For the 24th and final time of the 2023-24 season, Michigan basketball lost on Wednesday night. This loss came in the form of a 66-57 defeat at the hands of the No. 11 seed Penn State Nittany Lions.

Michigan's season is now officially over, and a critical offseason will now begin for the Wolverines. But first, here are three takeaways from the loss.

This year's Michigan team set a program record for most losses by any team in Michigan history (24). The 2007-08 Wolverines held the previous record of 22, and although it would be hard to imagine a scenario in which the record gets broken anytime soon, it's definitely plausible with the way things are currently trending.

A record of 8-24 makes a win percentage of just .250, which is tied for the second-worst win percentage in the 108-year history of Michigan basketball.

Not only was it one of the worst seasons in program history, but the Wolverines finished dead last in the Big Ten by a significant margin and bowed out of the conference tournament on the first day.

But if the team was so bad, surely the inexperienced freshmen and sophomores got plenty of playing time and ample opportunity to develop their games, right?

Wrong.

Freshman George Washington III didn't see the floor until the final minute of Wednesday night's game, and Youssef Khayat didn't see any action.

The freshman finished the season with 26 total points in 146 minutes of action, which averages out to roughly 0.8 points and 4.5 minutes per game Michigan played. For as many times as Michigan was blown out this season, it was a disgrace that Washington III didn't get more playing time.

The same goes for Khayat, a sophomore. For some reason, the walk-ons played over Khayat late in the game with Michigan down by about a baker's dozen.

Khayat finishes the season with 24 total points and 98 minutes played. That's good for 0.75 points and 3.1 minutes per game that Michigan played.

As bad of a coaching job Juwan Howard did this season, perhaps his biggest blunder was not playing Washington III and Khayat more.

Olivier Nkamhoua, Tray Jackson and Jaelin Llewellyn will all depart from the program, and Michigan will be left in a tough spot. It will undoubtedly need to look to the portal for players to fill the 2024-25 roster, but depending on how many players leave Ann Arbor, that number could grow significantly.

Late in the season, especially, Dug McDaniel and Tarris Reed Jr. looked particularly disinterested.

The sophomore duo have now completed half of their respective college careers and have almost nothing to show for it. Sticking around for an 8-24 team that is nosediving faster than a falling rocket ship doesn't seem like a likely possibility for McDaniel or Reed Jr.

Howard and the staff will have a lot of self-reflection to do, and they'll need to do it quickly, because looking into the portal for next year's players is one of the highest priorities on the list.

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