TRANSCRIPT: Michigan HC Dusty May's weekly press conference 11/17

Opening Statement

We’re excited to be back home 3-0 after obviously not feeling like we’re playing anywhere near our potential or our best, but we feel like we know ourselves a little bit better today than we did a week ago.

[Sign up for Maize & Blue Review for $1 and get PLUS access for 7 days!]

On his thou,ghts on the guard play and what more he needs to get out of the group

Obviously we need to take care of the basketball, but the turnover piece, I think LJ is a good example where sometimes he’s getting in the paint, and that’s what paint touches — we’re not doing a great job of spacing and relocating. And our style is unique, and we are bringing in guys from a lot of different places, so it takes some time. I think when you look at the guys that are doing it the best, they’re the guys that were here last year. We’re encouraged that based on the good possessions we have had and comparing them to the poor possessions that we have some great teaching points.

On whether it’s easier to have a set starting five or do it on a game-by-game basis

I think it’s easier for them if we have a set rotation and we know what’s what. In fact, I can’t imagine it’s not easier for a player. Now, the flip side of it is, I’ve been a part of teams where we felt like we had a lot of parity. We have nine really good players, so when a guy doesn’t have his best stuff, say your best player has a 2 for 12, you still find a way to win, you don’t have to count on him, you’re not disappointed in him. You never feel like this guy or that guy has to carry you to win. You have a cumulative effort, and so we could be that team.

We’re still figuring out what are going to be our ways of scoring when the game slows down. We call them cheat codes in-house. What are our cheat codes going to be? We knew what they were going to be because we coached Vlad. We didn’t know that Danny was going to be as proficient as he was late game. Right now, we’re still trying to figure out what our cheat codes are going to be.

No matter what type of game, we can go to this to calm us down or get a basket or whatever the case. Right now, we’re still searching for the right combinations. We’ll probably tinker with the lineup again to find those. We have three games of that now with our roster. Even the first exhibition game, we’re missing Adai and Morez. We don’t really have data from those games as far as lineup combinations.

We do have a three-game sample size. We have some combinations that have played really well together on both sides of the ball. We have some other lineups that have been really good on one side of the ball, but not so efficient or proficient on the other side of the ball. I can see us tweaking for longer than we would like to, but that’s part of it.

On whether there’s a set timeline to establish a starting five

I think it’s inconclusive. The sooner the better, but it might not happen. You don’t ever know. If you have a guy that’s on the fringe and he comes in and the team functions better with him on the court and he brings this or that quality to the game, obviously, we probably need to figure out a way to implement that. On any given night, we have to have a group. I think we have enough really good players. If it’s not happening for you, you have to be willing to sacrifice your minutes that game because someone else is playing well. We need more guys playing well.

On Dusty May being 15-4 in four-point games at Michigan

Play good basketball possession by possession so you’re not in the position is obviously the answer that we want. Why are we 15-4? We never panic. We believe we’re going to win. I think we have a culture of belief that we’re going to find a way, and we’re not terrified of the results. We truly are process-oriented.

I care much more about having a very spirited practice, a very intentional, well-planned film session today than I do the result of the game. We preach to our players that we want them to be happy for the win and all that. As a coach, I’m not terribly happy when we win and we don’t play well and perform well.

The process is extremely important. I do think because we live it and we don’t just say, No, I’m not happy as the head coach that we won. I’m happy that it beats the alternative. It’s better than the other column. No, I think we need to start playing better basketball. Over a five-month season, I also think that we’re humming along right now.

I’ve been on teams several places where you’re humming along this time of year, and then you just have different problems. We just need to get a little bit better. That’s it. We need to figure some things out. I think our guys are in a good space mentally where they’re learning each other, they’re trusting each other. I think our culture and our environment in the locker room is healthy and strong. That’s the most important thing. We’re probably going to not play well every game. We’re probably going to lose a few here and there.

That’s what the numbers would say. Most importantly, are our guys still excited to come to work to improve? Do they still look like a connected group? Those are the things that are going to allow us to be really good in March.

On Trey McKenney’s role moving forward

He’s carved out a role now where he’s playing minutes in winning time and crunch time. I think his consistency, he doesn’t make very many mistakes. When he does, they’re over-aggressive mistakes. Those are the ones we can live with. His focus, his concentration, him being a team-first guy.

Those are all the things outside of him being a good scorer, a good passer, and a good defender that are keeping him on the court. I think his role will continue to grow and grow as long as he continues to minimize his mistakes and play efficient basketball. He’s gotten a little bit better out of the five games. He’s gotten a little bit better each game outside of the box score. We’re very, very pleased with where Trey is now because he’s proven to be very, very dependable.

On finding out where Yaxel Lendeborg fits best on offense

It’s kind of like Morez. When Morez is playing the four one minute and then he’s playing the five, his role on both sides of the ball just flipped at the blink of an eye. That’s not easy for a guy that hasn’t done it. Some guys have done that. That’s the way they’ve always played. It’s what’s going to make us dangerous later on.

But right now, there’s a transition. Even with Yaxel playing on the court with Morez and Adai, Yaxel and Roddy have to be different Yaxel and Roddy’s than they do when, say, Adai is out of the game and they’re playing just with Morez. Or when we played Will and Yax together at the four-five a few minutes.

Those transitions, we haven’t done a good enough job of, in real time, getting them to understand that. Our spacing has been very, very poor. If I had to say one thing other than decision making on the turnovers, our spacing has been the thing that I’ve been most disappointed in at times. And it doesn’t always have to be pretty. When you’re playing big and you’re grinding it out. But, for example, against TCU, our biggest lineup, I don’t remember how many, ten possessions, whatever it’s called, ten possessions, had a .37 DER. .37 is pretty good. But the offensive efficiency rate was .80. And that’s with the turnovers, that’s with everything that goes with it. So at the end of the day, if you can produce half a point better per possession, every single possession you’re on the court, that’s a good lineup.

Now, is it going to be aesthetically the way we want it? No. Is it going to be fun to watch on TV? Probably not. Unless you just really want Michigan to win. And so we’re still figuring those things out. But back to that, yes, we have to figure out a way to get Yaxel in space better. And he has to trust his jump shot more. He’s a good shooter, but he’s not trusting his three-point shot. When he’s open, he needs to shoot it. But when you look at our big possessions, our dunks and layups and wide-open shots, he played a big role in most of those possessions. You look at Adai’s seal dunk late, that’s a Yaxel post feed.

When you look at the cuts to the basket, it’s usually started with a quick swing from Yax to Roddy, quick drive, and then our spacing was good and our cutting was good. So, just finding different ways. But he’s also never been a guy that demands the ball, that wants the ball. He just wants to play good basketball. So he’s a unique one where he’s not going to grab the rebound and push if the point guard’s asking for the outlet because he’s such a good teammate. In reality, we have to do a better job as a group when he has the ball, and getting out in space and letting him use his creative abilities to make plays happen, and whatnot.

So I think that’s one thing that we learned from Danny last year, and this actually came from me over here and the players talking about it. Danny was at his best, or at least it seemed, when he defensive rebounded and led our break. We’ve always talked about our guards rebounding, but that’s not the true guard.

Yaxel being a really good rebounder, if he can rebound and lead our break, I think we can add maybe three or four more really efficient possessions throughout the course of the game. So there’s one way. But yeah, we don’t have a lot of our package in because we’re still tinkering with lineups and what do these guys really, really do well within the framework of how we play.

But to answer your question, we need to get him in space more. We need to have him create more. We need to have him trust his jump shot more. So yeah, those things will come with time, but he’s going to continue to get better. Even when he’s not playing well, he still hits 14 and 10 and 5 and 4, whatever it is. So he impacts the game in a lot of ways.

On the play of the starting guards through three games

Nimari, yeah, I think the first game or two he didn’t play up to his standards. And some of it’s the rotations. But after each game, I think if you have a really good team, after you review the film, you say these two or three guys deserve to play more in that game. And then going forward, they’re probably going to get the nod a little bit more. So that’s on them to continue to play well and earn more. I thought he played well at TCU.

Sometimes he got lost in the shuffle with having so many guys. But his play, we don’t win the game without some of the invisible plays he made. The free throws, the spacing. And so, yeah, obviously it’s not the start that he anticipated, I think, based on his work. But I think we told the guys that yesterday in the film. I think if you polled our entire locker room, is everyone happy with the way they’re performing compared to what their expectations were? I would say they would be a 0%. And I don’t think that’s uncommon for any team. You spend all off-season working on your game, and you feel good about it. And success is never a straight line to the top. And so, this is part of it. We’re going to figure it out. And Nimari’s going to be a big part of that.

[Speaker 5]

You had trouble with the smaller guards getting blitzed. And this is going to really be a problem, I think, against San Diego State, who’s number one in the country in creating turnovers. I wonder if there’s any possibility of running half-court offense through Yaxel.

Minimizing the smaller guards getting hammered off of the high ball screens. Or if there’s something else you can do beyond just getting better at it.

On his thoughts on sports gambling

Wow, yeah. That’s a complicated one. Because, obviously, the prop bets are probably the biggest issue. But now, I think that it’s become so common that the algorithms are tracked. I’ve read several articles in the off-season about this. The college baseball scandal was on maybe a $50 bet on a line that was never bet on.

So, obviously, when you eliminate the local bookies, and you put it all under the framework of whatever’s going on, listening and monitoring, I think that’s probably the best way to police it. And you’re probably never going to be safe. Because if you give anyone information, and then they bet on a line that makes no sense, then you could be in trouble.

So, it’s almost so bad now that your attendance should be up. If someone ever asked me any question related to our team, they’d get muted. Because there’s no answer I could give that could possibly… If I gave them any answer, you could possibly incriminate yourself. It might be just a buddy asking a question, because he likes watching the team play when it comes to games. I don’t answer any questions just because I’m terrified of that stuff.

And, obviously, the prop bets of your first pitch is going to be a ball, or your first pitch is going to be above 93 miles per hour. Obviously, there’s one side of it. A lot of these fantasy leagues and the gambling brings eyeballs to our sport. Let’s not be naive about the TV ratings and all this stuff. Being able to purchase a quarter or a half or whatever is part of it. But those of us that are in it need to stay as far away as possible as we can and continue to educate and put up guardrails.

Because at 18 to 22, you might not know that you’re actually given information when you’re just having a conversation about your basketball team, which is what you spend most of your time on. So, it’s complicated. I don’t like the prop bets. Obviously, gambling is part of our society and culture. I would think betting on games would be enough.

[Speaker 4]

Which app do you use? Pardon? Which app do you use?

[Speaker 1]

I don’t do fantasy. I don’t, yeah. I’m joking.

Yeah. If I gamble, it’s 10 push-ups based on something one of my sons.

On getting Venmo requests from gamblers after lost bets

Most of the time, if you get a direct message, and you try to minimize your social media during the season, but if you get a direct message, you almost can just assume that this guy, I mean, anyone that’s really mad at us after a game, that’s angry the way some of these people voice their displeasure, I just assume it’s gambling, and I feel bad for them because they lost their money, but that’s the decisions they made, not the decisions we made. We’re doing our best, but none of that bothers me. I don’t think there’s anything a fan can say that will really ruffle my feathers at this point just because I don’t know you. I don’t really care what you say.

On the challenge Middle Tennessee State presents

Well, first of all, Nick is an old friend from league days. We had some great battles with him. He’s a good basketball coach. That’s a good program, and they’re going to be athletic. They’re going to have guys that can score the ball. There’s versatility across the board.

They’ll be able to spread us out, drive us, and so they’ll present a number of challenges, and then obviously just us taking care of the basketball. They’re not quite as physical as the Cincinnati, but not a completely different makeup, so they’re going to present a number of challenges. We need to play better.

On adjusting defending with the number of blocks the team has

Yeah, that was actually something we learned from the Wake game. A couple times, our bigs blocked it, and our guards were anticipating getting out, and it almost burned us. It almost cost us on several occasions, so that’s one of the things where if you’re playing with Adai Mara, I think we learned two things.

We’ve learned two things over the last three weeks. You have Rez and Adai behind you, even Yaxel, you have to be very disciplined defensively of not fouling and having smackdowns, because they’re going to clean it up behind you most of the time.

And then the other guys on the perimeter, you’ve got to resist the urge to get out and transition too early because those are loose basketballs, and we’ve got to come up with them and trust that we can score on some of these three-on-two or four-on-two breaks.

On what he’s liked from Roddy Gayle and where he needs more from him

We’ve been very grateful for his leadership. He’s been a strong voice in the locker room. That’s outside of his ability to get in the paint and make plays, and I think his decision-making continues to improve as he gets more comfortable playing with each other.

But when you look at his possessions, a lot of his good decisions, you know, we say the bad decisions are a result of bad spacing. A lot of his good decisions is because we played with good spacing and our principles of play were executed in those situations. So his ability to get by as a defender has been something that we’ve really needed because we haven’t been able to execute well.

Part of our execution problem is just early in the year, we face switching every single day when we play live basketball. We play a lot live, so as far as screening, traditional screening, setting up screens, using screens, not getting knocked off is so different when you’re playing against switching and non-switching. We haven’t transitioned well.

We, as a staff, haven’t done a good enough job of stressing that transition and figuring out different ways. Our walk-on group, most of the fall, all three have been injured at times, so we haven’t been able to use them as non-switching defenders like we anticipated going into the season. We’ve got to do a much better job of that going forward.

On helping Adai Mara when he sees double-teams

Even the turnovers and the doubling of ball screens, our philosophy is if you put two on the ball, we pass it and we play four on three. It’s not easy to create an advantage against good teams, San Diego State. TCU is typically one of the best defensive teams.

Coach Dixon is known as a defensive coach, and they’re tough to play against and they’re physical. I think we posted Adai probably five times, and I think we got three wide-open shots, and then we had two turnovers. The first turnover, we were playing to the post, inviting the double team, and we were going to play off the closeouts.

We thought he got fouled. He drug his pivot foot a couple inches through the contact so he learned that despite talking about having these big, strong guys getting underneath you and getting in your shoulder, you still have to stay strong and hold your position. Good learning lessons for him, but until we have a change of philosophy, if you’re going to put two on the ball, we would like to pass it and play four on three. We haven’t found those windows, and we haven’t created the space and separation to get it out of our hands because our guards aren’t the biggest. If you’re 6’7″, you just play on the top and go with it. We’re still figuring out those windows and that way to play because it is new to our guys.

On Elliot Cadeau rebounding and pushing the pae

I’m probably most pleased with Elliot’s competitive spirit, and obviously, he didn’t have his best game against TCU. We’re all entitled to not be our best every night. I think every other game he’s been a major, major component of all of our success, but probably the thing that I’m most pleased with Elliot is his defensive rebounding.

When you look at his rebounds, they’re not empty rebounds where they’re just the ball drops. There’s four or five of us, and I happen to grab it. He’s bailed out our group several times going in with athleticism and desire to get the ball. I think he had eight against Wake if memory serves correct. He’s had five another game. These games start running together now as we start watching the film from the last game and the game before that.

Very, very pleased with his defensive rebounding, and I would assume if I went back and looked at it, we had really good possessions when he was able to defensive rebound and push. My point is when those other guys defensive rebound and push, we’ve got to give them the same space and separate up the floor so we can pitch it ahead and play three on three. The turnovers, we probably talk about it internally as much as you guys do and as much as our fans do.

We could go back and play in the 330s tempo and walk it up and guarantee that we’re going to get a shot, but then when you look at how effective we are pitching ahead to Roddy Gayle in a three-on-three situation and ripping and getting to the rim, and now they’re off balance. When you factor in our stats and pitch-ahead transition threes, we typically rebound, offensive rebound about 45% of them, which is almost a free three every other possession. It’s finding out the best way for us to be really, really good in March.

We don’t really want to scrap what we think is the best way for us to become, because people aren’t happy with the way the sausage is being made right now. We’re ten times more disappointed because we spend a lot of time and thought on it, and it’s not happening the way we want it to. At the end of the day we have to find the best way for this team to win and if we were sitting here and we had three turnovers and we got our butts pounded on the glass, I’d probably be more disappointed because that I would think would be a result of softness and lack of aggression and I don’t think you can ever win big if you’re soft. There’s always trade-offs, we’ve got to get better at it, and it’s on all of us to fix. I think that’s going to do it. No recurring questions.

On his thoughts on the 2026 recruiting class

When you look at the class, the commonality is that they have positional size, they’re skilled, they’re smart, they value team, they value development, and they want to be a part of the Michigan culture and environment.

On wanting recruiting to be the lifeblood of the program versus the transfer portal

That’s the way we prefer to do it. I’m never going to sit here and say we’re pro-portal or anti-portal or pro-high school or anti-high school because our job is to fill the best team every single year, and hopefully that’s with returners and guys that value everything else that this place offers. That’s the number one goal because in today’s climate, these guys need us more now than they ever have.

Their lives are much more, but yes, they’re better because of NIL and all this other stuff and transfer portal, but it’s much more complicated. Today, you have people making calls on behalf of our players, their players, thinking about next year when we still have 32 games to go, and that’s just, it is what it is. Hopefully, the players are shielded from that as much as possible, and so we would like guys that are here that can build, lay a foundation, and build on Michigan and what we really value. So I’m not married to anything other than having great guys that really embrace being a part of the way we do it.

On his vision for Malachi Brown and what he likes from him

His upside, his defensive acumen, he’s got a nose for the ball, and has elite instincts, athletic, he’s left-handed, love lefties. I just think he’s got a great upside, and he’s very, very appreciative and grateful of the opportunity to wear the maize and blue and be a part of what we’re trying to build.

On why he likes lefties

Oh man, I’m not a baseball guy since I was young, but there’s some, we have all these patterns and movements encoded in our brain that we don’t even realize are there, and a lot of them are off the same movements in what are most basketball players. I just think there’s an inherent advantage of being a left hander, of throwing off the rhythm and cadences and I think you guys would know as a beeline group that he wanted one right handed guard and one left handed guard for his two guard front offense because typically we’re really good going one way and we’re not great going another so there’s a lot of layers to it but I just think it throws off, it allows you to run certain plays where the natural passing angles for a lefty or whatever the case I just, I’ve always been infatuated by left handed players.

On whether European seven-footers are an undervalued asset

Well, time will tell. I think the Europeans in last year’s market was overvalued. There have been years — all undervalued European bigs.

I think this year there were so many flooded the market, and if you didn’t have any experience over there, you didn’t know the difference between the leagues and the divisions and the developmental programs and whatnot. The ones who signed ear early, they’re at a disadvantage because the clubs have no more incentive to pour resources and time into them to develop. So a lot of times you have these guys waiting until the last minute because they want to make sure that they’re getting the most out of their experience.

Once the clubs lose their buyout, they don’t want to invest in the young players as much because they’re investing time and money in a young player, and it’s not like it is here. They’re doing that so they get the buyout money. It’s a business, and then they do it again, and then they do it again. So when they know they’re going to lose these guys to the U.S. colleges and high schools, the development drops off and they focus their attention on other places. Marcus, we got a tip on him. Staff did a great job following up and doing a lot of homework. He’s a unique talent. He can shoot the ball. He can move well.

He blocks shots. Obviously, when you come to the U.S., the speed and athleticism will be his biggest adjustment, but he’s playing in Spain now, so that’s probably the closest other than playing first division in Spain or Euroleague that’s probably the closest that he can get as far as athleticism to the American game. So we’re excited about him and obviously Quinn Costello being a late bloomer. Last year was just kind of a guy that looked like a good potential piece down the line, and he had an amazing summer. You could see his confidence grow. He’s probably 6’10”. He has long strides. He’s an athlete. I think he’ll end up being a dead-eye shooter on the move, on the catch. He can put the ball on the floor, and every time we go see him, he’s better than he was the last time, so that developmental piece.

Joseph Hartman, another guy that comes from a basketball family. He grew up around the game. His dad is the associate head coach of Florida. We competed against his team for a number of years in different leagues, and so he’s grown up with hearing the right things every day and the game being very important to him. So naturally, he’s smart. He’s skille,d and he’s someone that can plug a lot of holes because he’s played the point. He’s played off the ball, and he’s a young man that we know well. We recruited him at FAU. He’s another guy that’s somewhat of a late bloomer. He had a really good summer. Shot up the rankings and just guys we think can help you win.

On Joseph Hartman not playing with his dad

We’ve heard that a lot, and you don’t really believe them. Several of us have a strong relationship with Carlin, and so he told us what was important to Joseph and the family, and so that allowed us to continue going down the road, and it’s not easy. I think it’s more difficult, probably to coach your son as a head coach, but it’s probably even more difficult as an assistant coach because you almost don’t want to even have an opinion, because I think we all love our kids quite a bit, so you’re probably going to be skewed.

He just thought it would be healthier for them and the kid to go be himself, and that’s the way I was as a parent, too. I know even initially, my sons were all going to play. I wanted them to go play for different coaches. I wanted them to go learn, they knew me. They know how I am. I wanted them to go play for someone else and figure out who they were going to be, and so he liked the idea of Michigan, and obviously the relationship helped, and the style of play and everything else that goes with it.

We’re excited about these guys, just like this last class with Trey, Winters and Oscar, and Malik, and these guys. We think, and then Ricky’s going to redshirt, so he’ll slide in and join these guys. We think we’ve got a real strong foundation, especially for this only being year two, and we’ve been killed for the portal. We have guys we recruit against, and all they talk about is they’re going to go into the portal and we sign four and they sign three and act like one way or the other, so we’re open to getting really good guys who want to get better and represent Michigan.

On whether Quinn Costello reminds him of anybody

Without racking my brain, there’s not anyone that jumps out. He’s a skilled 6’10 shooter.