Michigan basketball summer workouts are underway: 'We need to be greedy with how we approach every day'

Michigan Wolverines basketball has assembled its uber-talented roster and began summer workouts this week, beginning with the first on-court session Monday (June 16).

Per NCAA rules, college basketball teams can conduct official training eight hours per week (including four hours on the court) for eight weeks.

For reference, last summer, head coach Dusty May had his team work out a few weeks at a time with breaks mixed in, different than the Wolverines’ approach in the prior regime with the team going all eight weeks in a row. The schedule for this summer has not been released.

The official Michigan basketball Twitter account posted a video from the first day of workouts, featuring some dazzling plays from newcomers and returners.

The players spotted in the video include:
• Graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg (No. 23)
• Redshirt freshman forward Oscar Goodman (No. 5)
• Graduate guard Nimari Burnett (No. 4)
• Graduate forward Will Tschetter (No. 42)
• Freshman forward Patrick Liburd (No. 0)
• Senior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. (No. 11)
• Freshman guard Trey McKenney (No. 1)
• Freshman guard Winters Grady (No. 10)
• Senior guard Charlie May (No. 12)
• Junior forward Harrison Hochberg (No. 13)

The players who weren’t in attendance are junior guard Elliot Cadeau (North Carolina transfer), junior center Aday Mara (UCLA transfer), sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. (Illinois transfer), sophomore guard L.J. Cason and freshman center Malick Kordel.

Johnson and Cason were in Colorado Springs for the Team USA training camp ahead of the U19 World Cup. Cason did not make the first round of cuts, while Johnson did. Cason is expected back in Ann Arbor for workouts since he will not make the team.

The FIBA U19 World Cup will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland from June 28 to July 6, meaning Johnson may miss the first few weeks of Michigan’s training program. He was on campus this spring, however, earlier than most of the team.

And so it begins …#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/b2xCoATB3n

— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) June 16, 2025

Michigan also shared some photos from day one.

pic.twitter.com/gH8QufyWIl

— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) June 17, 2025

Michigan has six returning players, including four scholarship athletes, plus four transfers and five freshmen — a tremendous blend of veteran and young talent. The summer will be pivotal for the team building cohesiveness in addition to individual improvement.

“Hopefully, we can have a good portion of our eight weeks together as a team so we can start building some chemistry,” May said in a recent podcast appearance.

In an interview on the ‘Defend The Block’ podcast, Michigan assistant coach Justin Joyner laid out what can be gained during the summer.

“Just growing, gaining a connectivity, figuring out our team and how we’re gonna function,” he said. “I think it’s really hard to do that in small group settings. I think it’s really hard to do that in our eight weeks. But at least gaining some ground in that way.

“The most important thing that our team, our players, everybody in our program needs to understand is we need to be greedy. We need to be greedy with our development. We need to be greedy with how we approach every day, because if we do that, if we take turf on a day-to-day basis, we have a team that can potentially play for something special.

“In order to do that, you have to have a great day-to-day approach, and you cannot waste days. If we can do that, if we can put our best foot forward on a day-to-day basis, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to have great days every day, but the intention has to be there. I think we’ll get a lot done this summer and put ourselves in a great position moving forward.”

Michigan’s entire coaching staff is back for a second season, which gives the Wolverines a leg up on last year’s team at this time. Still, though, it’s a relatively new group compared to some opponents, Joyner pointed out.

“I mean, it’s year two; it’s not year 10,” Joyner remarked. “You look at some of the programs in our league — there are some 20-, 25-year cultures going. So, they’re built a little bit differently. I think those days are somewhat gone within college basketball.

“I think you have to be able to adapt to your personality, but one thing that cannot be tolerated is the inability to be an everyday guy if you want to be great. You have to be able to be an everyday guy if you want to be great and if you want to maximize your seasons.”