Jan. 27—ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Good things come to those who wait. Will Tschetter knows this as well as anyone.
Since setting foot on the University of Michigan’s campus in the fall of 2021, the Stewartville native has seen plenty of highs and lows when it comes to his college basketball career.
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Just two seasons ago, Michigan finished the season 8-24, fired its head coach and hired Dusty May in March of 2024. Tschetter, who is now a graduate student, had the opportunity to leave Ann Arbor and escape a seemingly gloomy situation.
Luckily for him, he chose to stay.
Now, in Tschetter’s final college basketball season, the No. 3-ranked Wolverines are 18-1 overall and 8-1 in conference play, sitting second in Big Ten Conference standings only behind an undefeated Nebraska squad.
“When they brought in coach May, just talking with him and getting to know him, I knew that it was going to be a great fit for us,” Tschetter said. “But then also, just all the people that I knew, connections I had made, the master’s program I was going to be going into, I just didn’t really want to give that up either.
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“And I felt starting new again would just be really, really tough. And the grass isn’t always greener. And I knew that I had a good thing there. So I was like, even if basketball, God forbid, doesn’t happen to work out, I have a really good support system to be super successful in other places.”
The 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward averages 4.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 14.3 minutes played per game. He is first on the team in free-throw shooting (88%) and has recorded 13 assists, three steals and two blocks across 19 appearances.
During May’s first season at the helm of the program, Michigan won the Big Ten Tournament title and ended the year 27-10 overall (14-6 Big Ten) after falling to Auburn in the Sweet 16. It was the Wolverines’ first NCAA tournament appearance since 2022.
“Winning that Big Ten championship was just so rewarding and it was kind of reaffirming, persevering through stuff can just kind of bring out the best,” Tschetter said. “But definitely this being the last ride and having the success that we’re having with the team that we have is a little bit crazy. Time is just kind of flying by. (I’m) just kind of stopping and enjoying it while I can. It’s been a super, super cool experience.”
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Michigan basketball has also taken him around the world playing in games and tournaments, from Paris, France and Athens and Mykonos, Greece, to Fort Myers, Fla. and Las Vegas, Nev.
Tschetter has truly found a second home in Ann Arbor with his teammates, friends and schooling. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Earth and Environmental Sciences in just three years and is working toward his master’s in Ecological Management and Sciences. He is unsure at the moment about how he wants to use his degrees and if he’ll end up back in Minnesota someday, but he hopes to play overseas once he’s finished in Ann Arbor.
The leap from southeastern Minnesota to playing Division I college basketball wasn’t always a straight path, but Tschetter has made it work.
“There (are) a lot of parallels between the in-classroom rigor at Michigan and then the basketball aspects,” Tschetter said. “Obviously, school-wise, you’re going to get your teeth kicked in. I still think back to when I got my first C ever, the first semester I was in college and I was freaking out.
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“And at the same time, I was having this big transition from coming from Stewartville to this Power 5 big program and having a lot of troubles on the basketball court, too. So just kind of keeping your head down and trusting that everything will work out is probably the biggest thing. Hard work always pays off.”
Even after the recent Big Ten Conference expansion to include West Coast teams, the 2021 Minnesota Mr. Basketball runner-up admits he’s been lucky to have at least one of his parents at every game.
It’s never a dull moment for his parents, Kasey (Morlock) and Garth Tschetter, who travel to watch their three sons play basketball for their respective schools in addition to their daytime jobs. The former North Dakota State University athletes remain in Minnesota with their two youngest sons, Henry, a freshman on the Saint John’s University (Minn.) men’s basketball team, and Pete, a junior on the Stewartville boys basketball team.
“I’m super fortunate,” Tschetter said. “It’s been really busy, especially for my parents having to bounce all over the place, but yeah, it’s been a fun winter so far.”
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Tschetter said his dad is set to retire soon from IBM and his parents will probably end up taking over his grandpa’s farm.
“My aunt and uncle also help out a little bit with it,” Tschetter said. “So it’s kind of just like a whole family ordeal.”
He spent much time on the farm throughout his childhood learning about freshwater ecosystems, which influenced his studies at Michigan. Tschetter even interned with the North Bridger Bison ranch near Bozeman, Mont., in the summer of 2023, helping to rebuild and maintain the wetlands there.
Tschetter said he’d love to one day go into consulting for agroecology and agroecological systems geared towards regenerative agriculture, but until then, he has unfinished business on the court.
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The Wolverines will host arguably their tallest task yet this season in No. 5-ranked Nebraska at 6 p.m. today, before heading to East Lansing to face No. 7 Michigan State at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 30. Those games will air on Peacock and Fox, respectively.
“I would say reaching our ceiling, just making sure that we don’t take anything for granted,” Tschetter said of what he hopes to get out of the rest of his time as a college basketball player. “Obviously, there’s national championship aspirations, but making sure that we do everything that we can in order to make that a reality. And then obviously winning the two Big Ten championships (conference and tournament) on the way would be very, very, very, very cool to end like that.”
