Victors Valiant- Hail to Michigan! 2026 National Champions

Taking a look back at the 2025-2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball season and the hits and misses from Coach Kessler’s predictions.

By: Mr. Kessler (Newspaper Advisor)

For the first time in a Coach Kessler (37 years), the Michigan Wolverines have been crowned NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champions. Dusty May’s team dominated their way through the tournament, averaging 90.1 points per game, while allowing only 71.2 points per game. The last 3 games of the tournament they held UCONN, Arizona, and Tennessee to their worst shooting performances of the season. While the Wolverines may have ‘Shocked the world’ (see the ode to the 1989 Wolverines above), Coach Kessler was not too shocked at the result as he had the Wolverines ranked 6th preseason in his rankings.

Let’s take a look back at the notable misses and hits from his preseason predictions: http://nccpantherprint.com/home/2025/11/06/coach-kesslers-top-26-for-2026/

Misses:

#25 Auburn- The apple may fall far from the tree, as Steven Pearl had an abysmal first season on the Plains after taking reins from his father, Bruce Pearl. While Bruce tried arguing his son’s squad onto the bubble, the Tigers could not take advantage of the multiple chances they had to play their way into the tournament.

#20 San Diego St.- The Aztecs weren’t a bad team this year, finishing 2nd in the Mountain West, but they did not prove enough in the non-conference that they were an NCAA tournament team. Brian Dutcher is a good coach, and they have an opportunity to make it back into the tourney next year.

#19 Creighton- The Blue Jays finished under .500 for the first time in Greg McDermott’s tenure, promptly leading to the retirement of the 16 year Head Coach. Alan Huss replaces McDermott and has his work cut out for him.

#5 Kentucky- Fans in Lexington are already calling to be ex-communicated from Coach Mark Pope after a season where the Wildcats spent $22 million on their roster and got the doors blown off of them in the 2nd round exit by Iowa State. The results were exasperated by former Coach John Calipari making the Sweet 16 for the 2nd straight year at Arkansas.

Hits:

#26 Miami (OH)- Coach Kessler really feels vindicated with this one. Oxford (OH) was rocking this season as the Redhawks had a magical season playing an exciting style of basketball.

#15 Illinois– The Illini brought an Eastern European flair to the B1G conference, and it worked. Brad Underwood seems bought in (see above.)

#4 UCONN- What Dan Hurley is doing in Storrs is nothing less than incredible; bordering on dynastic. We will see how long it lasts, as even he admits that, “burn out is real possibility.” However, it was worth it to see the next team knocked out…

#3 Duke- The Blue Devils were phenomenal all season. Only a miraculous shot could send the Devils packing. The reload will be interesting next year, as Cam Boozer was a lottery selection.

#6 Michigan- What more can I say than what was stated above? While there were a couple slip-ups during the season, it was obvious early on that the Wolverines were one of the best teams in the country. A couple of questions for the Michigan faithful- How spoiled are they with 2 National Championships in major sports within the last few years? With May’s departure, and a slew of players to the NBA, how does Michigan bounce back?