Dusty May hired his final offseason to become Michigan men's basketball coach after spending six seasons with the Florida Atlantic.
May, 48, was asked about what he learned in his first season with the Big Ten when he recently appeared on Outkick's “Don't @Me With Dan Dakich.”
“It was even more physically and physically demanding than we had expected. Every time one of our players complained about a foul over the summer, our response was, “We play in the Big Ten and you have to play through it,” May said.
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Michigan head coach Dustimai looks to the first half against Michigan on March 9, 2025. (image)
The Michigan state coach said the coaching staff hasn't prepared players well for physical play.
“We don't think it was intentional enough to create a physical environment every day. It was everything we could have done, whether it was a pad – there was no freedom of movement. We just gave the body a body, and we didn't prepare enough,” May said.
May may have lamented the team's preparation, but he pointed out that it wasn't built to play the physical game.
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Michigan head coach Dustimai will speak with the referee on March 9, 2025 about a second-half call to Michigan. (image)
“But we're not built that way. We have a lot of very skilled people. They're essentially finesse. It's not just that we tried to get the best player we could with our little window,” he explained.
The Michigan Wolverines are 22-9 this season and are in the Big Ten tournament and appear to be happy with the team's foundation in his first year.
“We've really built a strong foundation, learned a lot, learned an incredible amount, but they really pop out.”
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Michigan head coach Dustimai watched play against Maryland in the first half on March 5, 2025 at Ann Arbor's Crisler Center. (image)
May aims to build more on that foundation with the Big Ten Tournament.
Wolverine is the third-place seed in the Big Ten tournament and will play its first game on Friday at 9pm. They play the winners of USC and Purdue.
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