Dusty May breaks down minutes distribution among new Michigan frontcourt
On Tuesday afternoon, Michigan men's basketball coach Dusty May met with the media for the first time since his introductory press conference on March 26. Since then, May has put together a staff, and he and his staff have added eight players to the roster via either the Transfer Portal or through high school recruiting.
When May first took over the position, the roster was depleted, and the future of the program did not look very promising.
Now, though, May and his staff have assembled a roster — one that still has an open scholarship spot — that many believe can compete for an NCAA Tournament bid next season.
Two of the biggest players — literally and figuratively — that May and Co. have added since taking over are 7-footers Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin.
Joining the two 7-footers in the frontcourt are presumed off-the-bench, rotational players Will Tschetter and Sam Walters, who stand at 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-10, respectively.
May spoke on Tuesday about how he envisions the minutes to be distributed among the frontcourt players.
"And so Vlad will probably hover around that mid-20s if he's playing at his best," May said. "And hopefully we're able to take care of some games before the last five minutes so you can get those guys some rest or whatever. But yeah, that left us probably playing Danny at 14 minutes a game at the '5' when Vlad's not in is how we probably envision it."
Last season with Florida Atlantic, Goldin played exactly 25 minutes per contest. If he duplicates that again this season with the Wolverines, and if Wolf plays 14 minutes per game at the '5' as May hopes, Michigan will have its center position filled for essentially the entirety of the 40-minute game.
But there will also be minutes when Wolf and Goldin are on the floor together, with Goldin at the '5' and Wolf at the '4'.
"We definitely envision those guys playing together — significant minutes. And also complementing each other."
"We watched Danny play a few times last year. ... He's a very, very good 3-point shooter for a 7-footer. He dribbles the ball well; he handles the ball like a guard. He passes it; they play through him offensively."
For example, if Wolf plays 10 minutes at the '4' and 14 minutes at the '5', that would leave 30 minutes of playing time at the '4' to be split between Tschetter and Walters. If May splits that time evenly among those two players, Michigan's minutes distribution in the frontcourt could look something like the following:
Goldin: 25 minutes per game at the '5'
Wolf: 14 minutes per game at the '5' and 10 minutes per game at the '4'
Tschetter: 15 minutes per game at the '4'
Walters: 15 minutes per game at the '4'
However, May is aware that college basketball is not a perfect world and that sometimes things happen that can derail the original plan.
"What we tell you today is what we imagine is going to happen, not that it's definitely going to happen, because scoreboard and injuries, and things like that can change anything. But Vlad, last year, I think played 25 minutes a game. In a perfect world, we'd get him a few more minutes, but we play up-tempo with a lot of possessions, so it's difficult for our players to play 32 to 35 minutes a game if we're playing the style that we like to play."
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