Michigan basketball roster: Some new additions will wait, but some will surprise

Michigan added nine new players to this year’s team (so far), and several of them are likely to contribute to the 2026-27 team. Others will have to wait their turn, though there are usually a few surprises who crack the lineup before they’re expected to contribute.

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One likely to redshirt while he recovers from cancer: Marcus Moller. The 7-3 center from Denmark announced a leave from his Spanish team in January due to a battle with testicular cancer.

“Yeah, he has one more procedure before he’s out of the [woods],” head coach Dusty May said. “He’s doing well. He actually went back to his club in Spain to clean out his apartment and get personal things, and was able to do some workouts back there. So, he’s doing well, all things considered.”

They’ll be thrilled to get him on campus healthy, of course.

Two others, meanwhile, are working their way back from injuries that obviously aren’t as serious. Michigan incoming freshman Lincoln Cosby plans to redshirt after suffering a knee injury and reclassifying, and LSU big man Jalen Reed is coming off an Achilles injury he suffered after only six games.

“Lincoln … I think this will speed up his growth and development,” May said. “They do an amazing job where he is now down in Florida, Montverde. But just being on a college campus, practicing working against college guys every day … like L.J. [Cason], he’s coming off of an ACL injury. So, we were going to take it very, very slow with those guys who have major injuries.

“With Jalen, we felt like if he can get back to full strength and healthy, he’s a really good basketball player. We’re also going to be very patient with him and his timetable to make sure he’s back ready to go. We also have a lot of faith in our sports science department to invest the time and the professional expertise that they have to get him back to playing at the level he’s playing at.

“We thought he was a very, very good take. He could certainly outperform his expectations if he’s healthy, and if he’s not as healthy as early as we’d hoped, we’ll have the depth to overcome that. But he’s a talented young man and a great human being.”

Finally, Michigan guard signee Malachi Brown signed in the early period, but he’s one who could really surprise. The Knoxville (Tenn.) Catholic standout continues to progress, now Rivals.com’s No. 195 player nationally.

“Malachi, we saw him and really liked him and felt like with maturity, and weight room, and all the things that go into what these guys go through to get better …,” May said. “But he played it at the adidas All-American camp, and a couple of NBA coaches that were working the camp thought that he was a top whatever player in the country. They couldn’t believe that he was mostly unheralded, and no one even knew who he was. The biggest reason was because he would defend; he would rebound. He got deflections and he connected on offense. He just made simple plays.

” … Guys that catch the ball and know what they’re going to do before they catch it, meaning if they don’t already have the shot, then they don’t take it — they simply try to find the next action … that’s what we envision him being, a really, really good connector, cutter, Swiss army knife on offense. And then, just cutting his teeth on the defensive end.”

All of the future Wolverines are expected to arrive this summer to start preparing defense of the program’s first national title since 1989.