Michigan basketball reached the top of the mountain two months ago, when Dusty May and company knocked off UConn in Indianapolis to win the program’s second national championship and its first in nearly 40 years.
As a result of such a successful season, some players like Aday Mara and Morez Johnson Jr. left early for the NBA, and Elliot Cadeau also made a last-minute decision to test NBA waters. U-M’s starting point guard from a season ago entered the draft process to get feedback from scouts but has since returned to Ann Arbor for a senior season.
Speaking on “The Brad Galli Show,” May made it clear he believes his team’s leading returner in production is poised for a massive season, given his understanding of the expectations and familiarity with the system
“Well, based on his performance last year, our expectations would be that he’s going to be an All-American point guard for us,” May said. “We had Yaxel [Lendeborg] as an All-American last year and Aday and Morez as All-Big Ten players.”
Cadeau averaged 10.5 points and 5.9 assists per game, which vaulted to 12.3 points, 7.5 assists and 1.7 steals while shooting 38.7% from 3-point range during the Wolverines’ run to the NCAA title. He had a 13-point, 10-assist double-double in the Final Four against Arizona, then scored a team-high 19 points in the national title game against UConn as he was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.
With the departures of players like Braden Smith (Purdue), Donovan Dent (UCLA), Bennett Stirtz (Iowa) and Nick Boyd (Wisconsin), Cadeau is now seen in the top echelon of point guards in the Big Ten, if not the country, alongside Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr.
May discussed the team’s confidence in him earlier this spring, implying many of the roster decisions that were made elsewhere came with the belief that Cadeau can create for others.
“We feel like Elliot, first and foremost, is a cheat code in the pick and roll, and he needs certain things for him to maximize his ability,” said May. “So that factored in to us targeting certain players. For example, I think J.P. [Estrella’s] ability to pick and pop, to pick and roll, but also to be a physical screener.”
Cadeau isn’t the only backcourt player who’s expected to be a major contributor for Michigan in 2026-27 as it looks to return to the Final Four, which will be hosted at Ford Field in Detroit.
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Trey McKenney, a former five-star McDonald’s All-American from Orchard Lake Saint Mary’s, is expected to take a massive sophomore leap. He was remarkably consistent for a freshman, playing in all 40 games, averaging 9.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in 22.1 minutes a night.
His 68 3-pointers led the Wolverines despite serving in a sixth-man role.
“We think both of our guards in the back court should be All-Big Ten performers, which puts you in contention to be an All-American,” May told Galli. “You said the trust that we gave him — that was the trust that he earned because of his approach and because of his maturity. Rarely do you have a high school player come in and work every day and act like a 10-year professional veteran. He’s as mentally stable and mature as anyone I’ve been around at that age.
“There were several games whenever we’d be struggling and he would come off the bench and get us jump started. We would never put a cap on him.”
U-M has rebuilt its roster into one considered well inside the top 10 and perhaps top 5 in the country – despite losing six of nine rotational players from last season (and a seventh, junior guard L.J. Cason, is expected to miss the season – though a potential rule change could allow him to return at some point as he rehabs from a torn ACL).
It includes transfers Estrella (Tennessee), Moustapha Thiam (Cincinnati) and Jalen Reed (LSU), expected development from returners Oscar Goodman and Ricky Liburd, and a host of high-level freshmen, highlighted by five-star guard Brandon McCoy (Sierra Canyon) and stretch-four Quinn Costello (The Newman School).
May’s teams have outperformed expectations in each of his first two seasons in Ann Arbor behind lineups that are dominated by bigs. In 2024-25, it was Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin. Last year, it was Lendeborg, Mara and Johnson.
While the frontcourt is again expected to be key for the Wolverines, there’s more expectation on the backcourt in 2026-27 than either of the past two seasons. May feels perfectly comfortable with that.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan’s Dusty May has lofty expectations for returning backcourt
Reporting by Tony Garcia, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Tony Garcia, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
