Michigan guard George Washington III withdraws from NCAA transfer portal
Michigan Wolverines basketball guard George Washington III initially entered the NCAA transfer portal March 18, but he’s since withdrawn his name from the database, TheWolverine.com has learned.
Washington told TheWolverine.com March 26 that he would consider playing for new head coach Dusty May, who replaces Juwan Howard. Now it appears he will do so.
Washington has three years of eligibility remaining.
Before withdrawing his name, Washington was one of five Michigan players to enter the portal since the end of the 2023-24 season, joining guard Dug McDaniel (committed to Kansas State), forward Youssef Khayat (Bowling Green), forward Tarris Reed Jr. and forward Terrance Williams II, who also entered the NBA Draft and said he may return to Michigan.
The 6-foot-2, 170-pounder appeared in 22 games off the bench in his lone season in Ann Arbor, totaling 145 minutes. He scored 26 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, 4-of-18 from three-point range and 12-of-14 from the foul line. He put up 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.
“The biggest thing any freshman learns is just consistency. Obviously, there are a lot of terms, a lot of terminology, a lot of sets that you have to shift and lock into your brain and get ready for,” the Michigan guard said when asked what he learned over his first year in college basketball. “I would say a combination of just that and just adding to my game as a whole, adding film sessions, adding extra work and just growing my game continuously from what it was in high school.”
May discussed at his introductory press conference bringing back and reeling in players that fit his vision at Michigan. He said evaluate them, and they’ll do the same to May and the staff that he’ll hire. Washington is excited for that to occur.
“Honestly, it was a lot of what he said when he was up there — that mutual fit between how he’s looking for the team to play, how I play the game, how he coaches, how I receive it,” Washington said at the time. “I already feel like that does kind of match up. Just making sure that we’re on the same page and that what we’re both looking for lines up together. I’m looking forward to talking.”
May joined former Michigan football All-American Jake Butt on a podcast presented by the Champions Circle Collective this week and discussed how he intends on building the program.
“It’s simply finding the right people and staff and personnel,” the Michigan coach stated. “It always starts with the right people, and the characteristics align with what we’re going to be about.
