Michigan basketball fans had to be a little patient, but Dusty May kept cooking in the transfer portal with another major addition on Friday.
After hosting 7-foot-2 center Moustapha Thiam earlier this week for an official visit, Michigan was battling Kansas, St. John's, and Arkansas for the prized big man. Yet, May and the Wolverines won out, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reported the commitment of Thiam to the defending national champions.
Moustapha Thiam is a massive addition with massive potential
It doesn't take a genius to realize that Aday Mara is heading to the NBA draft. It was clear to me after he scored 26 points and dominated on both ends of the floor against Arizona. That sealed his fate as a first-round pick, and maybe even a lottery pick.
Mara hasn't declared for the NBA draft, although Morez Johnson just did, even though he left open the door to return. Either way, Michigan is expected to have a 7-foot-2 hole in the lineup that Thiam can fill perfectly.
Last season, Thiam averaged 12.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game. He shot 52.5 percent from the field, 57.3 percent on twos and 28.8 on threes with 1.7 attempts per game (15 makes).
Thiam is a 63 percent free-throw line shooter. He's also an elite rim protector, averaging 2.6 blocks per game with UCF in 2024-25. He also averages 2.4 offensive rebounds per game for his career.
In just two seasons, the 7-foot-2 big man has scored 750 points, grabbed 439 boards (157 offensive), and blocked 138 shots. That's on top of 41 assists and 40 steals. He's scored in double figures 41 times over the past two seasons, which included a nine-game stretch at the end of the 2025-26 season that featured three games in the 20s and eight of nine with at least 15 points.
Thiam, ranked 13th overall in the portal via 247 Sports, averaged 17.6 points per game over those last nine games, while shooting 39 percent from 3-point range.
If that continues over the course of an entire season, Thiam would easily be a lottery pick. He's got an interesting post-up game that needs refinement, and like Danny Wolf, Aday Mara, and Morez Johnson, he hasn't come close to reaching his full potential.
Those three guys did in Ann Arbor playing for Michigan basketball. We'll see if Thiam can follow the same development path, although it's easy to see Dusty May working his magic with him just as he did the others, to unlock a potential that's as vast as any of the other three.
Add us as a preferred source on Google