We’re more than a month into the Dusty May era of Michigan basketball and the team has been wholly revamped.
Left with just three scholarship players when he arrived, May has had to reconstruct the Wolverines roster and he’s managed to build something that is deep, has a lot of established players, and looks like a potential contender for the Big Ten in his first year.
May was particularly aggressive through the transfer portal, bringing in guards Tre Donaldson, Rubin Jones, Roddy Gayle Jr.; forward Sam Walters; and centers Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf. Justin Pippen, Lorenzo Cason, and Durral Brooks come aboard as recruits while Nimari Burnett, Will Tschetter, and Jace Howard return as the previous roster holdovers.
With those names in mind (though there is still a scholarship spot open so things can change) here is who we expect to start and be the backups in 2024-25 at this point in spring.
Point guard
Photo: Isaiah Hole
Starter: Tre Donaldson
Backup: Justin Pippen
At this juncture, there’s only one obvious point guard and it’s Donaldson, the transfer from Auburn. He wasn’t a prolific scorer last year, averaging 6.7 points in 19.2 minutes per game, but Dusty May is looking for more of a ball distributor than he is a scorer at the position. Expect Donaldson to take charge of the position while freshman Justin Pippen (who can play either guard spot) to work his way in.
Shooting guard
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Starter: Roddy Gayle Jr.
Backup: Rubin Jones
Gayle was a bit more prolific as a scorer at 13.5 points per in an average of 30.9 minutes per game. Jones and Gayle may play relatively similar minutes (and can also be on the court at the same time depending on the lineup) as his stats are relatively similar. It may be more of a learning curve for Jones having played for North Texas while Gayle has Big Ten experience, but these guys are essentially co-starters with Gayle getting the slight nod as the starter.
Wing
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Starter: Nimari Burnett
Backup: Sam Walters
For this position, we’re looking at it as a combo guard-forward, and certainly rotations will dictate who is the first on the floor and who’s off the bench. We’re coupling the former Alabama players here with Burnett being more of a guard and Walters more as a small forward. There aren’t a ton of forward options on the team right now, but there’s no way that Burnett isn’t expected to be a starter this year as he comes back for another year. He averaged just shy of 10 points in an average of 30 minutes of game play last year. Walters is a little more green as he averaged 12.3 minutes per game and averaged 5.4 points.
Forward
Photo: Isaiah Hole
Starter: Will Tschetter
Backup: Jace Howard
In our first real shake-up, we’re going with Tschetter over the veteran Howard. Tschetter was one of the few bright spots last year and is proficient at shooting from deep which Dusty May prioritizes. Howard is coming back for another year and will certainly be a factor (if healthy) but expect to see more Tschetter this upcoming season than ever before.
Center
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Starter: Vlad Goldin
Backup: Danny Wolf
Though Wolf was the higher-rated player in the transfer portal, Goldin will be the starter barring some massive changes. Dusty May even said on Tuesday that Goldin will play the bulk of minutes while Wolf is expected to get about 14 minutes per game. If Michigan goes big, we’ll see both on the court at the same time, but the former FAU center paired with his previous head coach at a new location does make it a no-brainer that we’ll see him first on the court.
