‘I’m back’: Nimari Burnett returning to Michigan basketball for another year

Michigan basketball graduate wing Nimari Burnett went through senior day ceremonies in Ann Arbor last season, just in case it was his last in college basketball.

Not only is the former McDonald’s All-American playing at least one more year in the NCAA, he’s doing so in maize and blue, the program formally announced on its social media pages early Tuesday afternoon.

“One more year,” the caption read, with an image of Burnett and the words “I’M BACK” across it.

Burnett joins senior Will Tschetter as one of two players from last year’s team − which suffered the most losses in program history at 8-24 overall and 3-17 in the Big Ten − committed to return to the Wolverines under new head coach Dusty May.

Sophomore combo guard George Washington III entered the portal when former coach Juwan Howard was fired, but then withdrew his name a few weeks after May was announced as head coach, only to re-enter the portal on Monday a program spokesman confirmed to the Free Press.

This leaves graduate forward Jace Howard, son of Juwan Howard, as the only player from last year’s team not yet accounted for. All others have either entered the transfer portal, or decided to move on with their basketball careers. That said, one of them is Terrance Williams, who could withdraw from the NBA draft by May 29 and decide to return.

Burnett, who started his career at Texas Tech, then transferred to Alabama before he joined U-M last season, averaged a career-high 9.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 31.3 minutes across 32 games played last season. He shot a career-best 39.4% from the floor and 34.7% from long range on nearly five attempts per game.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound shooting guard from Chicago scored a career-high 21 points in his third game for Michigan as U-M got out to a 3-0 start, but would score more than 15 points in a game just twice the rest of the way.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for May, who added nearly an entire coaching staff (he still has to name a strength and conditioning coach, which is expected to be finalized sooner than later) and also brought on six players from the transfer portal in shooting guard Roddy Gayle Jr. (Ohio State), point guard Tre Donaldson (Auburn), wing Sam Walters (Alabama), center Danny Wolf (Yale) and shooting guard Rubin Jones (North Texas), and center Vladimir Golden (FAU).

May has also secured commitments from freshman Justin Pippen and Lorenzo Cason, held onto a commitment from Durral ‘Phat Phat’ Brooks and now secured Tschtter and Burnett, two of the leaders from last year’s squad.

U-M now has 11 players under scholarship for the 2024-25 season, with two still available.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball gets boost as Nimari Burnett opts to return