Dusty May talks about his future at Michigan, his second team's unique abilities

Michigan head coach Dusty May was a hot name for Indiana last year, but U-M locked him up with a new contract. Many as close to it as possible told us he wasn’t going anywhere regardless, and he’s seemed to confirm it many times over … including Sunday.

The media got its first glimpse of May’s second team during a practice, and it was impressive. There’s size, shooters, intensity, leadership … May is encouraged, and he should be.

“Hopefully, I’m here at Michigan for a long time, so I probably will be up here with an optimistic outlook every year going into the season,” he said. “We get to choose our players, so hopefully we don’t choose players that we don’t like or we don’t believe in or want to coach.”

They certainly didn’t last year, when they won the Big Ten Tournament and made it to the Sweet 16 after an 8-24 year under Juwan Howard. They haven’t this year, either, putting together a roster they figured can be even better. UAB transfer Yaxel Lendeborg is the gem — as one teammate put it Saturday, “he’s a pro playing college ball with us” — and it’s clear he’s special on and off the court.

“He’s an unbelievable human being. He’s great to be around every day,” May said. “He enjoys passing the ball. When you have a guy that’s been as publicized as Yax, if they’re selfish, if they’re about numbers, if they’re about themselves, it could present a number of challenges. With Yaxel, he’s so team-oriented that it’s been a pretty smooth transition.”

Point guard Elliot Cadeau, too, has gotten off to a good start. Though he still has to work on his shot (evident Sunday), he’s extremely quick and an elite passer.

“Elliot has been incredible as far as getting into the paint, getting anywhere he needs to on the court,” May continued. “He has a burst to him. He has elite speed and quickness. He has the ability to see the floor and manipulate the defense, he’s able to throw the lobs and fan-out passes … so, he’s just an elite pick-and-roll player that can play in space.

“We’re just trying to figure out the best way for him to find his spots to score in our system and when to get to the rim, when to shoot, and when to facilitate. But he’s been really good so far.”

Several potential Michigan lineups in 2025-26

At one point Sunday, the Wolverines scrimmaged five on five, and the talent on display was ridiculous. So many made plays that it was hard to pick out the standouts.

At times, May noted, they’ll be playing big lineups. Other times they’ll go small, and then big and small. It’s a luxury that comes from doing the work in the offseason. The goal is to find out which lineups work best together and create matchups others might not see, such as running Michigan big man Danny Wolf with the ball last year.

“I think we can be even more unique,” May said. “There will be times when we roll out a really, really big lineup [like last year’s when Will Tschetter joined Wolf and Vlad Goldin on the floor in the Big Ten Tournament. “… I think when you have talented players, you can figure out a way to be efficient enough to win. It usually comes down to, ‘can those bigger guys guard smaller, quicker players, and can you keep the ball out of the paint and still contest on the perimeter?

“I think there will be times when we roll out a really, really rare big lineup, and then there are going to be other times when we play small and quick but have one of our really skilled guys at the ‘5’ so we can be explosive offensively. There will be times when we need to score quickly [too], so we’ll downsize and play the faster, smaller lineup.”

Size won’t be an issue. Illinois transfer Morez Johnson is ridiculously long in the arms and plays even bigger than his 6-9 frame. Aday Mara, who arrived recently from Spain via a UCLA transfer, is every bit of 7-3 and plays like it, while New Zealand frosh Oscar Goodman (6-7) and 7-1 German Malick Kordel (expected on campus “very soon”) give the Wolverines an intimidating front court.

Overall, there will be several different potential combinations. We’ll have reports on how some of them looked Sunday in practice shortly.