Dusty May 'expects' a Michigan basketball veteran to return to Ann Arbor in 2025-26

The Wolverines are expected to get their veteran back next season.

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After a Sweet 16 run, Dusty May is left searching to bring in more talent to Ann Arbor. Michigan men's basketball has lost five players to the transfer portal, but the Wolverines have added three players from the portal. While May is searching through the portal, he's also attempting to retain a few players from this past season's team. Following the loss to Auburn, both Roddy Gayle Jr. and Will Tschetter announced they planned on returning for another season.

But there is one veteran who hasn't announced anything: Nimari Burnett. The veteran guard was one of three returnees from the Juwan Howard era and Burnett has one season of eligibility remaining if he would choose to use it. The former five-star began his career at Texas Tech before transferring to Alabama where he would play a single season before coming to Ann Arbor.

Speaking to Sam Webb on 'The Michigan Insider', coach May fully expects Burnett to be back in Michigan next year.

"We've had great conversations. I'm very careful about speaking for any of these guys, but Nimari, we want him back at the University of Michigan," May said. "We're supporting his fact-finding mission of gathering information right now. He's a big part of this program."

"He'll have a really good basketball season next year. We anticipate it'd be here. But once again, nothing is finalized until it's final. We expect him to be back; we're excited for him to be back. He was a big, big part of our success this year. His leadership and his maturity is impressive. He's a guy at any point -- weights, conditioning, or practice -- we can show, point a young guy in his direction."

Burnett started all 37 games for Michigan this season and averaged 9.4 points and 3.5 rebounds. The Chicago native shot a career-best 40% from 3 under May and was efficient shooting a career-best 47.6% from the floor. The Wolverines would love to get Burnett back for one more season to build on a Sweet 16 run.

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