ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan basketball needed an offseason exorcism and Dusty May certainly played the role of a priest.
The past two years, the roster was a mess, not working as a cohesive unit. There was little depth and the leadership was close to absent, if not absent entirely. Thus, it was no surprise that the Wolverines went 8-24 — the worst record in program history.
When Dusty May took over, he inherited a program not only in disarray, but one with three scholarship players. Stars like Tarris Reed Jr. and Dug McDaniel were in the transfer portal and ended up elsewhere and stalwarts like Terrance Williams did the same. So May had Nimari Burnett, Jace Howard, and Will Tschetter to work with — if he could keep them.
And keep them he did. But then what he did was even more impressive. Through recruiting and the transfer portal, May assembled a complete team with a ton of star power. It’s one that has depth and looks like it could contend in his first year at the helm.
At his introductory press conference, May said that Michigan would not be in rebuilding mode and that they would win in year one, and meeting with the media on Tuesday, he affirmed that he likes the direction his first team in Ann Arbor is moving in.
“Probably more confident saying that now than I was then,” May said. “We expect to win. There won’t be a night where we walk on the court this season where we say, ‘Hey, we need to do this in preparation for later.’ We’ll have expectations when we set foot on the court to win every single night or be in a position to win.
“A lot goes into winning. Coach Knight used to say a lot, you put yourself into position to win every single night and then you end up winning a lot more than you lose and you put yourself into position to win championships.”
So how did May go about bringing together his version of the Avengers? How did he assemble his team?
It started with bringing in the right staff, people who complement him and are strong where he’s weak. Then, they went out and found players that fit his vision.
The surprising thing to him was that he basically was able to highlight targets and secure them, with very little pushback. In essence, he got the players he wanted and that should help propel the team forward.
“We’re a very confident group, we believe in our work. We believe in our principles, our way of doing things,” May said. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised with how well-received this university and this basketball program has been. We’ve also been pleasantly surprised with the guys who joined us.
“Did I anticipate it was going to go like this? I probably thought we would miss on a few guys than we had but it’s speed dating like I said in the initial press conference and decisions are made quickly. I do think we provided a really unique situation for a lot of these guys.”