.

Three wins in three days by a combined 110 points, all of which came against schools that not only made the NCAA Tournament last season, but were also Final Four-bound programs in the previous four years (Gonzaga in 2021, San Diego State in 2023, Auburn in 2025). Michigan averaged 99.0 points in this tournament and held teams to 62.3.

The Players Era Championship was hoping to make a lot of noise and promised to pay out a lot of money in its second year with 18 teams and 27 games spread out over the week of Thanksgiving. He had some really good games, but more than that, he had a huge title run with Michigan's monstrous insistence on the title.

I've never seen a team do something like this in the regular season before, let alone on such a big stage.

“We felt like we were on the cusp of a perfect storm,” May told CBS Sports. “I think the few buttons we pushed in the last week or so made a big difference, made a big difference. But most importantly, I think our guys are used to playing with each other.”

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What do they get for their work? Another million dollars in cash in the coming weeks.

The Gonzaga arson exceeded all expectations, even with two previous demolitions at Michigan in the previous 48 hours. Mark Few's program entered the day 7-0 with six double-digit wins and a 95.0 point average, beating teams by an average of 32.9 points. It destroyed everyone in its path.

Michigan then tore off the limbs.

“I don’t think we competed after we got hit in the mouth to start the game,” Few said, later adding, “We were completely choked out. I've never been involved in anything like this. However, up until this point, two hours ago, we had an incredible November.”

The Wolverines just won two straight, scoring 100 or more points for the first time since 1989. Arizona in the 2001–02 season to achieve two wins in the season against ranked opponents with a score of 30+, but, again, no team had ever done this in back-to-back games, let alone back-to-back matches.

This isn't just something Michigan did for itself, it's something that went to Gonzaga's head. The 40-point loss was Mark Few's worst and biggest lead since 1990 against the famous Loyola Marymount team with Hank Gathers and Beau Kimble. Michigan's size and relentless defensive play around the rim left Gonzaga helpless, a Zags team that has dominated teams in the paint the last three weeks.

“We literally couldn't score a goal there all night,” Few said. “Just crazy, as good as we’ve been this year.”

The irony is that Michigan beat three good teams by an average of 36.7 points. TCU And Wake Forest (two teams that may not even make the NCAA Tournament) just a couple of weeks ago.

“A lot of the guys on the team felt like we weren’t respected.” Yaksel Lendeborg said. “Today was about putting the world on notice that we are the best team in the country.”

Notification must be received. I've been consistent about this: When Arizona won three of its first five games against top-15 opponents, I said and wrote that the Wildcats deserved to be No. 1.

Michigan is currently ranked No. 1 in all major metrics, is 7-0, and has four wins over top-50 opponents. Given the outlandish nature of what the Wolverines just did on the Las Vegas Strip, this team deserves to have a number 1 next to its name ASAP.

Whether he gets it or not, the bigger story is that college basketball is not even a month away from what should be one of its best seasons in recent memory. Purdue, Arizona and Duke everyone had moments that gave them confidence that they were the best team. Now it's Michigan's turn. Teams love Houston, University of California, Connecticut, Iowa, Louisville, TennesseeGonzaga and others aren't too far behind.

“We were looking at how willing teams would be to play us, because the number next to our name, I don't think we expected us to be such a big play for TCU,” May said.

Something changed a lot before Michigan boarded the plane bound for Vegas. Lest you think this is a charter flight, think again. The team, which had just become $2 million richer, had commercial flights back and forth on Delta. They celebrated their new place in college basketball until Wednesday evening, but it didn't last long.

The team bus left the hotel at 3:45 a.m. and headed to Harry Reid Airport. On Thanksgiving morning, we had a pre-dawn flight awaiting us. This is the Michigan way of thinking. And what about this scary thought: They have so much room for growth. If Michigan isn't at its best, it could be very good if it reaches its ceiling.