Assessing Michigan's Roster After Morez Johnson Jr. Makes NBA Draft Decision

Do the Wolverines have the firepower for a repeat?

Morez Johnson Jr. (21) leaves college a national champion. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Michigan forward Morez Johnson Jr. looked around college basketball, and saw he had no more worlds left to conquer.

"From day one, Coach (Dusty) May told us he was going to help develop us on and off the court, and the goal was to win a national championship," Johnson told ESPN’s Jeff Borzello through his agency Tuesday. "We accomplished that mission."

Because of this, Johnson announced Tuesday that he would enter the NBA draft. He leaves the Wolverines the owner of a national championship, an All-Big Ten selection, a conference All-Defense selection, and an All-Tournament team selection.

While largely expected, Johnson’s departure begs the question: what, precisely, will the defending national champions’ roster look like in 2027?

Elliot Cadeau was Michigan’s leading scorer in the national championship against UConn. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

The holdovers

Among Michigan’s top nine minute-getters on a per-game basis a year ago: five are definitely turning professional (guard Nimari Burnett, guard Roddy Gayle, Johnson, forward Yexel Lendeborg and forward Will Tschetter), one has declared for the NBA draft while maintaining his college eligibility (center Aday Mara), and three are definitely returning (guards L.J. Cason, Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney).

With Mara (like Johnson and Lendeborg) a likely first-round pick, the Wolverines’ returning experience will skew heavily toward their backcourt. Cadeau, living up to his last name, started every game for Michigan after transferring from North Carolina. McKenney was a formidable two-way weapon off the bench, while Cason was shooting 40% from three before tearing his ACL in February. Even before their newcomers are accounted for, the Wolverines have the appearance of a winner.

Moustapha Thiam brings two years of experience in the Big 12 crucible to Ann Arbor, Mich. | Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The newcomers

Beginning with its transfer class, Michigan will overflow with new talent in `27. Forward J.P. Estrella averaged 10 points per game for Tennessee a year ago, gaining coach Rick Barnes’s trust as the year wore on. Center Moustapha Thiam, who heads north after a productive year at Cincinnati, won the Big 12’s shot-blocking title in 2025 with UCF. Ex-LSU forward Jalen Reed is also an interesting piece, having lost giant chunks of both `25 and `26 to injury.

And then there are the freshmen. The headliner is five-star guard Brandon McCoy Jr.—247Sports’s No. 10 player in the country and a near-lock to start—but May reeled in six commitments in all. Each are four-stars except for center Marcus Møller, a Danish national currently undergoing treatment for testicular cancer.

On virtually every front, May is ready for a good-faith effort at a repeat (don’t expect a decline like, say, North Carolina’s in 2010). He has dominated all three facets of a modern college hoops offseason: retention, transfer recruitment, and old-fashioned recruitment. There is one catch, however.

Dusty May celebrated Michigan’s national championship (here with his wife, Anna May), but truly savoring it has seemed difficult. | David Rodriguez Muñoz / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

A potential wild card: Dusty May himself

All signs seem to point to May returning to the Wolverines in `27. If you’re a Michigan fan seeking out reason for apprehension, though, a few worrying signs are in place.

First and foremost, May has yet to actually sign the extension Wolverines athletic director Warde Manuel announced in April, a fact he confirmed to Jordan Mendoza of USA Today Tuesday (May told Mendoza that “minor details” were the reason for the delay and, in Mendoza’s words, “he’s committed to staying with the Wolverines). Second, May has gestured broadly in the direction of disillusionment with college basketball, admitting to Mendoza that he didn’t “feel like we’re national champions.”

And third—most intriguingly—veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein wrote on May 3 that “the Magic are admirers of Michigan's Dusty May and would have a level of interest if he were indeed available.” Though Stein qualified that by expressing the basketball world’s belief that May would remain with the Wolverines, Orlando has yet to hire a coach.

That’s not a lot of smoke as smoke goes, but it collectively paints a picture of a restless basketball mind who understands—seemingly with a degree of reluctance—that he is at the absolute top of his profession. Yes, May seems likely to patrol the Crisler Center sidelines come November, but as long as he keeps winning and winning big, more prestigious assignments will continue to beckon.

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