Michigan Basketball's First 2028 Offer Goes to a 5-Star Recruit

Dusty May and co. extended an offer to a high school sophomore, targeting one of the nation’s top recruits with their first action in the 2028 recruiting class.

Michigan head coach Dusty May looks on from the court ahead of the NCAA national championship game against Connecticut at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Monday, April 6, 2026. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

College is still a couple years away for high school sophomore Josh Lowery, but his decision regarding where to go for it just got a lot more interesting. On Tuesday (May 19), Michigan extended a scholarship offer to the No. 13 recruit in the nation per 247Sports.

#Michigan basketball has offered Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon 2028 five-star combo guard Josh Lowery (@joshlow0).

The blue-chip recruit was teammates with incoming five-star guard Brandon McCoy (@g0beezy).https://t.co/IpWeQzlwaH pic.twitter.com/NWF5aWC30b

— Brice Marich (@BriceMarich) May 19, 2026

It’s the first time the Wolverines have formally dipped their toes into the 2028 recruiting class, with Lowery the sole player to have received an offer from Michigan basketball in his year thus far.

Lowery is a five star recruit, and the top rated combo guard in the country.

Lowry Has A Michigan Connection

Michigan would love to sign Lowery for all of the obvious reasons. Backing up his five stars, he’s a lethal shooter who can handle the ball at 6-foot-4 and plays the type of gritty, physical exterior defense which Dusty May loves — and there’s one connection working heavily in their favor. 

Mar 31, 2026; Glendale, AZ, USA; Brandon McCoy Jr (0) dunks the ball during the McDonalds All American Boys Game at Desert Diamond Arena. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Lowery plays high school ball at Sierra Canyon in California. You know who else played at Sierra Canyon? Fellow five star Brandon McCoy Jr. — the headlining piece of Michigan’s 2026 class of recruits. Lowery and McCoy are friends and former teammates, and McCoy has already shown enthusiasm for Michigan, dramatically announcing his commitment to the Wolverines during the national semifinal at this year’s Final Four, suggesting a likely willingness to nudge Lowery in Ann Arbor’s direction.

Continuity Is Important To Long term Success

As a member of the 2028 class, Lowery would enter Michigan as part of a transitional class, with the last players from the title winning squad likely having left the summer before he arrives. Guys like LJ Cason and Trey McKenney will preserve championship DNA in Ann Arbor for a couple more years, but, after their departure, who takes up the Michigan identity mantle is an open question — as it is for every program looking down the road. 

At the winning team's press conference, Michigan players Yaxel Lendeborg and Trey McKenney look at each other and smile after looking at the stat sheets from their 69-63 win over Connecticut in the Final Four championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Monday, April 6, 2026. | Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The reason that Lowery stands out as an early solution to retaining that winning culture is precisely because of his connection to McCoy Jr.

May, his staff, and returning players did an excellent job forging a cohesive team culture from a roster stocked full of transfers and individuals from different backgrounds this season, and that strong culture was essential in securing the title.

Reducing the barriers to crafting that atmosphere of success, having continuity in one relationship, at least, would be beneficial to the team as a whole and pave an easier path for retaining the championship identity of Michigan basketball moving forward.

Michigan Wolverines player Yaxel Lendeborg speaks during a celebration honoring the team’s NCAA men’s basketball national championship at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 11, 2026. | David Rodriguez Muñoz / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images