After the Michigan Wolverines won the National Championship, head coach Dusty May and his staff had little time to waste before jumping into the transfer portal to replenish their roster for next season. With the transfer portal opening minutes after the final buzzer, May had to quickly come up with a plan for how he was going to construct a roster that had major question marks surrounding his best players’ futures in college.
The biggest revolved around 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara, but he is currently
projected to go in the first round of the NBA Draft, with many believing he will be a lottery pick. Because of this, May looked to the portal to get his next big man.
“I mean, obviously every big guy that went in the portal became our list,” May said last Wednesday. “Like, literally 100 percent of the big guys that were high major players became our list because we didn’t know what (Mara and Morez Johnson Jr.) were going to do. And you just have to put yourself in as many positions as you can to be successful.”
After a few weeks passed by, May found his guy — a 7-foot-2 giant from Cincinnati in Moustapha Thiam. He is making his third stop in three seasons, starting his career at UCF before transferring to Cincinnati last season. A former four-star recruit, Thiam started 34 games as a freshman at UCF and averaged 10.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game.
Building off that, the Senegal native earned All-Big 12 honorable mention last season after starting 31 games for the Bearcats. He ranked second on the team in both scoring (12.8 per game) and rebounding (7.1 per game) while leading Cincinnati with 50 blocks, marking his second straight season with 50 or more blocks.
On film, Thiam is a well-balanced player that will make immediate contributions on both ends of the floor. He is a versatile rim protector that scares opponents away from attacking inside. Thiam had a 6.8 block rate for the 2025-26 season, where opponents shot 7.9 percent worse at the rim with him on the court. He has great length and is technically sound when going after the basketball at the rim, staying out of foul trouble despite his size.
As for defensive rebounding, Thiam is solid, but there is room to grow in that department. He had a 20.4 percent defensive rebounding rate last season, which is right around where Mara was at last year. Overall, Thiam will be a strong rim protector on defense, most likely averaging 1.5 blocks per game while grabbing 6-8 rebounds, providing a close (but not fully) level of production compared to Mara.
On offense, Thiam is very strong around the rim, mixing in a jump-hook to go along with his soft touch underneath the basket. He converted 61.8 percent of attempts from 7-9 feet away this past season (34 attempts), providing consistency down low as he towers over defenders. He also has shown the ability to score with both hands, providing even more versatility for an already advantageous player.
Another part of his game is the pick-and-roll, which is something May specifically highlighted when speaking about his portal additions. Michigan runs a heavy ball-screen offense, first used with Goldin and Wolf, and most recently with Elliot Cadeau and Mara and Johnson. The Wolverines got a pick-and-pop specialist in Tennessee transfer J.P. Estrella on the perimeter, and it got the same for pick-and-rolls with Thiam.
Thiam blew by defenders on multiple occasions this past year, getting around Kansas’ Flory Bidunga on a pick-and-roll on one play before rolling out onto the perimeter on another and burying a triple. Thiam finished with 28 points and eight rebounds against No. 8 Kansas in the win.
Thiam shot 52.5 percent from the field this past season while converting 28.8 percent from three.
Finally, he is good on the offensive glass, finishing the season with an 8.8 percent offensive rebound rate. He makes good use of his size and length and is very active with his physicality and ball pursuit.
Thiam will slot in as Michigan’s starting center and will likely play 25-30 minutes per game. Pairing him with Cadeau and Trey McKenney, plus the reloaded front court of Estrella and Reed, Thiam will have a lot of pieces around him to help him succeed.
