‘Win the whole thing’: JP Estrella on staying at Michigan, Mike Boynton Jr. and expanding his game

JP Estrella’s phone rang seconds after he entered the transfer portal in April, and Dusty May was on the other line. Michigan’s season had just ended with a National Championship win, but May wanted Michigan to be one of the first schools that the Tennessee transfer big man talked to.

Five minutes later, Estrella was on a Zoom call with the Michigan staff. A couple of days later, he announced he was Michigan’s first portal commitment of the class.

Ten weeks later, May was off to Dallas, and Estrella had a decision to make. Estrella, like 13 of 14 players on the roster, announced that he plans to stay at Michigan in large part because of the relationship he’d developed with his teammates on campus and new head coach Mike Boynton Jr.

“We talk about life all the time. But I mean, he was texting me on the 4th of July asking me what I was doing. I told him I went to my girlfriend’s family reunion. He was happy for me about that. Just little things like that. Just chopping it up, talking on the phone,” Estrella said on Defend the Block about his relationship with Boynton. “I think we’ll probably go get some food at some point. Just little things like that really mean a lot. You know, coming from something—just being able to talk to a coach really means a lot to me, something I haven’t really had to do before in college with a head coach. So it means a lot to me to have a head coach really talk to me a lot and really care about what I’m doing, not just on the court but off the court.”

On the court, Estrella says his game starts around the basket.

“Definitely my paint scoring, my right hook is kind of something I’ve had for a while and that was super effective for me last year,” Estrella said. “My offensive rebounding and rebounding in general, I feel like is something too that kind of stands out about my game. I feel like those two, and honestly, I think defense too, a little bit like post-defense too — it got better throughout the year.”