Offseason Q&A with Michigan basketball coach Dusty May
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Michigan head men’s basketball coach Dusty May was in Lansing on Wednesday night for a Michigan Alumni Association reception, and 6 Sports caught up with him for a few minutes to talk about a busy first month on the job.
May was officially introduced as Michigan’s head coach on March 26.
In the 36 days since, May has pieced together his assistant coaching staff, brought in six new players through the transfer portal and received commitments from a pair of freshmen.
Also in that time, Nimari Burnett announced he will use his additional year of eligibility and return to Michigan and Durral Brooks, an incoming freshman who committed to Michigan when Juwan Howard was the coach, said he will keep his commitment and play for May.
Brooks, a standout at Grand Rapids Catholic Central, won Michigan’s Mr. Basketball award this winter.
With this busy first month in mind, below you will find the full question and answer from 6 Sports’ Tyler Driesenga’s interview with May. Some questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Q: At your introductory press conference, you talked about how you want your teams to push the pace and shoot a lot of threes and layups. Now you’ve added eight guys since then, how do the guys you’ve brought in fit the style of play you’re hoping to install at Michigan?
A: Well we’ve been very encouraged at how receptive recruits have been toward our staff and this University. We’ve put together a team that we think fits. They all are very skilled. They’re unselfish. They come from a winning pedigree and so we believe there’s a lot of potential with this group and we can’t wait to get them here all together and learn how to win together.
Q: A couple of those players specifically that I wanted to touch on — Roddy Gayle Jr., anytime you can pull a guy away from Ohio State it’s a good way to endear yourself to the fans. What do you hope he can bring to your team come this winter?
A: Roddy adds so much to any team. He’s a downhill driver. He’s a guy that can score on the offensive glass and he can make threes. He can get to the rim. He’s proficient at drawing fouls and he can be an elite defender. So we think he’s a guy that you can win at a high level with because there’s no holes in his game.
Q: Vlad Goldin is a guy that you had familiarity with at Florida Atlantic. How will that familiarity and having a player that you know well serve you in year one? And what can fans expect from a player like Goldin?
A: Obviously the personal connection is there and that will help in the locker room when you’ve coached one of the players that are in there before. But Vlad, when you look at him from a statistical standpoint, he averaged 16 [points] and eight [rebounds per game] and shot almost 80 percent from the field. He’s one of the best five centers in college basketball. But more importantly, he’s a great teammate. He loves to screen. He loves to help his team and because of that we think that’s someone that you can definitely build around at the center position.
Q: It seems like it’s the hot topic in college basketball and you’ve been more active in the transfer portal than just about anybody so I’ll ask you, do you feel like the current state of the transfer portal and NIL in college athletics is sustainable?
A: Well the one thing that’s going to be hard to manage is these guys are going to leave college and they’re not going to have a strong network or affiliation with any one place because they bounce around so frequently. But it’s an opportunity for them to go to different programs, try something new and monetize their value. So it’s not all bad and without it, we wouldn’t be able to field the type of team we have this coming season. So I’m definitely not going to complain about it and then benefit from it in the same sentence.
Q: The Big Ten schedule came out today and you guys didn’t get any favors having to play two games with Purdue, two with Rutgers which has that great recruiting class coming in, and obviously two with Michigan State. What were your initial thoughts on the Big Ten schedule?
A: How daunting it is just to look and see that there are no off nights in our league. Every single game is going to be a challenge. We are hoping for the Los Angeles trip to be in January or February though!
Q: What is the biggest goal for you for the rest of this offseason?
A: The rest of the offseason, just continue to put together the right pieces in staff, players and a group that really cares for each other. The talent is there and so now the intangibles have to come to the surface and like I said, we’re excited because of the people we have in our program. They happen to be great basketball players but they’re great guys as well.
Q: Last question — what is the biggest thing that you have learned in the first month or so on the job at Michigan?
A: The food in Ann Arbor is amazing!
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