Michigan men's basketball continues free fall. Could Juwan Howard era end soon?

In 2020-21, Michigan won the Big Ten regular-season title, received a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and lost in the Elite Eight to UCLA by two points. 

Ever since, it has been all downhill for Juwan Howard and the Wolverines. And this year, without starting floor general Dug McDaniel — who is five games into a six-game road suspension — the program sunk to another low point Tuesday, losing 97-68 to No. 14 Illinois. 

Michigan (8-17, 3-11 in the Big Ten) is 1-7 in its past eight games, with each loss coming by double-digits.

“We’ve been experiencing uncomfortable moments all year,” Howard told reporters, referencing McDaniel’s absence. “When you miss your primary ball-handler, one of the best decision-makers in the country, you take a step back and it hurts your ballclub. But we’ve tried to manage a way.”

Clearly, that way is not working. Michigan is on pace for its worst season since a 10-22 mark in 2007-08, the first season of the John Beilein era. 

How did it all fall apart for the Wolverines? That’s a bit more complex.

One thing is clear: Michigan is not lacking capable players. During his time in Ann Arbor, Howard has signed four recruiting classes. The first three ranked 14th, third and 12th nationally, according to 247Sports. 

The Wolverines’ 2023 class featured only one freshman (four-star guard George Washington III, who is averaging just 7.1 minutes per game), but included transfers Olivier Nkamhoua (Tennessee), Tray Jackson (Seton Hall) and Nimari Burnett (Alabama). Nkamhoua is racking up 14.9 points per contest, and Burnett and Jackson are averaging 9.5 and 5.1 points per game, respectively. 

So pure talent, clearly, hasn’t been the issue. But getting that talent to operate as a unit on defense has been a fruitless endeavor for Howard since his second season — which culminated in that Elite Eight trip — ended. 

That season, Michigan finished fourth nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom. In 2021-22, it fell off sharply on defense, finishing 74th in adjusted efficiency. 

In 2022-23, en route to missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014-15 (the 2020 edition was canceled, but the Wolverines would have safely made the field of 68), Michigan proved again unable to be the type of stingy defensive team it was in 2020-21. The Wolverines, who lost in the second round of last season's NIT, finished 47th in adjusted defensive efficiency.

This season, it has been a calamity on that end. Michigan has bottomed out at 181st in adjusted defensive efficiency and has given up a Big Ten-worst 79.1 points per game. 

Howard hasn’t helped himself, either. There was the postgame skirmish with Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft in February 2022, resulting in Howard's suspension for the remainder of the regular season. 

This past December, the fifth-year head coach reportedly got into it with John Sanderson, the program’s head strength and conditioning coach, over something the latter said regarding the frustration forward Jace Howard (Howard’s son) showed during his recovery from a right-leg stress fracture. 

Howard was cleared to return to the sidelines after an internal investigation, but the incident still caused a cloud to hang over the program. The 51-year-old is a beloved alum, and his passion is part of why he got the job in the first place. 

But the wins aren’t coming, and the extracurriculars only pour gasoline on the fire. With just over three weeks to go in the regular season, that fire could grow large enough for Howard to lose his job.