Ann Arbor — On paper, Michigan coach Dusty May likes what he sees of the roster he and his staff have assembled at this point in the spring.
The Wolverines are bringing in a six-man freshman class that’s led by a pair of McDonald’s All-Americans in Brandon McCoy Jr. and Quinn Costello. They signed three frontcourt players from the transfer portal in Tennessee forward J.P. Estrella, LSU forward Jalen Reed and Cincinnati center Moustapha Thiam.
Altogether, those nine new faces and wave of incoming talent make up the nation’s top overall recruiting class, per 247Sports.
But the best players might be the ones Michigan could possibly retain from this past season’s national title team, starting with center Aday Mara and forward Morez Johnson Jr., who both declared for the NBA Draft with eligibility remaining.
While May doesn’t know for certain what Mara’s and Johnson’s NBA decisions will be, he does know how he’ll approach the matter.
“When guys declare for the draft, we don’t ever recruit them back,” May said Wednesday. “We present our vision, our plan, what we think it will look like, and then they decide what’s best for them.”
Mara and Johnson will have until the NCAA’s May 27 withdrawal deadline to make their final stay-or-go decision. Until then, they’ll go through the pre-draft process and gather information about their draft prospects.
There’s a strong chance that the two and forward Yaxel Lendeborg, who is out of eligibility, will earn invites to the NBA Draft Combine. The showcase event will take place May 10-17 in Chicago, where participants will have the opportunity to boost their draft stock.
In recent mock drafts by Bleacher Report, ESPN, The Athletic and Yahoo! Sports, Lendeborg and Mara are both projected to be late-lottery picks and Johnson is pegged to go late in the first round. Given that, it seems Johnson might be more open to a return than Mara.
“We don’t recruit against (the draft),” May said. “Morez and Aday are gauging the interest of the NBA. I think with the way they played, they’ve positioned themselves into having a very, very difficult decision.”
May noted that he’s in constant communication with Johnson, who declared for the draft while retaining his college eligibility, “but it’s more just supporting him, checking on him, just having a conversation about his well-being.”
The same goes for Mara. May pointed out that he and his staff are getting feedback from the NBA daily in addition to keeping in touch with Mara’s and Johnson’s agents.
While it was expected that Johnson, Michigan’s leading rebounder (7.3) and second-leading scorer (13.1 points), and Mara, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year who set a program record with 103 blocks, would declare for the draft, point guard Elliot Cadeau following suit might’ve been a surprise to some.
However, May said that Cadeau has been the “most clear” with his intentions, adding that the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player wanted to go through the pre-draft process while maintaining his college eligibility to simply get feedback and “have a positive experience.”
“If he wants to go see what a workout is like to prepare himself for next year, to get to hear what our future employers are going to say about us, then I’m fully supportive of him,” May said. “We support our players with whatever their personal ambition is outside of season. If an NBA team said we’re going to draft you in the top 10, I’d probably tell Elliot to go to the NBA and we’d figure this out.”
As things stand, May said the Wolverines could still add to the roster for next season, but they’re waiting on Mara’s and Johnson’s draft decisions to determine what their next step might be.
But no matter how things shake out next month, May and his staff already feel the team is in a good spot with the pieces they’ve been able to gather.
“We’re pleased with how the roster is shaping up and the guys we have in our program going forward,” May said. “We like where we are as of today.”
jhawkins@detroitnews.com
@jamesbhawkins
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan’s Dusty May supports players’ draft decisions: ‘They decide what’s best’
Reporting by James Hawkins, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
