Michigan State’s biggest rival has a Brandon McCoy-sized problem entering the 2026-27 season.
Last week, Michigan’s freshman sensation suffered an injury in the first 20 seconds of an overseas exhibition game against Croatia. He stole the ball and sprinted down the court for a layup, slipping awkwardly in the paint where he remained planted for a couple of minutes before getting carried off the floor.
That was a horrific sign for the true freshman who is expected to be a first-round NBA draft pick next year as well as Michigan’s most talented player for the upcoming season.
The early hope out of Ann Arbor was that it was just a hyperextension or something that could be rehabbed until the season tipped off, but news broke on Tuesday afternoon that the five-star freshman is going to be out for the season with an ACL injury.
The news obviously rocked the Michigan fanbase with most Wolverine fans already smashing the panic button but it also shook the Big Ten as the title race is going to look a lot different now.
McCoy’s devastating injury isn’t just going to crush Michigan’s chances of repeating as national champions but it almost eliminates the Wolverines from the Big Ten title race as well. They are already worried about getting Roddy Gayle back for a fifth season and the three-headed monster from the national title team is gone, as is Dusty May, so the Wolverines were already fighting an uphill battle to repeat.
Elliot Cadeau is back along with Trey McKenney and Michigan also brought in Moustapha Thiam and JP Estrella, but there was already a real concern about a lack of firepower for Mike Boynton’s first team as head coach and now losing the most talented player on the roster might just seal their fate.
Note: An “ACL injury” doesn’t specify if it’s torn or not, but he’s already been ruled out for the season so that’s a pretty safe assumption.
What could the Big Ten title race look like now?
The Big Ten was expected to be a little top-heavy again with teams like Illinois, Michigan, and Michigan State pacing the league, but there’s title race may have just whittled itself down to two teams.
There are some contenders like USC, Nebraska, UCLA, Purdue, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio State who could all really contend along with the “big three” this year, but Michigan has likely moved down a tier.
Here’s how the tiers look now after the McCoy injury:
Favorites: Michigan State, Illinois
Contenders: Michigan, UCLA, USC, Nebraska, Ohio State, Purdue, Indiana
Dark-horses: Iowa, Wisconsin, Maryland
Bottom-dwellers: Oregon, Washington, Northwestern, Minnesota, Penn State, Rutgers
Michigan was in that “favorites” column before the season began, but now the Wolverines are teetering on contender status. They’re going to have to figure out where that projected McCoy production is going to come from as the backcourt has thinned out quite a bit.
Honestly, Year 1 of the Boynton era in Ann Arbor might end up as a disaster and it’s not entirely his fault either.
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