Michigan basketball, at least thus far, has signed three transfers from other schools, but one stands above them all — figuratively and literally.
The Wolverines managed to secure former Cincinnati big man, Moustapha Thiam, the 7-foot-2 center who was the No. 13 player in the transfer portal, and the third-best center. Given the expectation that incumbent center Aday Mara, who declared for the NBA draft, will depart the program, to get a player like Thiam is big for the Wolverines’ prospects in 2026-27.
A bit more filled out than Mara, does that make Thiam more closely resemble Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf than his immediate predecessor? Dusty May isn’t too sure about that.
“Yeah, he’s a lot different,” May said. “Obviously, he’s a center, and he’s big, and he’s talented, and he’s skilled, but his game isn’t like theirs. And so it’s exciting to have another player with the talent he has that we can tweak our system to and play through a little bit. But he’s got a lot of weapons and a lot of tools in his toolbox. He’s gonna be fun to coach.
“But yeah, we’re excited for him. But obviously, the rim protection and things like that, if you’re gonna have the type of defense we have this year, you need to be able to clean some stuff up at the rim. And we think he’s able to do that on the defensive end. He runs, he makes 3s. I mean, as you saw here in the exhibition game, we had no answer. And that was before Rez and Aday, but we had no answers for him down low.
“So he’s a guy that we think that he will be able to identify some matchup advantages for us and tackle on the perimeter and the low post and transition, whatever the case. But yeah, he’s another one that we’re incredibly excited to coach because he’s proved that he can do it at a high level in the Big 12.”
Thiam was already quite the productive player with the Bearcats, having averaged 12.8 points per game and 7.1 rebounds. But given what we’ve seen players do when they arrive from their former schools to Dusty May’s Michigan, he says that there’s a strong likelihood that he does see a bit of a numbers bump.
However, even if he doesn’t, May notes that the concept of the team supersedes all, and that should help improve Thiam’s draft stock, regardless.
“I think there’s a proof of concept. It’s not as if we’re having to sell a vision,” May said. “It’s, ‘Moustapha, look, this is how we played Aday, Morez. We’re not gonna use you exactly like that. We’re gonna accentuate your talents and put you in a position to be extremely successful.’ And let’s not forget that the team’s success is probably the thing that’s driven their value more than anything else. When you win at a high, high level — Florida’s a great example last year, our team this year — everyone becomes exponentially more valuable because it’s proven that they know how to impact winning at the highest level.”
Thiam wasn’t the only newcomer to the Wolverines. Michigan also added LSU forward Jalen Reed and Tennessee forward JP Estrella to the program this offseason, with both having officially signed on Tuesday.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: How Michigan basketball plans to deploy new center Moustapha Thiam
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
