Michigan basketball head coach Dusty May had a tremendous first season in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines went 27-10 and 14-6 in conference, but they got hot when it mattered most.
Michigan won the Big Ten Tournament by going through Purdue, Maryland and Wisconsin, and then the Wolverines made a huge run through the NCAA Tournament as a No. 5 seed. It ended in the Sweet 16 with a loss to No. 1-seed Auburn, but it was one heck of a run in May’s first season at the helm.
The Wolverines are certainly hoping to build on that success for next season, but there’s news coming out of Ann Arbor that will make that goal much harder.
Junior Danny Wolf has decided to forgo his senior season and enter the 2025 NBA Draft.
Wolf, a 7-foot, 250-pound center, had transferred to Michigan after playing two seasons at Yale. The idea was to pair him up with another 7-foot center in Vladislav Goldin and see what the two could do together with their respective abilities to create for themselves and others.
It worked like a charm, as Wolf averaged 13.2 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, and he made plays all over the floor. He could play point guard or center, and that’s a huge selling point for him in the NBA.
“Igniting fast breaks pushing off the defensive glass, creating out of pick-and-roll, passing and finishing skillfully with both hands, and finding teammates off a live dribble, Wolf’s skill level, creativity and versatility stood out to NBA scouts all season, raising his standing considerably as a pro prospect,” wrote ESPN’s Jonathan Givony in his report on Wolf’s decision.
Meanwhile, Goldin averaged 16.6 points and seven rebounds per game and provided the second part of Michigan’s big (literally) one-two punch.
Wolf is certainly going to be a first-round pick in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft, which is likely why he decided to forgo his final year of eligibility. That’s going to be a big loss for Michigan, though, because Goldin has run out of eligibility himself.
What Michigan’s frontcourt looks like next season is anyone’s guess, but the magic that Wolf and Goldin created this spring won’t be easily forgotten.
Per ESPN, Wolf is the No. 19 prospect in this draft and the fourth-best forward. Goldin is ranked No. 95, and he’s the No. 17 center in the class, so his chances of being drafted appear to be slim. That doesn’t mean he can’t make it at the NBA level, though.
