Who's college basketball's best team? Michigan makes case with emphatic, history-making Players Era title run

LAS VEGAS — Complete and utter dominance. 

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

The Michigan Wolverines, ranked seventh entering this week, just pulled off the most impressive regular-season multi-team event display … ever. 

This town has a lot of must-see attractions. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, all of them were overshadowed by the boys in Maize and Blue.

First, they walloped San Diego State by 40. 

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

But that wasn't enough. Because on Wednesday night in the Players Era championship game against No. 12 Gonzaga, Dusty May's team eviscerated the Zags 101-61 to win the deepest regular-season event in history — and set records in the process. 

How ridiculous was Michigan in Vegas? This ridiculous: These Wolverines are the first team — ever — to beat ranked teams by 30-plus points in back-to-back games.

It had never been done in men's Division I history.

Until Wednesday. 

It was Michigan's largest margin over a ranked team in program history as well, besting a 37-point drubbing against No. 3 Purdue in 1987. I've got even more: Entering this week, Michigan had played 536 games in its history against ranked opponents. Only two times had it ever beaten one by at least 30 points.

It doubled that number on back-to-back nights. 

Three wins in three days by 110 points, all the wins coming against schools that not only made last season's NCAA Tournament, but were programs with Final Four runs in the previous four years (Gonzaga in 2021, San Diego State in 2023, Auburn in 2025). Michigan averaged 99.0 points at this event and held teams to 62.3.

The Players Era Championship hoped to make a lot of noise and promised to pay out a lot of money in its second year with an 18-team field and 27 men's games spread out over the week of Thanksgiving. It got some really good games, but more than that, it got a huge headline with Michigan's monstrous strut to a title.

I've never seen a team do this in the regular season before, let alone on a stage this big. Michigan changed the perception of its team in 72 hours. Against Gonzaga, the Wolverines shot 13-of-27 from 3 (48.1%) and 23-of-33 from 2 (69.7%). It assisted on 29 of its 36 field goals. 

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

It's fitting that May's team wound up being the champ here. Almost two years ago, he got a call from Players Era co-founder Seth Berger, who was trying to get merely eight teams into a bold new event that was promising to pay teams millions. May was at FAU and bought in at a time when almost everyone else wasn't ready to say yes. When May got the Michigan job, he vowed to stay true to his word and bring the Wolverines to Vegas in 2025.

Because of that decision, Michigan was put in a position to vault itself into college basketball's top tier. 

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The Wolverines just won two in a row by scoring 100 or more points for the first time since 1989. It's also the first team since Arizona in 2001-02 to get two wins in a season by 30-plus against ranked competition, but again, no team had ever done it in consecutive games, let alone consecutive nights. 

What do they get for their work? An additional $1 million in NIL cash in the weeks to come. If anything, these guys might be underpaid.

The Gonzaga gouging was beyond any and all expectations, even with Michigan's previous two demolitions in the prior 48 hours. Mark Few's program entered the day 7-0 with six wins by double figures and averaging 95.0 points, having defeated teams by 32.9 points on average. It was wrecking everyone in its path.

Then Michigan ripped the limbs off.

"I don't think we competed once we got punched in the mouth to start the game," Few said, later adding, "we got absolutely throttled. I've never been involved in anything like that. That said, we've had an incredible November up until this point, two hours ago."

The 40-point loss was Mark Few's worst and the biggest margin for the program since 1990 against the famed Loyola Marymount team with Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble. Michigan's size and relentless action around the rim on the defensive end caused Gonzaga to be helpless — a Zags team that has been owning teams in the paint the previous three weeks.

"We literally couldn't generate any scoring there at all, all night," Few said. "Just crazy, as good as we've been this year."

Afterward, May praised Few, who's been in charge of one of college basketball's best offensive systems for well over a decade at this point. 

"I don't think there's a living basketball coach that I've watched more of their games as a fan than Coach Few," he said." I've competed twice against his team as an assistant, and in both of the games, immediately after I thought how much I had learned from scouting them, watching them. During COVID I probably watched an entire season of offensive possessions of their group."

The irony of Michigan beating three good teams by an average of 36.7 points is how this team barely squeaked by TCU and Wake Forest (two teams that may not even make the NCAA Tournament) just a couple of weeks ago. Yaxel Lendeborg took another step on Wednesday night. His 20-point, 11-rebound, four-steal, two-block performance verified his offseason status as perhaps the best portal addition in the sport.

"A lot of the guys on the team felt like we were being disrespected," Yaxel Lendeborg said. "Today was about putting the world on notice that we're here to be the best team in the nation and we'll continue to do that."

The notice should be received. I've been consistent on this: When Arizona won three of its first five games against top-15 competition, I said and wrote that the Wildcats deserved to be No. 1.

Now Michigan ranks No. 1 in every mainstream metric, sits at 7-0 and has four wins against top-50 competition. Given the outlandish nature of what the Wolverines just did on the Vegas Strip, this team deserves to have the 1 next to its name.

Something switched on with this group before it got on the plane for Vegas. Lest you think this was private for a big-brand Big Ten program, think again. The team that just got $2 million richer got to Sin City on round-trip Delta commercial flights. They celebrated their new perch in college hoops deep into Wednesday night at the Players Era hotel, the Park MGM, but the party was short-lived.

Michigan's team bus left for the airport right around 3:45 a.m.; a predawn Thanksgiving morning flight awaited. The Wolverines flew home champions, but are determined to not get too comfortable. 

"They're falling in love with the process of getting better because it's working, and so hopefully that continues to be contagious," May told me. "Are we going to continue like this? Absolutely not. We're gonna have some extremely tough games, but we do have a ceiling that's still much higher than we're playing right now. We have a very high floor. Also, there's no question our bad nights, we're still pretty good. But we think there's another big jump for us to make before Big Ten play."

Wait, what did May just say? Michigan can be even better than this? That seems almost impossible, but if it's true, then the Wolverines will prove to be college basketball's best team over the next four months.