How Michigan basketball plans to deploy new center Moustapha Thiam

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.