In his press conference Tuesday, Michigan men’s basketball coach Mike Boynton made it clear that his program wouldn’t stray away from capitalizing on NCAA legislation to improve his squad. Most notably, that meant waiting for the courts to grant the high school class of 2022 a fifth year of eligibility after the NCAA created the five-in-five legislation in late June. And while many have hypothesized that former senior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. would be the first benefactor of these rulings to come back, he’s now beaten by former senior Columbia Guard Kenny Noland per Pete Nakos.
“We will always look for opportunities to improve where we can from a roster standpoint, whenever that’s an opportunity, if there’s somebody that can add value,” Boynton said Tuesday. “Obviously this is a more unique circumstance than we’ve ever been presented with before because of all the court cases, but there’s no doubt that we’re certainly monitoring all these things, and if there’s an opportunity to add somebody, we certainly will.”
Besides senior Elliot Cadeau, all of the projected guard contributors are underclassmen. Noland offers respite in that regard especially due to the fact that he was point guard for the Lions this past season. Sophomore Trey McKenney has been primed to take over the offense when Cadeau isn’t on the the floor, but now Boynton can stalwart against any of the underclassmen’s potential issues stemming from inexperience with Noland.
An All-Ivy level player, Noland averaged 17.1 points on 37.5% shooting from beyond the line while averaging nearly four assists a game. Noland was also hyper-efficient from the line as well, making 2.5 free throws per game on 92.1% shooting.
Noland offers his veteran status in a role where Michigan needs it most, and he will be a key contributor for the Wolverines through the following season.
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