Michigan men’s basketball has ‘street cred’ in recruiting following Dusty May’s first season

Michigan men’s basketball head coach Dusty May put the program back at the top of conversations with a Big Ten tournament title and Sweet 16 appearance in his first season at the helm. The Wolverines finished with a record of 27-10 and more than tripled their win total from the year prior (8). Additionally, both of Michigan’s starting big men, Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf, could be drafted into the NBA this summer.

Dusty May says Michigan has ‘street cred’ with recruits

Although Michigan was coming off one of its worst campaigns in program history, May was able to bring in nearly a completely new roster from the transfer portal last offseason. This time around, May said recruits know he means business.

“We were much better received this year than we were last,” May said on Wednesday’s edition of The Michigan Insider. “Last year we were as well, but I think when we were recruiting the big guys, because our FAU teams didn’t play that way, they questioned whether it would work. I think there’s a lot of dishonesty in recruiting, so I think they just kind of assumed that we were lying just to get them here and then we’d figure it out.”

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Not only did the seven-footer duo of Goldin and Wolf shine last season, but guards Tre Donaldson, Roddy Gayle Jr. and Nimari Burnett each had their moments as well. The Wolverines also got production off the bench from guard LJ Cason and forward Will Tschetter. May said Michigan’s ability to adapt gives it an edge.

“… This year it’s been different where we have a different style of play to sell, so when you’re going against competition and people that aren’t in your corner, they’re pointing out the things that are negative and aren’t gonna work,” May said. “So it gives us a little bit of flexibility where if it’s this type of player, we’ve had those guys do well, and if it’s this type of player, we’ve also had those guys do well.

“So I think it gives us a little bit of street cred that we’ll figure out the best way to use really talented players.”

What does Dusty May want Michigan to look like next year?

The Wolverines have gotten commitments from former UNC guard Elliot Cadeau, former Illinois forward Morez Johnson Jr. and former UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg in the transfer portal so far. Most considered Lendeborg the top recruit in the portal, but he could be headed to the NBA. Nonetheless, Michigan is making waves in the spring portal window.

May said he focused on priorities first.

“We’ve went out and addressed some of our immediate needs, but for the most part it’s been, ‘let’s continue to get really talented players that wanna get better and we’ll mesh them together (in) whatever the best way for us to play (is)’,” May said.

“But we also wanna be different than the Big Ten teams. I think if you go into it and you wanna be just like this team or that team, then you better have better players, or you better get breaks that night. We really don’t wanna rely on those things, we wanna have our own unique niche.”

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Now that May has at least most of his culture in place at Michigan, he knows what he’s looking for in a transfer player.

“We’re going to try to get the most talented, team-oriented players we can get, and we have confidence that when you have that, you’ll figure out a way to make it work at its best,” May said. “We obviously wanna be big. There’s certain things in the Big Ten to win a conference championship – you have to have positional size across the board – so we have that.”

It seemed every win was a nail-biter for the Wolverines last season. Sometimes it was Goldin, other times it was Wolf or Donaldson, but Michigan found ways to come out on top. May said he’s building the team to be able to do the same thing next year.

“The Big Ten now, it’s a lot different than it was with (the addition of) the west coast teams,” May said. “There’s a lot of different styles of play, so we re-committed to making sure we have a team that can win one way one night and a different way another night.”

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