Michigan makes final five for Toledo transfer guard Dante Maddox Jr.
The Michigan Wolverines have made the cut for Toledo transfer guard Dante Maddox Jr., who told On3’s Joe Tipton his list of schools is down to five on Tuesday. U-M, Creighton, Illinois, Louisville and Xavier make up the list, in no particular order.
Tipton also says that Maddox is working on scheduling a visit to Michigan to meet with new head coach Dusty May, but a timeline is not currently known.
Maddox started all 32 games for Toledo this season, averaging 15.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 33 minutes per game. The second-team All-MAC selection shot 47.6% from the floor this year and 40.2% from the three-point line. He spent the last two years at Toledo after kicking off his college career at Cal State Fullerton. Maddox has one season of eligibility remaining.
Our Clayton Sayfie recently wrote about why Maddox may appeal to Michigan as a prospect:
“As the team’s point guard, Maddox produced 0.881 points per possession on ball screens (including passes) in 2023-24, which ranked in the 52nd percentile in the country,” Sayfie said. “He also was efficient as a spot-up player and coming around off-ball screens. Maddox had a 62.4 effective field goal percentage on catch-and-shoot jump shots (89th percentile in the country).”
Michigan is in desperate need of guards on the roster with only three scholarship players with eligibility remaining in forward Will Tschetter, graduate guard Nimari Burnett and forward/guard Jace Howard. Others, like guard George Washington III and Terrance Williams II, are in the transfer portal but are considering a return to Ann Arbor.
There could be as many as 10 scholarship spots to fill this year, so May and Michigan are casting a wide net to ensure they can field a competitive team.
Whatever shape the roster takes, it will not be written off as a lost season or rebuilding year at Michigan.
“Year one is important for putting a product on the floor that people want to be a part of and that means a lot of things,” May said during his introductory press conference. “How the players interact with each other, the connection between them, the connection between them and the students in the fan base.
“I do feel that we need to put a good team on the court from day one in year one and then continue to build. Therefore, we’ll find some high school players and will sign some portal players. But also have some continuity it’s not a roster overhaul every year.
“There won’t be a point when we just throw in the towel and say, we’re not going to be competitive this year because it’s year one. We want to win and we want to be able to sell that going forward, what we were able to do in year one.”
