The 7-foot and 7-foot-1 centers are ready to wreak havoc.
Five weeks into the job with the Michigan Wolverines , head coach Dusty May has all but one scholarship spot filled on his roster for the 2024-25 season.
The team saw a complete shakeup from last season with only two returning players and one recruit from Juwan Howard’s tenure who stayed committed to the Wolverines throughout the process. In terms of returning players, we’ve seen reassurances from Will Tschetter and Nimari Burnett , but we have yet to hear what Jace Howard’s plans are.
Of the six transfer portal additions, May took his best player from Florida Atlantic, Vlad Goldin, and decided to pair him with the highly-touted portal prospect, center Danny Wolf from Yale, to create a monster frontcourt in Ann Arbor.
There has been a lot of excitement about the two seven-footers manning the paint for Michigan next season, but also a lot of questions surrounding how the two big men would be used together.
Last season, six guards and Goldin led the Owls in minutes with the next non-guard, Giancarlo Rosado, getting 10 fewer minutes per game than his teammates. With the Wolverines, however, May is stacked with forwards Will Tschetter, Sam Walters, and Wolf, the latter of whom can play alongside Goldin in the front court.
When asked about what he envisions for Wolf and Goldin next season on Tuesday, May said that he was candid from the beginning in his recruitment of both players about their roles.
“The recruiting process, we pride ourselves on being very transparent and open and honest,” May said. “And what we tell you today is what we imagine is going to happen and not that it’s definitely going to happen because the scoreboard and injuries and things like that can change and derail anything, Vlad, I think last year, played 25 minutes a game. In a perfect world, we get him a few more minutes, but we play up-tempo with a lot of possessions so it’s difficult for our players to play 32 to 35 minutes a game if we’re playing the style that we like to play. And so Vlad will probably have around that mid-20s if he’s playing at his best. And hopefully, we’re able to take care of some games before the last five minutes so you can get those guys some rest or whatever.
“That left us probably playing Danny at 14 minutes a game at the five when Vlad’s not in is how we probably envision it. And we will play stylistically a different brand of basketball with Danny being more of a ‘five out’ facilitator, and Vlad still more of a traditional center. But also he’s expanding his game. So we definitely envision those guys playing together for significant minutes and also complementing each other.”
Both Goldin and Wolf were ranked relatively high in the 247Sports transfer portal rankings, with Wolf coming in as the sixth-ranked center and Goldin being the eighth. While many teams do not run a lot of sets with two centers, most college basketball programs don’t have two starting-caliber centers on their rosters to begin with.
Despite being 7-foot and 7-foot-1, respectively, Goldin and Wolf bring completely different styles of basketball to the floor. Goldin is a traditional center who primarily plays the pick-and-roll and down-low, using his size and strength to get to the rim. On defense he is a rim protector who will stay with the opposing team’s five, limiting his ability to guard the perimeter.
Wolf, on the other hand, is a more modern-day center who prides himself on his three-point shooting, ball handling and shooting close to the rim. While he could use some work playing stronger in the paint and protecting the rim on defense, May feels that once Wolf goes through strength and conditioning this summer, it will help him acclimate that much more to the role that they hope to have him in come the late fall.
“Danny, he’s a very good three-point shooter for a seven-footer and he dribbles the ball well,” May said. “He handles the ball like a guard. He passes it, they play through him offensively. So that’s how we used our backup Center last year, (Giancarlo) Rosado. And so we’re very well versed in that style of play. And he fits us offensively.”
“And so the question was, does it fit defensively with another 7-footer or 7-foot-1 guy, and after watching Danny we felt like he moves his feet well, he’s got good mobility for a 7-footer and he embraces contact. So we think with a summer of really strong, consistent weight work and speed work with our new strength coach, then he’ll be ready to go. The Big Ten is a bigger league than we’re accustomed to playing in, too. It’s not as if these guys are out in the Big Ten playing small ball or whatever 20 nights of the season.”
There is no one clear-cut plan for how the two centers will work with one another next season. As May alluded to, there will be some action with both on the court, some sets where Goldin will start over Wolf and others where Wolf will play the five with Goldin on the bench. The interesting aspect of this is that both players bring different skill sets to the team and the coaching staff is excited to work with two of the tallest players in college basketball.
“You got to play to your strengths,” Assistant Coach Justin Joyner said on Tuesday after May spoke. “So when you’re big, you should be able to do a good job of taking away the rim. The good thing is when those two guys are on the court, you’re gonna have three ‘A’ level defenders, so you’re gonna have three ‘A’ level defenders on the perimeter, and then around the rim, you’re gonna have an ‘A’ level defender with a guy like Vlad. I think Danny is really capable and he’s excited about the challenge of being able to guard some forwards and play some four and he’s capable of doing it. Just, you know, we’re going to have to help him through that process. But he’s more than capable. And again, like we talked about, a lot of times it’s about what you’re willing to give up. If you can take people off the three-point line, we should do a good job defensively.”
May has a plan for what he wants to do at Michigan. He wants to play up-tempo, pick-and-roll, have a pass-first point guard, and versatile players at all five positions. With the team he has right now, the pieces are in place to do just that.