INDIANAPOLIS - The transfer portal has created some oddities in college basketball, including players facing their former teams. We saw it a handful of times this season, like when UConn played Providence or Georgetown.
For the first time, a player will face his former team in the national championship game as Tarris Reed Jr. meets his old squad on Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. The senior center played his first two years in Ann Arbor before transferring to UConn in the 2024 offseason.
“I started my career at Michigan, and now I'm about to play them in my final game of college basketball,” Reed said. “I never would have thought that would happen in a million years.”
Reed was leaving a struggling Michigan program that was struggling at the time and has completely turned around since hiring Dusty May as head coach. He shared that he and May spoke a couple of times, but ultimately, he stayed in the portal.
Reed’s two years with Michigan were forgettable on paper. The Wolverines failed to make the tournament in both seasons, two of just three years that that has happened to them since 2010. They went a combined 26-40 and 8-24 in 2023-24 in what was ultimately the final year for Juwan Howard, a member of the famed Fab 5 that forever changed college basketball.
From a statistical standpoint, Reed certainly showed signs of growth from his freshman to sophomore year in Ann Arbor. He was a backup playing 12 MPG his first year, averaging 3.4 PPG. He entered the starting lineup as a sophomore, averaging 9 points and 7.2 rebounds a night. It’s safe to say there was not a high level of belief that he had a very high ceiling.
As his dominant NCAA Tournament run continues this year, Reed has skyrocketed his professional stock and his UConn legacy.
Last year, he put up nearly identical counting stats to his previous year with Michigan, but did so more efficiently and in fewer minutes. This season, he’s developed into one of the top big men in the country, and he’s peaking at the right time.
“Our season is going to be determined by what Tarris Reed does, which Tarris Reed we get, does the light switch go on for Tarris Reed?” Hurley said. “I've been saying it for months and months.”
The Wolverines underwent quite an overhaul after Reed departed and Howard was fired. May came from Florida Atlantic, which he led to a Final Four in 2023, alongside UConn, and got the Owls into the Sweet 16 as a five-seed.
What he’s done this year, however, is off the charts.
Michigan enters Monday with a 36-3 record spearheaded by one of the best frontcourt units ever. Will Tschetter is one of two scholarship players remaining on the Wolverine roster who were teammates with Reed, along with Nimari Burnett.
“T-Reed is one of the guys I’ve kept up with that’s transferred out,” Tschetter said. “Unreal dude. Nobody is a better guy than T-Reed. Excited to play against him after seeing his development, nothing but good things to say about him.”
“It shows you that if you stay committed to the process and committed to your individual journey, beautiful things will happen to you,” Burnett added. “I think that happened to all three of us, me, Will, and him.”
Reed has a tall task ahead of him, having to deal with guys like Aday Mara and Morez Johnson Jr. on the low block. The Husky star passed his last test against a talented Big Ten frontcourt on Saturday, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds against Illinois and the Ivisic brothers.
One thing is for certain: Reed hasn’t backed down from any challenge he’s had this tournament. It won’t be easy, but the added juice of playing against his former program may trump the fact that said program has elite rim protection and interior defense. The Bear loves to eat, and he has one more opportunity in a Husky uniform to feast.
