One assistant Dusty May should bring back to Michigan basketball

The news about Michigan basketball is coming fast and furious. Dusty May, the Wolverines news head coach, has been active in the transfer portal, making contact with a bunch of potential targets.

No, the three All-Conference players from FAU that Michgan basketball fans have an eye on, haven’t entered the transfer portal yet, but if they do, U-M is a good bet to land them. The Wolverines should at least have the inside track.

Nothing is guaranteed in the transfer portal though. However, the decision by FAU to make an outside hire, something May recommended against, was interesting. It probably helps Michigan in its effort to land FAU players/assistants for the coaching staff.

 Building a coaching staff is on the agenda

While we are in the early stages of roster building, May also has to build a staff. You need coaches who can recruit, coach the style you want, and fit into the culture you want to build.

You have to feel like May and John Beilein talked about assistant coaches and a potential staff during their meeting last weekend. May, like Beilein, is known more as an offensive guru. He said in his opening press conference he hopes Michigan basketball “scores a lot of points.”

It’s great if the offense works together like a Jazz band. That’s how it ran under Beilein, but you have to play winning basketball on the other end of the floor too. In the 2022-23 campaign, the Owls ranked 34th according to Kenpom in adjusted defense. This past season, they dropped to 96th.

That’s not going to cut it if Michigan wants to start winning again and competing for national championships again. That was the standard under Beilein and should be the long-term goal under May. Michigan should compete to win the Big Ten and get to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.

One assistant Dusty May should consider for Michigan basketball

One move that might help is bringing an old Beilein assistant back into the fold. I’m talking about Luke Yaklich, who was essentially the defensive coordinator for Michigan basketball when it went to the national title game in 2018.

Yaklich moved on to become a head coach but didn’t have much success at UIC and was fired after this season. Beilein trusted him and May could use a defensive mind like that on staff, so who knows, maybe it will work out.

Saddi Washington is in the mix, although he’s also a candidate for a head coaching job at Detroit-Mercy. Former FAU assistants Kyle Church and Todd Abernethy are also names to watch, although I don’t see both assistants following May but that’s just my opinion.

You need to have some Midwest ties. May gets that from his Big Ten days. I also wouldn’t mind Washington staying on or LaVall Jordan — another former Beilein assistant who was once the head coach at Butler. Dane Fife is a name that’s been mentioned too.

The former Indiana assistant would make sense. Yaklich would too, plus a combination of Washington/Jordan and a former FAU assistant could be the perfect staff. May probably has other ideas, but all of those targets seem realistic and if there is one addition I’d love to see — Yaklich would be it.

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