Dusty May is in, baby, and it's time to acquire… well… a basketball team. Michigan currently has four scholarship players and nine empty chairs. Two of the guys in hypothetically full chairs, Nimari Burnett and Terrance Williams, walked on senior day, and a third is the son of the recently departed head coach. There is a nonzero chance the roster right now is Will Tschetter.

Dusty May's got work to do. How does Michigan fill those chairs?

RETAIN… uh… CROOT

Durral Brooks is in.

RAID FAU

FAU did not go with an internal hire, instead picking off Baylor assistant John Jakus. Most insider chatter was already very positive about Michigan grabbing some former Owls; the chances just went up further.

Three starters and four rotation players still have eligibility. Starters Johnell Davis, Vladislav Goldin, and Alijah Martin all have COVID years should they desire them. They would be grad transfers, so Michigan's persnickety admissions department shouldn't be a problem. Those three were the highest-usage players on a top-50 Kenpom team and should up-transfer just fine. Goldin entered the portal yesterday. He is also testing NBA draft waters. Martin and Davis both went through portions of the draft process last year, FWIW, and people seem to expect they'll be in the portal sooner rather than later.

Reserves Giancarlo Rosado and Nick Boyd also entered the portal. The path to Michigan for those guys is murkier. Rosado would be a grad transfer but he's a below-the-rim 6'8" post who was a low usage player; it's not clear he's a fit in the Big Ten. Boyd is a 6'3" guard who played about 20 MPG and was an efficient shooter. He should be a grad transfer as well since he enrolled in 2020, and he should have two years left since year one was the COVID year and he did not play in year two due to injury.

The other rotation guys are midway through degrees and are probably not going to get through admissions. And it's likely that some of them will prefer the prospect of starter's minutes to another year behind FAU's core.

Then there's May's recruiting class. I'm particularly interested in Elijah Elliott, who's 6'4" and gets described as "twitchy" and "ultra-athletic."  6'4" + twitchy + ranked #185 means he's got some limitations but I'm willing to roll the dice on a dude who seems like a high major athlete and deploys that athleticism in the service of perimeter defense sizzle reels. Just have him shoot threes for a couple years and you've got Chaundee Brown.

Ty Robinson and Lorenzo Cason, both guards, are so deep down the rankings that there's nothing out there on them. If May believes one or both could work in the Big Ten, though, may as well bring them along. Stu Douglass and Zak Novak were not exactly batting away tons of P5 offers.

[After THE JUMP: portaaaaaal]

RETRIEVE MICHIGAN PORTAL GUYS

Dug McDaniel is likely un-retrievable.

On the other side of things, George Washington III attended May's press conference and told reporters things that made it seem like he was strongly considering a return. He and May will have to sit down and see if there's common ground, but "you are a guard" seems good enough given the state of things.

Tarris Reed is somewhere in between Washington and McDaniel. He just took a visit to Kansas State and is clearly exploring high-major options, but there were some insider rumblings that Reed would consider returning. On the other hand, McDaniel was on the visit to KSU with him. Slight decrement to already limited optimism there.

May as well throw Khani Rooths and Christian Anderson in here, too. Anderson is likely gone since he waited until after Michigan named a new coach to hit the bricks; maybe you could talk to Rooths but the chances either guy returns to the fold are slim.

HIT NON-FAU PORTAL

Names that Michigan has been linked with:

• Connor Essegian, SG, Wisconsin. Essegian made the All-Freshman team in 2022-23 and then disappeared into the Wisconsin bench this season. Insider chatter very positive that if interest is mutual this will get worked out. Shot 47/36/88 as freshman on pretty high usage. Back injury supposedly responsible for major dip in performance.
• Danny Wolf, C, Yale. Skilled inside-outside big was first-team All-Ivy as a sophomore after playing very little as a freshman. Sort of Moe Wagner-ish on tape. Heavy-footed compared to Moe. Performance in Top 100 KP games concerning, but is a legit 7 foot and blew up this year. Michigan supposedly in good shape.
• J'Vonne Hadley, SF, Colorado. Low-usage, high-efficiency wing played 80% of Kenpom #22 Colorado's minutes. Grad transfer. Leaving a good team you started on seems like an NIL play. Hadley is zoomin' with Iowa State and MSU, with a short-term timeframe for a decision.
• Dante Maddox, PG, Toledo. Put Michigan in a top eight. 48/40 from the floor, 86% from the line, solid TO rate. Team had a very low assist rate overall and his was just 15—secondary playmaker-ish—but that might fit May, who had a bunch of guys pick up middling assist rates the past two years. OTOH, he can definitely go to the tournament at teams elsewhere on his list.
• Jason Rivera-Torres, SG, Vandy. Freshman was an inefficient bench player on a bad Vandy team; just outside the top 100 to 247. May has a pre-existing relationship as FAU was on his shortlist as a recruit.
• Cade Tyson, SF, Belmont. 6'7" sniper is a career 45% deep shooter with 86 FT% to match. Has been Not Just A Shooter at the MVC level; these guys usually get more perimeter-oriented after up-transfers. Guys with his profile are in huge demand because everyone can use a Duncan Robinson, so I'd imagine he ends up at a blue blood.
• Rowan Brumbaugh, SG, Georgetown. Former top 100 recruit redshirted at Texas and then left for GTown after that; was not exactly efficient but the outline of a good player is there: top-200 assist rate, 79 FT%, 37% from three. Bad two-point shooting sticks out but in the context of an abominable GTown team might be ok in a less dire context. High school teammate of Wolf.  (In the midst of getting Brumbaugh items I discovered that Georgetown has a guy named Supreme Cook. I shake my fist in his general direction.)

Notably, almost all of these guys are 6'4" or taller so I think we can assume that FAU's four guard lineup was out of necessity, not desire.

FWIW, EMU transfer Tyson Acuff went off the board to Rutgers.

ATTEMPTED CARIS

May is hitting up some high school recruits, most notably Indiana decommit Liam McKneely:

“Dusty May said I was his first recruiting call,” McNeeley said. “That was special. Right now, my primary focus is preparing and practicing for the upcoming McDonald’s game and Chipotle Nationals. I am going to hold off any college visits until those basketball events have concluded.”

May swooping in on a five-star who's going to be a burger boy is exceptionally unlikely, but FWIW. A more likely occurrence is that May narrowly missed on some guys who went to bigger conferences and is now in the Big Ten. If some of those guys get caught up in coaching transitions, May could revisit. No names here.

BEST CURRENT GUESS

PG: Johnell Davis (FAU), Durral Brooks
SG: Alijah Martin (FAU), Connor Essegian (Wisc), George Washington III
SF: Nimari Burnett, Jace Howard
PF: Will Tschetter, Terrance Williams
C: Vlad Goldin (FAU), Danny Wolf (Yale)

Realistically Martin is likely to be the main ball-handler when Davis is out and that SF spot is going to be some Burnett and then a lot of guards, so all four of Davis, Martin, Essegian, and Washington would have significant roles.

That's 11, with two open spots for flier recruits. It is also unlikely to be correct.