Michigan basketball counting on wealth of transfers to rebound from worst-ever season

When Michigan basketball takes the court to open the 2024-25 season Monday night vs. Cleveland State, it’s likely there won’t be a single player who has previous logged a minute for the maize and blue in the starting five.

The Wolverines’ starting lineup is instead expected to consist of five transfers: point guard Tre Donaldson (Auburn) shooting guard Roddy Gayle Jr. (Ohio State), wing Rubin Jones (North Texas), power forward Danny Wolf (Yale) and center Vladislav Goldin (Florida Atlantic).

That will allow a pair of key returners, shooting guard Nirmari Burnett and power forward Will Tschetter — both of whom were asked to do too much a season ago — to operate as the first wave off the bench. Next in line will be 6-foot-10 sharpshooting transfer Sam Walters (Alabama), followed by a trio of talented freshmen — explosive LJ Cason, legacy Justin Pippen (son of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen) and reigning Michigan Mr. Basketball Durral “Phat Phat” Brooks.

Michigan Wolverines guard Roddy Gayle Jr. (11) shoots on Oakland Golden Grizzlies guard DQ Cole (10) in the first half at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.

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Jace Howard, son of former coach Juwan Howard, also provides depth, leadership and program familiarity.

Put it all together and it the Wolverines will appear to have a solid balance of experience, size, passing, shooting and flexibility for first-year coach Dusty May at Crisler Center (8 p.m., Big Ten Network).

“We have a lot of different guys that can step up and be our best player on any given night,” May said after U-M’s 95-92 exhibition win over Toledo last month, looking ahead to his first year in Ann Arbor. “We had two leading scorers (vs. Toledo), and I can’t imagine that Danny, Vlad, Tre, Rubin, Nimari, Will, Sam won’t lead us in scoring in another game.

“It’s an affirmation of what we thought about the balance of our team.”

The new guys

Michigan…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/michigan-basketball-counting-wealth-transfers-110821534.html

Author : Detroit Free Press

Publish date : 2024-11-04 11:08:00

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