TRANSCRIPT: Michigan HC Dusty May weekly press conference 12/15

Opening Statement

First of all, thank you guys for adjusting your schedule on late notice. We obviously have finals and we’re still trying to adjust our schedule daily to accommodate these guys to hopefully perform well in the classroom. But we’re excited for the week to dive into some self-scouting while preparing for an opponent and also doing a deep dive in what’s worked against us and what we’ve done well and having some solutions because once we get into Big Ten play, there’s not a lot of practice time.

You’re traveling across the country, the games are sporadic, so it’s tough to fall into a routine. So this is a big week for us to not let off the gas as we finish school and really treat it as an opportunity to learn and grow and prepare ourselves for obviously a tough, tough Big Ten slate.

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On Yaxel Lendeborg’s performance and the switching defensively

We switched one through four, so there’s a 25% chance he was going to be on number eight anyway. And he had him some throughout the game. But no, he took on that challenge, and I thought it was a great sign of a mature group that is making great decisions on the fly.

And even the other three guys, who, typically, he has to switch with, have to play off of him. And I thought it was a very, very intelligent basketball plays that he and his teammates did on the fly. We tried to adjust a little bit in the first half during possessions, and we picked up a foul by Morez, which put him on the bench. So we went at halftime with the mindset that we’ve got to figure out a way to slow down Coit, and I thought Mara getting to the level of the screen and above was pretty effective. And the three guys behind him and the point guard did a nice job of playing four. But overall, I thought late in the game when Yax just simply said, I’m not going to let him catch it, was probably the best way. And so it was, like I said, a great decision by him to go for that.

On how to stay sharp with long breaks in between games

Yeah, it’s always tough as a mid-major coach, or whatever we were, we tried to schedule the high majors just before Christmas and just after Christmas. We’ll remind our guys repeatedly that this is typically, and I don’t have the math behind it, but it seems like this is when the most upsets happen because the high major guys are usually looking forward to something other than the game. And so we challenged our guys today to use this week as not a coasting period.

But championships are won on December 15th, and 16th, and 17th. They’re not really won March 20th or whatever the day is of the Big Ten Tournament Championship, or when you clinch a Big Ten regular season championship. It’s won throughout that process.

We have all these quizzes throughout the year. It’s just another quiz. Can we handle this break with maturity, and can we show up and do what we’re supposed to do against LaSalle and a coach that we’re close friends with? They’re going to be well-coached, they’re going to be excited to play. So, can we do that and work on ourselves is the quiz that we need to pass.

On where he feels like he is with lineups and whether the blowouts have helped

It’s definitely skewed the numbers a little bit, but no, we found a lineup last game that we thought really clicked well for a number of reasons. And so obviously you don’t always get to choose because of foul trouble, and if someone’s playing really, really well, then they’re going to play a little bit more. We thought Yaxel and Elliot were clicking.

They played more minutes than they typically do, and the margin certainly dictated that as well. But yeah, we’re getting closer, but it’s more about settling into the rotation, yes, but finding good offense and good defense with whatever lineup is out there. That’s a sign of a good team when five guys can look at each other in a circle and figure out how do we create advantages on offense together, and then how do we get the things that are giving us problems stopped on the other end together as a group based on who we are and who they are?

On finding a fix for the turnovers

We threw a lot at the wall. I think that the things that really clicked are we’re focused more on simply getting possession over position. I think sometimes we throw a pass, and if it wasn’t going to lead to the layup, we would almost try to catch it and score instead of just getting possession of the ball.

And then even if we have to reset, that’s fine. But no, I think it’s more the guys are giving each other better spacing, and I told the staff this is the first time that I felt like we’re playing really fast, but we were playing slow. And I think that’s a sign of a really competent and potent offensive team.

And now it’s obviously against a young Maryland backcourt and a front line that hadn’t played a lot together after Payne’s injury. So it’s all perspective, but I do think we’re trying to generate offense together versus trying to make plays every time we touch it. Because if five guys are trying to make a play every time they touch it, instead of generating advantages, then you’re not going to look like a good offensive team. You’re going to have to settle for hitting hard shots to beat teams. And we don’t really want to have to settle for making low-value shots to beat good teams.

On Elliot Cadeau’s vision unlocking the offense

He’s special. I mean, his ability to manipulate the defense, I think even now, he’s just learning his teammates better. I mean, that’s probably the most underrated part of all this is guys get used to hooping with other guys. And I think he’s getting used to who likes it here, who wants it there, also more familiar with our system. We play differently than he played the last couple of years. They have a very unique system that they score a lot of points, and it’s good ball. But ours is just different.

And so I think a lot of it is just the guys are getting used to playing with each other, where we didn’t have that prep time for a number of reasons. But I don’t know if anyone in college basketball ever had the stability where they just roll out a team with great continuity early in the season anyway. But I think these guys have done it as well as anyone, especially factoring in we’ve only been here a year.

On being demonstrative towards the opposing bench

Yeah, you know, I think the demonstrative behaviors towards the bench, and we’ve told our, we warned our guys, they said, hey, if you say something to the bench, they’re going to get us back. It’s just the way it is. Typically, if one team gets one, later in the game, another team gets one. So I’ll give our guys a pat on the back that if you can stay above the fray and make sure that you don’t let your own ego hurt your team by giving up two points, then you’re showing an unbelievable sign of maturity. And so either our guys didn’t get caught, or they didn’t do it, but we encourage them just to stay above all that stuff.

And I don’t know what he said or what he did, but the officials obviously felt like, the part of it too is like, you know, we talked to Will Tschetter about it a lot. He’s been in the Big Ten for a while. And so he has a reputation, the officials know him. So when he goes to the floor hard, sometimes they assume it’s a splatter or a flop, right? And sometimes it is, and sometimes it’s not, but because they’ve seen it so many times and are familiar with him, they don’t always call it for him, even when he gets drilled. I think that happened last year in the NCAA tournament.

I felt like Texas A&M laid him out a couple times in front of the officials, and I don’t know if they just decided not to call it or they just felt like he flopped, but that’s kind of a byproduct of that. And obviously, Solomon has a reputation of being one of the most physical, hard-nosed players around. And so, probably anything he does might be even embellished because of his previous years of playing.

On whether he feels like his style could work in the NBA and whether he has any pro aspirations

No, I think any style is, here’s what we tell our team, everything works somewhere, nothing works everywhere. So NBA style, European style, when we initially started talking about the European style and the FIBA style, they were running flex into ball screens, and we ran flex in first grade. So the style is good ball, but I know Coach Daigneault well.

When he left Florida, I was going to Florida on staff as assistant for Coach White, and so him being a guy that he wasn’t one of the main assistants. So he had a different perspective, so I called him a lot, and he was, at that time, his now wife was still in Gainesville, so he was back in town a lot and came to workouts and through the office. Early in my career, I picked his brain a lot before he was such an accomplished coach.

Now I feel bad reaching out just because I know the time constraints, but when he was a G League coach, we took our teams to see his teams play. He’d work guys out in the summer. He actually took one of our role guys out in Florida on the blue. And so just a hundred conversations with him, I’ve picked up something from him a lot. No, I don’t really, this is all too big, I’ve said it repeatedly, this is all too big of a dream. I don’t think about where I could be coaching in the future.

I want to win on Sunday and get better this week, but I’m not a real goal-driven guy. I haven’t been since I was in my early 20s when I wanted to be a head coach at this date and do all this stuff. And then I had a wife and kids and realized, man, I want to enjoy going to work with a great team and a great staff every day. And that’s really the thing that makes me happy. I’m very, very simple. A great staff, team that wants to get better, and curious group that’s driven to be their best and shoot, I’m a negative 175, I’m a pretty happy dude either way.

On the balance of Lendeborg shooting the three

They’re worth three points, and so if he moves a step in, they’re worth two. We want to take what the defense gives him. If they close out aggressively, take away his three, we want him to drive and make the right play. If that means he’s shooting 27 times, I think that these games start to run together. I’m sorry, but I think the Villanova game is an indicator of a very bright, intelligent team as well because they were face guarding three guys on the perimeter and playing our pick and roll, two versus two, and I thought Elliott got super aggressive. He took what the game gave him.

And if I remember correctly, Yax only took three shots. Right now, he’s the runner-up in the POM for National Player of the Year, and he takes three shots in a game when we’re up 30 at the half. I mean, I don’t think there’s a testament to a team’s unselfishness more than that across the entire globe of basketball. But with that being said, no, we want him to take what the game gives him. We’re trying to add a few things to his game that he can use against certain matchups before he needs it, but no, he’s such a gifted passer. We felt like from day one, he needed to shoot a lot more threes because it helps us and it helps his long-term value, and that’s also… We want these guys to max out as individuals after they’re ready for any situation to max out as individuals, and if he’s going to play at the highest, highest level and be able to stay at the highest level, he needs to be able to shoot three-pointers efficiently and effectively and make the right decisions.

On the current events happening around the athletic department

You know, to be honest, I thought you were going to ask about the school shootings. And when you put things in perspective, I’m coaching a child’s game every day. There’s some real-life stuff happening across our planet and our globe. And I think the football stuff, there’s obviously some poor decisions made across the board. It is what it is. Everyone involved is a human being, and every decision impacts other human beings.

And so I pray for families that are impacted and their lives and their children are impacted. And so I don’t really have anything other than to say that. I don’t have the solutions to a lot of the world’s problems, but man, if we just all tried to be better human beings and better world civilians and whatnot, I think we’d all have a much greater impact. So that’s really about it.

On whether he has addressed his team about recent events

Yeah, obviously the shootings impacted one of our players, and he was shook up. And man, I felt bad that we were so focused on beating Maryland because it’s such a tough, tough thing whenever that happens. And it just seems to be happening more frequently. I don’t know if it is or not. But a lot of times things have always happened, and with the media coverage now, it’s just in front of us. But yeah, and even the stuff across campus.

We’re trying to, just like as parents, we’re trying to help develop independent thinkers and people that look at all issues from not only their own set of glasses, but also the glasses from everyone else around. And so yeah, we’ve talked about all this stuff. We have very open, honest, transparent conversations in our locker room.

And I think when you have a group that loves each other and a staff that loves our players as much as we do, we want them to always be thinking short-term and long-term. So yeah, most of our conversations are in the locker room. We like to keep them in the locker room.

On what he’s liked about his team playing in tough road environments

Well, first, they presented so many different challenges, and I think a roadmap of how to navigate those same types of offenses or defenses we’re going to see. But most importantly, I just think that a lot of times when you get into those tight, tight games, certain guys can elevate their play, and then certain guys can play tighter or more conservative. And what I’ve seen is a group that is unflappable.

They’re confident. They’re unafraid of failure. And so they keep their pedal to the metal and keep attacking and keep playing to win as opposed to playing with the fear of maybe we lose this and maybe we lose that game and what are people going to say and all the stuff that doesn’t really matter. And so that’s encouraging going forward that we didn’t look like we were afraid to fail.

On getting a young player to buy in like Trey McKenney compared to Lendeborg

So you’re asking the difference in getting Trey McKinney to buy into the way we play versus Yax? Well, number one, we recruit unselfish guys. So we try to bring in the right people in the locker room. Winning is important. Development’s important. Their happiness and everything that goes with that is not derived on each game.

It’s not the end of the world when you play poorly, and it’s not the greatest day ever when you have a good shooting night. It’s just we stay the course. I think it’s a lot easier when everyone in your locker room’s doing it, and when you choose not to, and your behavior shows something different, then you stand out like a sore thumb.

And right now, if a guy breaks our chain, then they’re going to stand out because there’s so much unselfishness and so much giving, and it could all change tomorrow. But as of right now, if anyone tries to break that chain, they’re going to look extremely selfish because you have a group that’s playing for themselves. I thought L.J. Cason played maybe his best game as a Wolverine, and I don’t know how many minutes he played, but it wasn’t nearly enough. And so I was kind of peeking out the side of my eye to watch him on the bench, and he was engaged. He was into it. And once again, that’s the cost of competing for championships and playing meaningful games.

I mean, you can always go down and play for a bad team. You can transfer down a level, whatever the case, and you can get more shots, and you can get more touches, and your usage can be higher. So as an individual, you simply have to weigh what’s really important and where do you think ultimately can help you do what you want to do.

And life after basketball is important, so if you stay the course at a place like this, usually life can be a lot better for you after because of the education you’re receiving, not just the degree but the education and the people you’re surrounded with here.

On whether teams will press more as others have struggled to find things that work against him

I mean, yeah. I mean, obviously, we haven’t done well enough on the defensive glass at times, and part of it is Maryland’s tradeoff. They’re sending four guys in, and so when we get it, we’re able to just go make them pay for it.

And so Villanova sent one to the glass, I felt like, and I don’t know if that was schematically or their players, just the floor positioning. And so, yeah, I mean, we didn’t handle post fires for five games, and now we’re turning post fires into baskets because those teams exposed some things that maybe were blind spots for us as a staff that we took for granted that we would just be able to do. For example, Will Tschetter’s foul was a great example of a guy who took on a double team, they were in a cylinder, he fought it off, and then Will created more space and leverage off the ball, and then he forced them into a foul, and we get two free throws over.

That would have been a turnover three weeks ago. So there’s a lot of things like that that we’re continuously working on. And once again, the enemy gets a vote, so the opponents are telling us what we need to work on a lot of times, too, because our game is so complex.

I mean, I was with Morez yesterday, and I stole a quote from Jim Crutchfield, a legendary coach at Nova Southeastern, and he asked, what should I do here? And I said, I’m going to steal a quote from a coach I really respect. This situation will probably never, ever present itself in a million years if you play basketball again, but I think this is one great option, here’s a great option, here’s a great option, and then you’ve got to decide on the fly which one you go with.

But that’s how cool our game is. We can all watch one possession and see something completely different that could help our team. So I want to give credit to our schedule and our opponents because they’ve exposed some things that we were short-sighted with our approach.

On whether it’s a personal talent to find unselfish players and how much he relies on his staff

I think when you take a job that there are zero expectations, you can kind of go figure out who you can coach and who you can’t, who you want to be around and who you don’t. And so we felt like we overachieved our first year as a staff, and a majority of our staff has been together, and then we’ve simply just added more guys like us. And so definitely I’m not going to pat myself on the back.

It’s a cumulative effort of our staff attracting the right guys and then us not, I guess, panicking with our decision-making. A lot of times in recruiting, you could be recruiting a guy, and then it comes down to the very last minute, and recruiting is quicker now, and the conversations are different. They sound a lot different than they sounded throughout.

And then you can either just say, yeah, yeah, yeah, and get it done, or you could say, no, no, no, no, no, this is not what this has been up until now. Everything seems to be changing, and you go in another direction, and now you’ve got to recruit for another five months because you didn’t fill that position. So there’s a lot that goes into it, but we’ve been very, very stubborn with bringing in guys that we want to be around every single day, and we want to coach, and we feel like they’ll appreciate the way we coach because everyone does it differently.

Like I said, everything works somewhere, and nothing works everywhere, and so we’ve just really bought into trying to find – there’s a baseline of talent, obviously, but bought into guys that have a certain background history that we think will fit with the way we do things because we’re not perfect either. We know what our blind spots are, and we try to make sure we bring in guys that can cover our blind spots also.

On how rare it is to find a combo like Cadeau, Johnson and Mara

Well, I think, once again, it’s the shared sacrifice. If two of them aren’t doing it, it doesn’t look like this. If Elliot wasn’t so unselfish, then some other guys would be more selfish. But that shared sacrifice, like I said, it’s just hard to break that chain when everyone’s doing it. I think we’re open, honest, and transparent in the recruiting process with what we think it will look like. It can always change, but we try to be very, very honest with painting the picture that we see in the future because coaches say it all the time.

Players determine playing time. I think we almost always have a good idea of who we’re going to play from the next game to the next season, whatever the case, based on our years of experience in coaching and what we value. And so it’s not lying to the guys beforehand and setting expectations too high.

We actually try to under-promise and over-deliver for the most part. A lot of it is just your great places, too, FAU, Michigan. They’re awesome places that a lot of people want to be at, and so we’ve selected what we feel like are the right guys, the right families, the right support systems, all of it. It’s not just us, and it’s not just them. It’s the whole nest.