INDIANAPOLIS — Tarris Reed Jr. will see a familiar jersey Monday night, but very few familiar faces.
As Connecticut aims for its historic third title in four years, the Huskies will be anchored by Reed, their star center who transferred from Michigan after the 2024 season.
But in a profession where programs take secrecy to the extreme, Michigan coach Dusty May isn’t changing his signals or asking his players for an advanced scouting report to shut down the 6-foot-11 center. Reed is the poster child for modern roster movement, when a program can survive—and even thrive—desipte losing a future NBA center.
“I think we are all better in certain situations than others,” May said of his roster-building on Sunday. “When the OKC Thunder won the Finals last year, I wasn’t judging them because SGA was drafted by the Clippers.”
Just as the Thunder and Pacers, last year’s NBA finalists, both benefitted from trading Paul George, Reed’s transfer decision helped both teams get to Monday’s game.
Reed committed to former Michigan coach Juwan Howard out of high school in 2022 and played his first two seasons for the Wolverines before Howard was fired in 2024. He entered the transfer portal on March 19, 2024, four days before Michigan hired May. The two talked, but May said Reed was aware that Vlad Goldin, his center at Florida Atlantic who led him to the 2023 Final Four, was coming with him. When May landed Yale center Danny Wolf shortly after Goldin, the writing was on the wall for Reed.
“I liked Coach May a lot,” Reed told reporters on Sunday. “He was very upfront and truthful with me about who he was bringing in at the four or five and we spoke a couple times, but I decided to stay in the portal.”
Reed goes into Monday’s game averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds and two blocks per game, all career highs. He’s the latest in a long line of excellent UConn big men, following Donovan Clingan, Andre Drummond, and Emeka Okafor. And he’s helped his stock in the NCAA tournament, averaging 20.8 points and 11 rebounds and grabbing an astounding 27 boards against Furman in the first round.
“Go back six weeks, go back two months, go back three months, 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 Friday. “I’ve been saying it for months and months and months.”
“He’s put on a show this tournament,” May said. “It’s another situation where he went to a place that that environment was perfect for him.”
Years ago, May would have been panned for losing a NBA-caliber center to the portal. But he let Reed walk and turned Wolf (Nets) and Goldin (Heat) into NBA players. He replaced them with Aday Mara, a 7-foot-3 center from Spain, and Yaxel Lendeborg, to bolster the frontcourt. Both players are on NBA draft boards and have been two of May’s go-to players throughout the tournament.
“I just think college is so volatile now,” Connecticut coach Danny Hurley said. “You’re competing—most programs have this type of turnover. I don’t know that you could compare anyone’s first year or two or first four years or whatever to what people experienced five, six, eight, ten years ago when you had to build a program. I think now things are year to year for everyone.”
And indeed, only three of Reed’s former teammates are on Michigan’s roster: Nimari Burnett, Will Tschetter, and Harrison Hochberg.
Reed has no hard feelings towards May over his departure; May said he’s seen Reed’s family in the years since and maintains a good relationship with them. It’s why Reed is looking at the matchup with grace instead of as a distraction.
“I started my career at Michigan and now I’m about to play them, my final game of college basketball,” Reed said. “I never would have thought that would happen in a million years. How cool a blessing is that?”
