What to watch for: 2026 Transfer Portal Season

Share

Tweet

Print

Email

Michigan’s season ended with a win on Monday night, but the Wolverine coaching staff didn’t have much time to celebrate the program’s first national title in 37 years because the transfer portal opened at midnight.

“Your last game, the next 24 to 48 hours is a tsunami,” Dusty May said during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. “You don’t know what direction coming, you don’t know what direction it’s going, but you know there are a lot of people counting on you to make quick, decisive decisions that impact their futures, and you’re counting on them to make quick decisive decisions that impact your future and your time and everything else.

“That’s probably the most difficult part. But we just take a lot of pride in staying fluid and not being too emotional, not making rash decisions, thinking things out. And then obviously having a strong belief in what we do that we’ll find the right guys that want to do it how we believe is the best way.”

The roster-building process to try to build another championship-caliber roster is already underway. The Wolverines landed a five-star commitment during the Final Four, and the portal is open until April 22nd.

Over the next two weeks, the Wolverines will sort out their roster from top to bottom, retaining players and identifying portal players to fill key gaps while juggling the NBA Draft process. And that process is already underway.

“We’ll have recruits on campus, hopefully on Saturday if we can make that happen,” Dusty May said in an interview on Wednesday.

Here’s a rundown of what to watch for and how to make sense of this year’s transfer portal season.

FINAL FOUR SPECIAL: 80% Off UM Hoops+

For this weekend only, you can get a year of UM Hoops+ for 80% off, just $20. Unlock access to all of our UM Hoops content, and new UM Hoops+ features like Film Room, Report Card, Live Four Factors Charts and much more.

Join Today