John Beilein on Michigan: 'This team may be as good as our best teams'

Michigan State stands atop the Big Ten standings at 6-0, and Michigan Wolverines basketball has the chance to join them Thursday night, when they’ll take on Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Appearing on ‘The HUGE Show’ with Bill Simonson, former Michigan head coach John Beilein, now an analyst on Big Ten Network, believes U-M and MSU will both be top-10 teams come the first of two regular-season meetings Feb. 21 at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.

“Michigan’s got so much talent,” Beilein said. “Michigan State has got an amazingly connected team that plays so well together. It’s great for the state to be back like this, where the two teams can rival with Duke and North Carolina type of in-state rivalry.”

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Even amidst a five-game win streak in which the Wolverines have won by an average of 25 points per game, first-year Michigan head coach Dusty May has been telling his team they have a lot they can improve on.

“This season is so young in the Big Ten,” Beilein agreed. “Just think about this: They’ve already gone on the road and won at Wisconsin, gone on the road and won at UCLA and USC. I mean, those were all hard road games. 

“There’s no easy one, there’s no question about it, but they have answered the bell every time. I think I saw a stat where they have [three] losses and they’re by a combination of [five] points or something, some absurd number.

“It’s hard to say whether they’re underrated or overrated this time of the year, but I think they’re one of the best teams in the country — I sincerely do. And I think Michigan State is, too. Not 12 and not 20, but both of them are really top-10 teams, with no question in my mind. No question.”

Graduate center Vladislav Goldin is leading the way for Michigan, averaging 20.3 points per game over the last nine.

Date	Opponent	Points Scored	Field Goals Made-Attempted	Field Goal Percentage
Jan 12, 2025	Washington	19	6-7	85.7%
Jan 7, 2025	UCLA Bruins	36	13-18	72.2%
Jan 4, 2025	USC Trojans	11	4-7	57.1%
Dec 29, 2024	Western Kentucky Hilltoppers	17	7-8	87.5%
Dec 22, 2024	Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons	13	6-7	85.7%
Dec 18, 2024	Oklahoma Sooners	26	10-12	83.3%
Dec 10, 2024	Arkansas Razorbacks	17	7-9	77.7%
Dec 7, 2024	Iowa Hawkeyes	20	8-13	61.5%
Dec 3, 2024	Wisconsin Badgers	24	10-14	71.4%

Junior forward/center Danny Wolf has gotten a lot of the headlines for Michigan, but Goldin is finishing around the rim at an elite level and leading the team in scoring.

“We were all talking before at length about Danny Wolf — well, Vlad Goldin right now has become maybe the best big man in this league, as far as just in the paint, doing what he does, keeps his game so simple,” Beilein said. “There’s no drama when he catches the ball. You see his armpits all the time — that’s really a good sign of a basketball player, when you see that he plays with his elbows up by his ears. He’s doing that. But just watch him — every time they throw it to him, the ball’s in the basket.

“With a lot of big men, there’s drama every time they get it. They drop it down, they pivot a couple times, they get themselves into trouble. Not this kid. This kid — whoever worked with him in Russia or Texas Tech or Florida Atlantic or at Michigan has done a great job with his footwork and just playing as big as he is.”

John Beilein on Dusty May comparison

May has revived the program after an 8-24 season that led to Juwan Howard being fired. Michigan is back competing at the top of the Big Ten, like it did for one season under Howard (2021) and many under Beilein.

Fans and analysts have compared the way May is running the program to what Beilein did as the winningest coach in Michigan history. Beilein was asked about the comparison.

“The thing is they’re playing at a faster pace than we played,” Beilein said. “I always said if I go back into coaching — which I won’t — I would play at a faster tempo, just getting the ball over half court quickly, so the shot clock is 30, you should be over half court at 26 or 27 if you’re playing with this pace. You watch them, and they will do that.

“And they’re spread out. They spread the court, a lot of pick-and-roll offense, but there’s not like, ‘Hey, throw it into the big fella and make him go to work.’ It’s, let the big fella set a screen or set a fake screen and roll hard to the rim. You either throw it up to him or he sucks in the defense so much that you can throw it over the top for a three on the other side. And that’s what they’re doing with everybody.”

Beilein led Michigan to two national title game appearances, in 2013 and 2018. He and many other coaches maintain that receiving breaks or ‘luck’ is needed to make deep tournament runs, so with that caveat, Beilein believes this current Michigan team can get as far as any Wolverine squad has.

“I just really, really think that there are similarities,” Beilein explained. “This team may be as good as our best teams. We’ll see, and remember, our best teams got lucky to get to the Final Four. So you’ve still gotta have some breaks, but they can be there at the end if they get those breaks.”