Tag: Dusty May

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Things in Ann Arbor weren’t ever quite the same after the 2020-21 season.

It was Juwan Howard’s third year with the Wolverines and it appeared to be his best. The maize and blue won the Big Ten and appeared to have an inside track to the Final Four as a 1-seed, but were upended in the Elite Eight by UCLA. From there, it all went downhill.

In 2021-22, the Wolverines were a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team and though they had an NCAA Tournament run into the Sweet 16, it was less than expected considering the previous year. The next year, Michigan was relegated to the NIT instead of the big dance, and this year, the maize and blue made neither — and Howard was fired after a program-worst 8-24 season.

Now Michigan has a new head coach in Dusty May, who led Florida Atlantic to the Final Four last year. Knowing what fans in Ann Arbor crave the most, especially considering how much Howard’s teams had second-half collapses, the one thing he vows is that fans will appreciate what the maize and blue are doing on the court.

“As far as style of play, our goal is to be enjoyable to watch,” May said. “We want to win championships, but we also want to put fans in the seats and be easy on the eyes. When you watch us play, you should see teamwork, you should see efficiency on both sides of the basketball. But our identity will be teamwork, passion, and togetherness. The details work themselves out. We’ll figure that out later but watching Michigan basketball will be enjoyable.”

That would be a good first step, not only from a competitive standpoint but also in making the Crisler Center a place to be feared. Unlike Michigan football, the basketball program doesn’t quite fill out its arena if the team struggles, and home attendance has suffered as a result. The hardwood Wolverines will certainly get something of a bump this year strictly by virtue of it being a new era with a coaching change. But if May can make good on his promise, then fans will come for another, more important reason: to see a winning team.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan basketball went from one style of play under former coach John Beilein to what was supposed to be a more NBA-style approach under Juwan Howard. The problem with the latter is that if you don’t have a lot of natural shooters, it can be easily disrupted — especially if you’re not good on the defensive side of the court.

Now, the Dusty May era begins in Ann Arbor in earnest and he shared a bit of his vision for his Wolverines. Though he won’t commit to exactly what it will look like given there are currently just three scholarship players on the roster, he knows what he wants it to look like. And it’s awfully enticing to Michigan basketball fans who just endured an 8-24 season.

“If we ever walk the ball up the floor, if we’re not at least jogging or moving at a solid pace, then the guys will hear from me,” May said. “It needs to be free-flowing. They don’t want the defense to ever get set. We shoot probably too many 3s. We finish at the rim, we play modern basketball. We do use analytics, use the metrics, but we try to find the best way for us to play that usually centers around what do your best players do well? And then what do the other guys bring for skill set?

“And then you mold (them), but fast-paced, energetic guys that want to share the ball, playing together, all five guys are connected on both sides of the ball. It’s more like jazz, we’re playing off of each other, reading each other.

“So I can’t say we’re going to shoot a ton of 3s this year, because I haven’t seen a roster yet. But they are worth more so we’ll sure a lot of them.

“And defensively, we try to be a little bit different. We try to be as disruptive as we can with our personnel. And we’ve always taken a lot of pride and trying to play a little bit different than everyone else than the groupthink just so you’re not preparing for us every single day in your own gym. But what it looks like to the detail, I don’t know yet. But I do know what I want it to look like at the end of the day. And it’s fast. There’s a lot of action. Very, very few stoppages. And hopefully, we’re scoring a lot of buckets.”

The reliance on 3s isn’t exactly a new thing but what will be interesting is to see how May uses his rotation, ball screens, and playing quickly to help that along.

What will be new is playing at a faster pace. Under both Beilein and Howard, the offense was more about ball rotation than it was about pushing the ball down the floor. If May can get the conditioning component right along with players who can execute his vision, then the Wolverines could be, as he says, very enjoyable to watch.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There were a lot of smiles and a lot of support as Dusty May was introduced officially as the 18th head basketball coach in University of Michigan history.

In somewhat of a whirlwind, May left his former post with the Florida Atlantic Owls in Boca Raton, Florida following their ouster in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, only to be announced as the new Michigan basketball head coach on Saturday night. And on Tuesday, he was introduced in official capacity by Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel.

You can watch the entire press conference featuring May’s introduction below.