Everything Dusty May said during his first offseason press conference

Opening Statement

Hello everyone. After almost five weeks on the job, we feel like we've covered a lot of ground and put together a competitive roster that we're excited to coach.

On the roster building he's done

We wanted to add some young guys with some old guys but, most importantly, get guys who fit culturally and had the baseline of talent. It's been enjoyable to see the group come together, to try to fit these pieces and parts together. Use our imagination based on past experience. Just find the guys who we felt were right for this university and right for us. Because of the staff's diligence, their hard work, the relationships that had been built over time, we were able to get guys that, like I said, we're extremely excited to grow with.

On Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin playing together

Through the recruiting process, we pride ourselves on being very transparent and open and honest. What we tell you today is what we imagine is going to happen. Not that it's definitely going to happen because the scoreboard and injuries and things like that can change and derail anything. Vlad, I think, last year played 25 minutes a game. In a perfect world, we'd get him a few more minutes. We play up-tempo with a lot of possessions so it's difficult for our players to play 32-35 minutes a game if we're playing the style we like to play. Vlad will probably hover around those mid 20s if he's playing at his best 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. That left us with Danny probably playing 14 minutes a game at the five when Vlad is not in is how we probably envision it. We play stylistically a different brand of basketball with Danny being more of a five-out, a facilitator and Vlad still more of a traditional center. Also, he's expanded his game. We definitely envision those guys playing together, for significant minutes, and also complementing each other.

On Danny Wolf

We watched Danny play a few times this year. Personally familiar with the Yale program because one of my son's teammates is on the team, from high school, is on the team there. They're well-coached and obviously making the NCAA Tournament this year. Danny, he's a very, very good three-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. That's how we used our backup center last year, (Giancarlo) Rosado. We're very well-versed in that style of play. He fit us offensively and the question was does he fit defensively with another 7-footer, 7-foot-1, guy. After watching Danny, we felt like he moves his feet well. He's got good mobility for a 7-footer and he embraces contact. We think of a summer of really strong, consistent weight work and speed work with our new strength coach, he'll be ready to go. The Big Ten is a bigger league than we're accustomed to playing to. It's not as if these guys, the Big Ten teams, are out here playing small ball for whatever, 20 minutes a season.

On what he was looking for out of the transfer portal

We attacked the point guard position with some parameters. Our game is changing, the game of basketball has changed a lot where we went through an era where the shoot-first point guard's where there and sometimes it turned into shoot first, second, third. We wanted a willing passer. When we reflect on the best teams that we've coached and our staff has a lot of years of cumulative experience. When we reflect on the guys we've coached and the best teams we've been apart of, it usually starts with pass-first guards. With that, there's a trust that it will come back to them and the ball will find them later on. We went into this blank canvas looking for a pass-first point guard who was capable of shooting off the dribble and off the catch and was also a capable defender as physical as the Big Ten is as a league. We wanted a strong, physical guard who could defend and that would set the tone as well from the defensive side of the ball. We wanted a center, we needed a center who could do a lot of things so addressed those needs and then we thought now let's fill in these other gaps with talent, with skill, with size, high basketball IQ. Those were the things we were looking for and we do feel like, right now, we have a group that complements each other. We have a stockpile of the same type of players and I think a lot of guys on our roster make those around them better and that's ultimately what we're all looking for. Guys who make their teammates better and impact winning.

On whether the roster is set and how many scholarship openings

We have one open spot right now. We're being patient yet aggressive. It has to be the right fit, once again. We're also trying to gauge our roster now and look at it closer and see if we need to anything more long-term or short-term. Hopefully, those questions will be answered here in the next couple of weeks.

On expectations for year one and wanting to win

Probably more confident saying that now than I was then. 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.

On whether he's surprised the roster came together as he hoped

We're a very confident group, we believe in our work. We believe in our principles, our way of doing things. 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.

On the mentality he wants his teams to have

The mindset is extremely important. We're trying to find guys who are incredibly competitive, love the game of basketball and what comes with it. We've typically been attracted to those guys and those guys have been attracted to us. Luckily, now, when you look at our roster, there's always a connection. We felt like we could get real information on players. They can get real information on us. They were direct messaging our former players, checking up on us and making sure. It's a different era where it's very difficult to be dishonest and not be held accountable for it. The mindset was extremely important. As far as the pass-first and stylistic stuff, there has to be talent, skill, also, we feel like if they're really, really competitive then they'll figure some things out. That's what competitors do, they find ways to win. It wasn't that we had to have this or we had to have this guy who didn't shoot this percentage, if he didn't fit the criteria perfectly, we just kind of analyzed why and maybe he could support the team in different areas. There's always a give and take with every player.

On whether he doesn't shy away from goals

Actually, I shy away from goals every single day. I have no idea what our goals are other than be really, really good this next possession, this next practice and this next workout and this next conditioning segment. Really, other than that, the long-term goals, I never think about it. I glance at the schedule, we use it as far as planning but, no, we expect to put a team on the court that is going to compete at a high level every single night. With the talent level we have, there's no reason why we couldn't expect to win a lot of those.

On Will Tschetter

Will has been a real pleasant surprise. First and foremost, I have enjoyed getting to know him. He's going to add a lot to this team. As far as what his role is, I've worked him out a few times this spring, we had so few numbers it was one-on-one sessions and whatnot. I value his shooting, I value his toughness and when I went back and watched games from last year, it seemed like the team functioned better when he was on the court. I haven't dove into the analytics and stuff yet because it's not that important. I think his positional versatility, I think he played the five last year, I look at him as more of a shooting forward for us. At times he may have to play the five if we're going small, you never know. Those things always kind of work themselves out. Will is a guy because he's such a great teammate, because he is skilled, I think he's going to add a lot of value to this group.

On what he learned recruiting transfers to Michigan

We have to do our work early. There's no reason to invest our time, energy and effort, especially the emotional energy that goes into recruiting. There's one thing to make a call and there's another to really be invested in that call and be present and be relational in it. We just try to see who fit us in the beginning and usually the ones that fit us like us better than the ones who don't. We just tried to streamline is by doing our homework early, getting the right information and attacking those guys. There were a few guys we had to stay away from, maybe we could've gotten them in. We didn't go down that road because we had to be so efficient with our time. Like I said, out of all the guys we signed, it was relatively simple after we got their initial transcripts. We moved forward and went from there.

On how he plans to help the team build chemistry

Good friend of mine says the best team-building exercise for sports is practice. Every single day. How we interact in practice, how we connect with each other in practice. We'll do a lot of team-building stuff, we'll look at retreats, we'll look at the conditioning component in the summer is big because it's not basketball-related but you're going through some things, you're supporting each other. We'll do a lot of that. I think the magic number now, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I don't have as much time, obviously, the last few weeks. The magic number, I think, has been 7. If you have 7 or fewer transfer portalers, I'll give a shoutout to the CBS guys, I think it was Parrish and Norlander said if you have 7 or less transfer portalers or less, that equates to success. There's not really, this is all so new but the teams who had maybe 10, 11, 12 new guys from the portal, they haven't fared well. It changes by year and all this and there's so little information with the way it is now that it's hard to tell. I think that's our number right now, 7. I think more than anything else it's having a group that really cares about their teammates and cares about the team is more important than how long they've been together.

On what excites him about the opportunity at Michigan now than when he got the job

It's been really cool for me to have the former football players reach out and the actors that went to Michigan. Everyone is excited about this university, this athletic department and, in this particular case, Michigan Basketball. That's been — typically, when you coach someplace, the former players care. Maybe there's a connection to the program that they care. For the most part, former football players at (places like Michigan), they don't pay too much attention to the basketball program and vice versa. It seems like everyone connected to Michigan really cares about all things Michigan and that's cool to me because I enjoy football, I enjoy baseball. I can't wait to watch hockey. I grew up in Indiana where they don't play hockey so I'm excited for those matches next year. I think that's been really cool, just how much people all over, especially in the US, care about this place.

On balancing players wanting to get paid vs. players who only want to get paid in the portal

I've been very up front that I would love for our guys to be taken care of as much as any player in the country. Right now, that's probably not feasible but I think everyone in our locker room will be making sacrifices. Financial, whether it's minutes. Ultimately, great teams have probably got 8 or 9 nine guys that deserve to start and they're capable of starting. I think the championship teams aren't going out and just being the highest bidder. I think there's always that fine line of that being important but not being the most important thing. Once again, every situation is different. If there's a young player that has a very limited value professionally and they have a chance to maximize their value now and that's the most money they're ever going to make playing basketball than it might be right for them to capitalize and go after the top dollar. If it's someone that has professional aspirations and maybe the goal of making millions of dollars in the NBA, then they probably should choose the right fit as far as development, style of play, conference, whatever it is. Just like everything else, every case is different but we've had to weigh that in every recruitment and that's part of the information gathering phase. The absolute top dollar is what you're looking for, we're probably not gonna have what you're looking for and we're going to go in another direction. Philosophically, we want the first question to be about relationships and development. After that, hopefully the Name, Image and Likeness part fits.

On how much the roster is constructed to do the things he wants to do schematically

I think it's very conducive to how we want to play. That's to shoot a lot of threes, that's to get to the rim and get fouled which allows you to set your defense. I think out of all the guys we've signed, there's only one of them that has a lesser three-point percentage than we prefer but he shot really well the year before that and we think he is a much better shooter than his numbers indicate last year. That's the feel versus the science. I think we will be able to play very similar. It's going to look a little bit different, we're going to be bigger. We probably won't be quite as fast. We recruited to do the things we think will produce the highest value shots and that's what we're always going to look for. If there's ever a case for it, and this group can't do that, we'll have to figure out another way to win. Like I said earlier, we have competitors and competitors have to find a way, they're obsessed with finding a way to win.

On Justin Pippen, Lorenzo Cason and Phat Brooks

I think when you look at our roster, we're a little bit thin at guard depth. Those guys have an opportunity to break into the rotation. When I say rotation, typically most teams have 7-9 guys who they can count of playing regularly. They know when they're going in, they have some idea of how many minutes they're going to play per night. Obviously, they're different. How quickly they become acclimated to college is usually the biggest indicator on whether they're going to crack the rotation or not. Luckily, those guys come from great programs, they're used to winning. They have the right substance and DNA to them. We're excited about all of them. I think a lot of people thought Cason was the best guard in the state of Florida, I didn't see all the guards in Florida so I can't really comment on things like that. Justin Pippen was a guy that I fell in love with the first time I watched him play because of how he liked to be coached. He's got great pace and feel, his maturity, he looked like the son of a hall of fame basketball player. He's been around the game at a high level, his brother was a high-level player and late bloomers. Phat Brooks, he's a Michigan Man. He came through maybe the third day I was on the job and I couldn't have been more impressed with him as a person. He is likeable, charismatic and he's driven to be really good at basketball and also in life. Those three are going to represent this place well and they've got a bright future. I'm looking forward to seeing those three grow together because they're all a little different as well. Cason is probably the most lead guard right now, Pippen is more of he can play on and off the ball and Phat is a disruptor, he's an irritant, strong defender, can score and just finds ways to win.

On being a player-led team

When I grew up, even I subscribed to this the past couple of years, this team maybe has one leader or two leaders, it's a lot simpler if it's your best player, hardest worker, we're all aware of that. I think with the way it is now, leadership can come in a lot of different ways. It's open to everyone. Those things kind of figure themselves out. The first couple of weeks that we have a team together, I sit back and watch a lot more than I try to impose what I want to happen. Usually you see some voices emerge, you can see who really commands a room, who has the presence, who has the it. Once you identify that then I feel like part of our job as a staff is the correct messaging to those guys or that person every day. The team messaging is big. They start to see things that we're saying, you usually have a group that's bought in to the common goal. That answer can go a lot of different ways but I'm anxious to see which guys emerge as great leaders. Hopefully, there are some others who are great followers.

On why he recruited Rubin Jones out of the portal

The reason I wanted to bring him in is so I didn't have to play against him anymore. He is a throwback player where he doesn't care about anything other than winning. He's got a great EQ where his self-awareness, his ability to adapt to whatever team he's on and I guess just be a chameleon where if you need defense it's time to guard, if you need shooting he's an effective three-point shooter. We've gotta help him get better at finishing around the rim, that's one area we thought we could help him with. His unselfishness, and these are the things I'm talking about offensively. We all love to watch good offense. Defensively, he played with a torn hamstring the last half this past season. Torn hamstring. We thought he was the best perimeter defender in our league. Our league was a Top-10 league, the American Conference, with very good players. We thought he was the most impactful guard, lead defender in the league. When you have that and the ability to shoot and play off the pick-and-roll, he's played the point guard, he's played the three. He's another guy we're able to slide up or down and use him in a lot of different ways. We'd like to have two point guards on the court at all times anyway just for decision-making. More difficult for the defense to take away the head of the snake.

On what he looked for with his coaching staff

I break everything that I was ever taught growing up that you hire guys you know, you hire guys you worked with, you hire guys you trust, you hire guys that are loyal to you. All those things that I was taught from 18 on, 15 on, whatever the case, I always looked at it as we're all loyal to this. We're loyal to the M, we're loyal to our guys, we're loyal to this group. That's a shared loyalty, that's a shared sacrifice. As far as knowing guys, I didn't really want to work with my friends. My friends, we know each other and we share ideas. I want guys who want to make, number one, complement me and my weakness, guys who are going to challenge me and the players every day to get better, to have new ideas. They have to be great teachers. They have to be enjoyable to be around. We spend a lot of time on our jobs, on this profession, and if you don't enjoy the company of those you're around, the days get longer. I think all those things kind of roll into it. You look at where guys were and they've won at a high level. They're very good teachers and communicators so I think all those things take precedence over because I worked with a guy 10 years ago. These were the guys I felt like they were the best teachers, communicators and they were the hungriest and driven for this particular job. Very, very pleased with the staff. A recruit after two days said on his official visit it looks like you've guys have worked together for months or years. I looked around and saw the chemistry and the relationships already being built and it was exciting to see because if our staff is not a true team and we have an individual ego instead of a team ego then that's going to trickle down to the players and it's contagious and it's not fun to be around.

On Roddy Gayle

I watched him play a few times randomly throughout the season and I liked his game. I think he's got the unique ability to get downhill and draw fouls. I'll tell you a story, the first couple of years at FAU, we couldn't get to the free throw line. We just couldn't get there. Reached out to the best coaches and teachers that I know and I have access to, finally, a good friend who I lean on a lot for advice just said, hey, you gotta recruit that. That's something you have to recruit. It always kind of stuck with me and the guys who I've coached who got to the foul line, it was usually something they had well before college and something they did organically, I should say. That was the thing that excites me, his ability to get downhill, offensive rebound, he runs in transition. He plays off the pick-and-roll well, he's very efficient playing off the pick-and-roll as a passer, his movements in his game, he doesn't overdribble. Like I said, I believed in his jump shot. I know he didn't shoot a great percentage last year but I think he's a much better shooter than that. When you watched him in transition, when he had a clean look, he knocked it down a very good percentage of the time. We are excited about him on a number of levels. I could probably go on for another 30 minutes talking about Roddy, I think he's a special guy.

On whether he's been communicating with NIL collectives

Yes. Yes. It's going well. I've enjoyed getting to know those guys who run the (Champions Circle) collective. We have an ongoing relationship, we talk with them almost every single day. Our job is to help. It's another extension of our team. Those guys, our success is tied to their success and I think their success is probably tied our success as well. Just like everything else, we all want what's best for Michigan and so we do whatever we can to help each other be successful. Those guys have worked incredibly hard to help us get where we need to be in the NIL space, we're pleased to this point, especially with how much time and effort they put into it.

On Tre Donaldson

He's from Florida and he played AAU so we had seen him play a lot so we were very familiar with his game, much like Sam Walters, so we had a lot of background information so when he went into the portal we didn't have to do a lot of homework. We knew a lot about him already, we had watched him. One of our staffers who will be joining next week, he actually played at Auburn so he watched Auburn a lot. We watched Tree play and we just thought he fit. He could shoot off ball screens, he could shoot off the catch, he's a willing passer. We felt like the ball came out of his hands at the right time whether it's hitting the roll or spreading out for a three, we just thought he was a guy that had a couple of years. Very strong, capable defender and he came from winning. Auburn has won at a high level. He split minutes last year with a McDonald's All-American point guard Aiden Holloway who you guys are also familiar, his sister is coming to play here. When we plugged in his numbers in a typical game, meaning a 28 or 29 minute game, he was very efficient and his numbers were very conducive to winning.

On whether it's easier to build a program when you're able to curate a roster from the portal

I went through this six years, we went through this six years at FAU. I think we signed 10 guys the first spring. At that time, you had to find graduate transfers or guys that had been ran off by their schools, that was the only way they could play immediately. At that time, we took a couple of grad transfers, we took a runoff, we took a couple of junior college guys and we took a few high school players. Now, you don't have to, I guess, look under so many rocks and maybe go after that go with a long injury history just so you hope you can keep him healthy one year because there's so many more options because of the portal. I'm never going to complain about something we benefit from. Do I prefer it this way? No. I'm a teacher and a coach, I love relationships so I would enjoy coaching guys five years than one. I also enjoy the one-year relationships as well and going through something together and trying to leave a mark in a short period of time. To answer your question, no, there's no doubt we could've put together this team five to seven years to go I don't think.

On whether he had some kind of relationship with the players he brought in

This class, we didn't use a lot of baseline stats or third-party analytic companies. Most of these guys we had background information on, we had some connection to those around them. Just because the mindset and the character and what's inside them. That's the most difficult part of the portal is what's inside of here. Those are the things we have to find out for us to coach them well. I think everyone we've signed we have some level of background with.

On Sam Walters

I watched Sam play from eighth or ninth grade. He was a good player in the state of Florida early, I was laughing the first time he had went in the portal, it said Al recruit, the year for Sam back when I was at FAU. We had a lot of connections. His high school coach is from Michigan so he holds this place in a very high regard. We've been friends for a while, we knew a lot of people around him. His AAU coaches, the travel coaches, his workout guys, we had a lot of connections to Sam coincidentally and it all kind of fell into place. It was a quick recruitment. Also, the coaches at Alabama, our guys are close with their staff. Any time a player leaves and he did a nice job and was a good person, the staff usually tries to help them and they said great things about them. I think they helped us because they thought we would be a good fit for him after the decided to go in.

On how much he values a primary ballhandler

The primary ballhandler, not as much as a lot of teams. Depending on who they're out there with, their role changes a little bit. We play a little bit of an egalitarian system where everyone is involved. The pro of that is it's more fun to watch, it's what the NBA is going to, it's what the world has gone to. The negative is it always doesn't find the right guy or your primary ballhandler. Once again, there's a give and take with players, there's a give and take with systems, there's a give and take with ball-screen coverage. Everything we do, Coach Knight called it if, then. There's a if, then philosophy to it. We need a quarterback on the court and sometimes it's been our center and sometimes it's been our point guard. We don't need anyone to put the ball under their arm on every possession and go halfcourt and start a set and then we're not very efficient and the defense is set. Hopefully we have several playmakers on the court and because of guys self-awareness and awareness of who they're playing with and the ball will find the right guys when it needs to after the advantage is created.

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