College athletes using the ability to transfer schools is becoming more prevalent seemingly by the day, with over 1,100 men's basketball players currently in the NCAA's transfer portal.

Last offseason, Michigan basketball lost three players — guard Cole Bajema (Washington), forward Colin Castleton (Florida), guard David DeJulius (Cincinnati) — to transfer. Conversely, the Wolverines brought in two players from other colleges — guards Chaundee Brown (Wake Forest) and Mike Smith (Columbia) — who made big impacts on a Big Ten championship-winning team.

Brown and Smith, who will move on from the program and pursue the NBA, are surely two of the best transfer players for the Maize and Blue in recent history, and both make our set of rankings below.

We take a look at the top five transfers (and one honorable mention) since the 2007-08 season, which is when former head coach John Beilein took over and Michigan has had immense success (under he and current head coach Juwan Howard). Factors for the order of the rankings include (but are not limited to) statistics, role on the team and longevity.

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Heading into the 2017-18 season, Beilein needed a point guard, so he brought in Simmons, who had immense success as a four-year college player at Ohio.

Prior to his transfer to Michigan, Simmons played for the Bobcats for two seasons (2015-17), where he led the squad with 15.9 points and 6.5 assists per game his last season in Athens, collecting All-MAC first team honors and MAC All-Tournament accolades.

Many thought he would step in and be the team's starting point guard, but it's not always that easy when 'transferring up.' By late December, Zavier Simpson had taken over the starting job at the position, with Simmons and Eli Brooks serving as the backups.

Simmons averaged just eight minutes per game, and didn't step on the floor in eight of the team's 41 contests. He registered 1.5 points and 1.1 rebounds per game.

With that said, there's a chance Michigan wouldn't have advanced to the 2018 national title game without him. Simpson was struggling against Loyola Chicago in the Final Four, and Simmons came in to give a great 11 minutes. His three late in the game helped the Maize and Blue win semi-comfortably.

After playing one season of professional ball overseas, Simmons returned to Michigan to serve as a graduate assistant in 2019-20 and was promoted to video analyst this past season.

The Arizona transfer, who lated left and played for Oakland, may not be remembered as much as some of the others on this list, but he left his mark at Michigan. He came to Ann Arbor in 2008, during some dark days (a 10-22 season) but, in 2009, helped the Maize and Blue secure their first NCAA Tournament bid in 11 seasons.

Lucas-Perry was at Arizona for just one semester in 2007-08, and played five games with the Wildcats before heading northeast to Michigan. He sat out the rest of his freshman season and the beginning portion of his sophomore campaign, before being deemed eligible by the NCAA.

In 2008-09, he started 12 games and appeared in 26, and was an adequate three-point shooter for Beilein's group, connecting on 34.4 percent of his attempts from long range, while averaging 6.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

As a junior in 2009-10, Lucas-Perry started 22 of the team's 32 games, and averaged 4.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per contest. His shooting numbers took a bit of a dip, with the Flint, Mich., native only hitting 29.1 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. The Wolverines posted a disappointing 15-17 record that season, and Lucas-Perry decided to leave for Oakland after the year.

Despite playing just one season (so far; he has the choice to return) with the Wolverines, Brown gets the nod at No. 4 for how much he brought.

Brown started 75 career games at Wake Forest, a losing team, but he welcomed the opportunity to take a lesser role on a better team if it meant more winning.

He averaged 20.6 minutes off the bench as a backup guard and wing, and brought plenty of energy with him when he was inserted into the lineup as the sixth man. He also brought the ability to heat up from long range and greatly change the course of the game for the better. A streaky shooter, Brown shot 41.9 percent from beyond the arc, despite connecting on only 32.2 percent of his looks from deep with the Demon Deacons the year prior. He averaged eight points and 3.1 rebounds per contest, and was aggressive and energetic on the defensive end.

If Brown departs the program this offseason and Howard is tasked with finding a new sixth man, he'll likely use Brown as the perfect example for what a player in that role should do, in just about every way.