INDIANAPOLIS — Dusty May built Michigan’s second national championship team by doing something many programs avoid: assembling a starting five largely from the transfer portal and then trusting them to become more than the sum of their parts.
The climactic example was Yaxel Lendeborg, a 6-foot-9 forward who arrived at Michigan after junior college and two seasons at UAB. Facing a choice between testing the NBA draft and returning to school, Lendeborg chose Michigan after staff promised to refine his pro prospects and backed that work with a seven-figure NIL package. The result: Lendeborg became an All-American, Big Ten Player of the Year and a national champion in one season.
“He had to get good at some of these other things, and we were going to help him learn it,” assistant coach Mike Boynton Jr. said of recruiting Lendeborg. “And when you do it well, we’re going to be damn unstoppable.”
They were. Michigan closed a dominant 37-3 season by beating UConn 69-63 in the title game — the Big Ten’s first men’s basketball championship since 2000. Lendeborg, playing through a knee issue that limited him in the Final Four, scored 13 points in the title game despite an early dry spell and restricted mobility; his energy, defense, screens and passing mattered as much as his points.
The Wolverines’ starting lineup was populated by transfers who arrived with unfinished business: Elliot Cadeau left North Carolina for a fresh start; Morez Johnson Jr. sought to expand beyond the dunker label he had at Illinois; Aday Mara left UCLA for more opportunity. May, who says he learned the importance of fit while a student manager at Indiana, built a roster based on matching players’ strengths to roles rather than forcing them into a template.
May’s style emphasized freedom and trust over rigid Xs and Os. Michigan defended with switches, trusted different matchups, and played an unselfish, high-movement offense that often looked more like a pickup game than a set-heavy college attack. “The freedom that we have as players, the confidence that he gives us, it’s probably one of the keys,” Mara said. “We don’t play with sets or plays. We just hoop.”
Two recent changes in the college landscape made this model more feasible. The NCAA’s 2025 blanket waiver extended eligibility for some junior college transfers, and expansive NIL opportunities made an extra college season attractive to fringe first-round prospects. Lendeborg, Johnson and Mara are all projected as first-round picks in ESPN’s mock drafts after ascending from lower expectations at their previous stops.
May’s history with transfers goes back decades. He watched how programs used JUCO talent and saw transfers flourish at schools where he coached or assisted — stops that include Murray State, UAB, Louisiana Tech and Florida Atlantic. His run to the Final Four with FAU in 2023 reinforced the idea that players often hit new peaks when placed in the right environment.
Once the talent was assembled, May’s next mission was chemistry. He used low-key, deliberate tactics: inviting the team to his house, bringing in a wood-fired pizza truck and letting players bond over food and conversation. Those early moments helped three former bigs from different backgrounds build off-court rapport that translated to cohesion on the floor. Returnees such as Will Tschetter, Nimari Burnett and Roddy Gayle Jr. helped newcomers adapt to Michigan’s culture.
The locker room culture was intentionally light and close-knit — a Nintendo Switch 2 and constant Mario Kart at the Final Four illustrated how comfortable the group felt with one another. That trust mattered in moments of adversity. In the Final Four against Arizona, Cadeau began 2-for-14 in the first half but his teammates encouraged him to keep shooting; he finished the game having scored or assisted on 37 of Michigan’s 91 points.
Lendeborg’s path — JUCO, then two seasons at UAB — included encouragement from UAB coach Andy Kennedy to explore options that would better showcase his NBA potential. At Michigan, Lendeborg did that work, developing a more complete game and helping the Wolverines close out their historic season.
May insists his approach is not about “renting” talent for a quick run. He looks to exploit players’ strengths rather than reshape them, building a collective identity that incentivizes buy-in. Critics who call such rosters mercenary hear a different perspective from the players. “I’ve had the best year of my life,” Lendeborg said. “We care for each other and put the team above ourselves. If that’s what they want to call a ‘mercenary,’ I would love to be a mercenary.”
After the final buzzer in Indianapolis, May admitted he didn’t predict every twist of this season, but he believed assembling the right pieces in the right environment could produce something special. The result was a program that leveraged recruiting vision, player development, chemistry-building and a flexible system to turn transfers into teammates — and champions.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Pete Thamel contributed to this report.