If Mike Boynton is going to keep Michigan at the top of the Big Ten this season, not to mention the top of the sport, we now know he'll have to do it without the Wolverines' best incoming freshman. The school announced Tuesday that Brandon McCoy Jr., a five-star prospect from the Class of 2026, will miss the entire season after tearing the ACL in his right knee last week during the final exhibition of Michigan's nine-day foreign tour of Europe. When it happened, it looked bad.
An MRI subsequently confirmed the worst suspicions. McCoy -- a 6-foot-5 guard who ranks 11th in the Class of 2026, according to 247Sports -- was expected to start for the Wolverines after averaging 14.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 steals in the first two games of their foreign tour. Clearly, his loss from the rotation is a big one.
It's the reason I've moved Michigan down to No. 16 in Version 26 of the 2026-27 CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 preseason college basketball rankings. What a bummer -- first and foremost for McCoy, but also for Boynton, who is under obvious pressure to win and win big after replacing his former boss, Dusty May, following the latter's decision to leave Michigan for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. Did Boynton need to guide the Wolverines to a second straight national championship to prove worthy of the job he was given in July?
But it's worth noting that the former Oklahoma State head coach, who spent the past two seasons on May's staff, only signed a two-year contract with the Big Ten school -- and just the first year is guaranteed. In other words, it's crucial that Boynton be really good with the Wolverines this season, if only to ensure he gets next season. And, unfortunately, given Tuesday's announcement, it certainly appears that being really good is going to be harder -- not impossible, but definitely harder -- than it otherwise would've been.
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