TRANSCRIPT: Michigan HC Dusty May weekly press conference 3/2

Opening Statement

Well, we’re excited to be where we are this time of year. Getting ready to go on the road and face a really tough Iowa team, with only senior night remaining after that for the Big Ten tournament. It’s been nice to have a little bit of a breather more mentally than physically, and this is a big week for us as we need to continue to improve as a group.

On players making sacrifices to come to Michigan and compete for a championship

Yeah, I would say these guys, most players now have financial managers, and if their financial managers knew the sacrifices that they made, they wouldn’t be very happy with their clients, especially now as we talk to our guys about the recruiting process. Typically, you know, when we recruit, we don’t talk about the other teams or who else is recruiting. This is what we have to offer. This is what we are. This is how we think this benefits you and us because it has to be mutually beneficial, or at least the expectation that you’re both going to benefit from it. Michigan has to do well, and an individual has to do well for their career as well, but yeah, it’s just like when the Warriors won their championship.

It was Steph Curry signed a contract extension when he had a bad wheel, and he ended up getting healthy. If he had a bad wheel, that would have been a bad contract, but because he became an MVP of the NBA, now he’s on a great contract. The salary cap goes up at the same time, and they’re able to go get Kevin Durant. So, timing is everything, but looking at what these guys all sacrificed. It’s the reason that we’re in the position that we’re in because we know what type of caps are out there, and you know, we’re gonna get to that point. We’re confident, but in the meantime, we’ve got to keep getting great value for everyone that we bring in, and then we need to make sure that we overdeliver on what we promise in the process.

Up to this point, we feel like this has been very beneficial and everyone’s not at the end of the road but as of March 2nd, is today the 2nd? As of March 2nd, I think everyone is benefiting the way we thought this would happen, and there’s never a guarantee. There is a proof-of-concept, and there is a track record of helping players maximize their individual play while also winning and doing it together in an enjoyable way. So, we’re proud of that.

On when LJ Cason tore his ACL in the Illinois game

LJ, when he was hurt, we’re not exactly sure. At halftime, the training staff came and said basically he’s passed all of his jump tests. He just did the bike. He says he’s 100% ready to go, and I was surprised because I was expecting him to be out, and I said, you know, what about the tests? They said both of his knees are loose, so it’s hard, like we don’t feel that anything’s torn. He comes back in, he lands funny again. So, I don’t know when, he doesn’t know when it happened. It’s obviously unfortunate for him because he was playing so well. But, you know, when you land funny, when an ACL pops on a non-contact injury, you’re like, man, like what could we have done different? When it happens on a funny, quirky play, usually that’s when you’re like, those are the ones that they’re not preventable.

On keeping Elliot Cadeau out of foul trouble with Cason unavailable

As far as Elliot, yeah, this will force Elliot to be, I guess, much more solid with his defensive decision-making when it comes to fouling, and he doesn’t have that insurance policy anymore named LJ behind him. LJ’s came in and carried the load for several games for our group, and so that’s not there anymore. But, this is a great opportunity for Roddy and Trey and Nimari to play more, and those guys are really good players, and our rotation’s been nine, and nine, I think, is too deep. I mean, that’s playing too many guys if you want to optimize everyone.

But, we felt like we had nine guys that deserve to play that gave us a different element, and there was not one of those nine that we felt like we could cut out of the rotation because of how good they are. So, we look at this as another challenge but it’s also an opportunity for guys to play a little bit more, to play longer periods, to play through a mistake, to play a little bit different role and we do feel like these guys are a lot better than they were earlier this year and so we’re prepared to handle whatever whatever comes at us.

On where Friday’s defensive performance ranks considering Illinois’ elite KenPom metrics

It’s, I mean, I don’t think it was one of our best performances ever for a number of reasons, but it was really good, and we’ve had a lot of really good performances this year on that side of the ball. I think that’s probably why we’ve set the bar pretty high. But those are great points because, you know, sometimes when you’re up 20, and you decide to play defense, then you or whatever, there’s a minute left, and some old-school people want you to take two shot clock violations. I mean, you’re hurting your metrics, you’re hurting all the things that go into seeding and the modern part of the game, but you said it, we gave up 11 points essentially without our defense being our defense, and so it could have been even better, but just proud of our effort. We fought, we competed, we played well together, we covered for each other, we looked like a team that was motivated but also still fresh mentally this late in the season, which is a good sign going forward.

On when he learned about Cason’s ACL injury

I was actually here, and he was here when I found out. I went and talked to him, and then when I found out, I texted the players, and that’s it. I mean, we called the people around him, called his mentors, called his coaches, his family, I mean, just typical stuff.

On whether ‘typical stuff’ is surgery timeline and return dates

We discussed it yesterday.

On whether Cason could return to action next season

That’s certainly been discussed as well, and then that impacts the recruiting decision-making and those things. Right now, we’re still trying to figure out when he’s going to have it, what’s the timeline, does it make sense to go ahead and sit out next year. That’s certainly on the table, but right now, we haven’t made any definitive decisions because all the information is so inconclusive, but that’s certainly on the table.

On balancing winning the Big Ten Tournament and figuring out what rotations look like post-Cason injury

Yeah, I was talking with a coaching mentor of mine about a month or two ago, and he obviously thought we had a chance to win a Big Ten regular-season championship and said, Coach Knight didn’t care about the Big Ten tournament at all. He almost, I don’t want to say preferred to lose, because as a competitor, you never, it didn’t bother him to lose, because then you could start preparing for the NCAA tournament. I just don’t know with the competitors we have in our locker room if we could ever go into a tournament setting and a tournament as big as this is for us, as far as who we’re playing, getting better things like that, and not try to win it.

So I think that would be our mindset. It will be to go there. Sometimes there are coaches that discredit the Big Ten tournament. Whoever wins this tournament this year and what we think is the best league in the country, then we’re gonna have a lot of respect for them and the job they did, because whether they win three games in three days or four games in four days against really good teams, that’s not that simple. Now, it is different than winning a 20-game regular season or an 18-game or even a 16-game or others obviously, but now with the schedule fluctuations, it’s not as if there’s a truly fair winner in every league. I looked at the ACC, some teams don’t play each other at all, some play twice, some leagues are weighted top and bottom.

I know our last year in the American, the team that won it was predicted to be in the bottom so they played all of the bottom teams twice and then they happen to play the best teams only at home and so that the scheduling favors certain teams at some point. I just think we’re gonna go, and we’re gonna compete like crazy at Iowa on Thursday. We’re gonna come back on senior night and try to send our seniors out the right way and for our fans and celebrate with our fans, and then we’re gonna try to go to the Big Ten tournament and try to find a way to win three games in three days, and then go to NCAA tournament and try to win that first-round game and get to whatever’s next. I just I can’t see us doing anything other than that, plus you get better by playing these games. I think one game reps are as valuable as 50 practice reps.

On whether Trey McKenney can handle more of the on-ball duties at guard and the confidence they can continue to play at a high level

Can Trey take over minutes with the ball in his hands? Yes, absolutely, he’s proved that time and time again. He’s done it in practice and we don’t really come down and stop to get organized, it’s more of someone on the court needs to huddle us, get us organized, give the team the calls, the commands. Trey’s got a great voice, he’s improved. We’re gonna play these games out. I mean, Roddy, Trey, Yax, I mean, we have confidence. Part of it too is we try to play practical basketball where if Boswell’s guarding Trey, then it probably won’t be him that possession. Boswell’s guarding Elliot, LJ brings it up I mean, that’s kind of how — if he has an elite defender, it’s not that we don’t have confidence that our guy can initiate offense with elite defenders, just why would you exert that much energy emotionally and physically just to get a ball entered whenever you have so many other capable weapons? It’s just not how we play. Yax, Morez and Adai’s a trigger for us against certain matchups and against Iowa, the way they pressure bigs, I don’t know if he’ll be that that much of a trigger guy. We have a lot of Trey McKinney’s, he’s a hell of a player. He’s good with the ball in his hands, he’s good without the ball in his hands and he’s continued to improve. But yeah, we’re confident in him, Roddy, Nimari played point guard here the year before we got here. Obviously, it’s a different style of play, but we have enough to overcome what LJ brought to the team, and we’re obviously losing a lot. LJ was playing as well as I saw Rothstein said he was the best backup point guard in the country. I don’t know if he’s the best backup point guard in the country, but I can’t think of one that’s better. We’re losing a lot, but, once again, we’re not gonna sit here and look at it from that angle, we’re gonna look at this is an opportunity for all these other guys to do a little bit more and they’re more than capable, so it’s on us to find the right rotations and situations but without a doubt we have a lot of confidence in our roster.

On having success on the road this season

We’ve had a great level of focus and togetherness and we’ve we found different things to rally around. I think what our guys — they play for stuff that’s real. They love playing with each other, they love supporting each other, and coaches throw that word around a lot, but these guys, really, they care for each other as people, as teammates. They care for each other’s careers. There hasn’t been one moment all year where we felt like there was any envy in our locker room, and when you have the discrepancy of salary, everybody knows what Yaxel makes, and everybody knows that no one else is in the same ballpark. That could be something that that hurts your locker room, but, our guys, they’ve just been great, and I think that’s a big part of our success, that they genuinely care about each other, and in playing the game with each other the right way, so I think that’s the biggest that’s the biggest reason we’ve been successful on the road.

On keeping focus with the conference clinched and Iowa fighting for NCAA Tournament seeding

We haven’t practiced yet. There are some things that haven’t been done, and it’s not what’s going to drive us, but you for the first time since maybe, you guys correct me, ’76 that went undefeated on the road in the Big Ten. I think that’d be pretty cool to go through it unblemished, I think it’d be the first time anyone’s ever won 19 games in the Big Ten, is that correct? I’m assuming when Penn State came into the league, they play 20. This is all just me off the cuff, and I don’t think anyone’s ever won 19. Is that correct? So we have a couple milestones that we could chase, but that stuff’s pretty shallow.

When the ball is tipped you know we’re not gonna talk about that stuff, maybe it helps us prepare with a little bit more edge, but when that ball is tipped up, we expect our guys to compete like they have all year and try to win that possession. Certainly, leading up to that, we’ll talk about it, and everyone’s motivated by something different, and if that hits a chord with a couple of our guys and allows them to prepare a little bit better with more intentional focus, than we’ll take it

On whether he’s had any communication with Tom Izzo and whether the last game lingers into the next match up

I have not. Zero communication. No, nothing I can think of. It’s gonna be a heated battle. Make no bones, it’s gonna be there. The stakes are gonna be high, this is what a rivalry game is supposed to feel like. It’s gonna be a sold-out arena on senior night, both teams playing for NCAA seeding, for Big Ten tournament positioning seeding, all those other things. But that stuff doesn’t really matter when two really good teams are playing, and they’re playing at a high level.

They’ve been fun to watch. Look, I’m a fan of the game and I respect stuff that’s real and what they’ve done the last week or two, they’re playing at a high level. That’s going to be a tough, tough game but all attention is on Iowa. When I’ve watched their games it hasn’t been as far as like thinking about our game versus them, it’s just same way I watched Purdue and Ohio State yesterday, like, man, Ohio State, what a performance. All the other stuff, look I mean, very little was said initially, and you guys, their guys everybody does their job, and it brought a lot of attention, stories, clicks, and everything else that goes with it. I still don’t feel like anything was really said other than that there are some plays that they’re on film.

On how Cason has reacted to his injury news

I haven’t seen him today. As of yesterday, he was fine. He knows he has a challenge in front of him. As far as his procedures or whatever he does, him being still part of our team and with us and experience everything that these guys experience. We’ve said it from the beginning, when adversity hits, our response is good. So, okay LJ, now you’re gonna appreciate the game even more. You’re going to learn to battle through something that you’ve had to battle through before.

Even your long-term career goals, he was never gonna make it at the highest level of basketball based on his DNA or God-given talents. Obviously, he’s very talented, but he’s gonna have to get there by being a better basketball player and a smarter player, so this allows him to dive into the film, to get his body right, to continue to grow mentally and then find a way to to be the best player he can be when he needs to be for those reasons. It’s gonna be difficult, it’s hard, especially whenever you’re playing the way he was playing. Every single game was playing better than the last, and he played well in the game before, so his habits had changed. His maturity was coming along at the right level for a college sophomore, so you know it stinks, but at the end of the day, we’re gonna we’re gonna attack it as the only way to look at it is this is going to be positive even though it doesn’t feel like it.

On what has been the most impressing thing about Yaxel Lendeborg

The thing that’s been most impressive about Yaxel is how great a teammate he is and how much he’s embraced our culture and the way things are done here. It’s been difficult, there have been tough days, and he stayed the course. He’s fought through it. Also, how he’s embraced the challenges. You saw him picking up Wagler full court 94 feet every single possession with fire in his eyes.

Whenever you’re as heralded as he was and you’re moving up a level, you can anticipate that he’s gonna have that type of fire and juice you just never know. I think those are the things, and then just I’ll keep going back to it, how much respect our guys have for him because he’s so unselfish as a guy that came in and with the reputation that he had.

On Iowa HC Ben McCollum and the job he’s done with the program in his first year

What coach has done there, what Ben’s done is impressive. From day one, to establish an identity that wins in the Big Ten, he brought his group with him, and so a lot of those guys had a year of institutional knowledge. I could go on and on, I’ve learned a lot from Ben over the years. I didn’t know him, but I watched his team, I watched DII, DIII. I’ve got a DIII team I’m gonna study this offseason, so I watched different levels of elite basketball coaches and teachers. He reached out after our Final Four year and the first time he called we probably had an hour conversation and we’ve talked regularly since then about a number of things.

We’ve talked throughout this year, but all communication has ceased for obvious reasons and so we’re excited to compete with him because we’re gonna be better. We’re gonna learn a few things from competing against his teams. Sturtz, man, he’s fun to watch. You talk about a guy that plays every possession on both sides of the ball, who can manipulate the game, can manipulate defenses. He’s special. We’ve had our guards for the last couple of years watching certain things that he does, and we’ve taken a few things that he does as an individual that we can learn from, and it’s been fun to watch them. They’ve had an odd season where they’ve really elevated their play against the top-half teams and then against some of the teams at the bottom, probably, the matchups had something to do with it but they haven’t played as well against those teams. For them to be in the position they’re in, I don’t think they’re competing for the NCAA tournament, but I think they could lose their next three games and still be in, I’d certainly feel comfortable saying that, but they are playing for seeding they’re playing because it’s not a microwave deal. They’re trying to establish a championship-level program, and we’re in their way.

At the end of the day, that’s how we felt about it last year. Even when we were eliminated from contention, there were teams that we felt like these guys are in our way if we’re going to compete for regular season championships, so he’s trying to do the same thing, to build a sustainable long-term championship-level program, and he’s on his way to doing that.

On the impact Will Tschetter, Nimari Burnett and Roddy Gayle have had on the program with senior night approaching

It’s easy to look at what guys do on the basketball court statistically and things like that, and then you measure what they’ve done behind the scenes, and those three guys, their teammates love playing with them. I think that’s, to me, your work ethic, from a basketball standpoint, your work ethic, and do guys love playing with you are, to me, that’s kind of it. If I was a basketball player now and they said people don’t like playing with them, that would crush me to my soul.

You could say a lot of other things and shrug it off, but if you said he doesn’t work hard, and guys don’t like playing with them, that would be tough. That’d be a tough pill to swallow, and these guys, everyone loves playing basketball with these three guys. They love sharing a locker room, they love being around them. They love the impact they have on the team and they’ve made it about the team instead of themselves.

All three could be producing more somewhere else individually, but they they sold out to this to try to do this together, and they knew we’re going to bring in some some talented players because they recruited them and they really, really recruited these guys aggressively and that’s a big part of why they’re here and also why they fit in so well. When they got here, all locker rooms aren’t the same, and these guys from day one welcomed everyone new to our program with open arms, even though it might affect their playing time and their money and their stats and all the stuff that goes with it in today’s climate, so I can’t say enough about those guys and whenever the fans talk about them, they’re probably going to remember the leading scorers and this and that. Whenever our coaches and our team and players and managers, everyone talked about the success we’ve had, we know that those guys from year one to year two are a big, big part of our success. There’s no way it happens if those guys aren’t here doing what they do, and I think all three of those guys, they’re gonna have a nice stretch run going forward.