Michigan ascent from worst to first (with three weeks to go) not surprising to Dusty May

Some chuckled when Michigan coach Dusty May suggested he wasn’t interested in a long rebuild after coming to Ann Arbor from Florida Atlantic, surmising it might take a while after last year’s 8-24 debacle. Those who knew him best, though, understood he wanted to be competitive this year — not down the road. 

RELATED: Dusty May is starting to talk title with his first Michigan team

Among them — assistant coach Mike Boynton. The former Oklahoma State head coach has been a critical component on an impressive coaching staff, one that has the Wolverines in first place in the Big Ten with only six games remaining.

“In my early conversations with Coach May … he’s not a very patient person,” Boynton said back in April. “You would think [since] there’s been a lot of turnover, maybe your fan base would be patient if things get off to a little bit of a slow start and give you a chance to build. He’s not of that mind at all. He wants to be good now.

“In light of the new age of how college athletics work, with guys being able to transfer and play right away, there’s an opportunity out there.”

They’ve seized it, and then some. The Wolverines are 12-2 with wins at UCLA, USC, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Indiana, and Rutgers, all tough places to win. There are still six tough games remaining, but four of them are at home, providing a great opportunity. 

May finally started talking title with his team in the postgame locker room at Ohio State, though he quickly asked his players to shift their focus to Friday night’s home game with Michigan State. Should the Wolverines win that one, their chances of at least sharing a Big Ten title go up immensely. 

Though he wouldn’t say he saw it coming after he assembled his first Michigan team last spring, the U-M coach had high hopes. His players are living up to his expectations. 

“A lot has to go right to be in championship attention, first and foremost health,” May said. “We’ve been relatively healthy all year. [Forward] Sam Walters has an injury now, but other than that, we’re a pretty healthy group, and that factors into it.

“There’s just a lot that goes into it other than playing really good basketball. If you look at some of the teams in our league, there are several that could be right here in position if things just flipped a little bit differently.” 

But all summer, he noted, high school and other coaches would come and go during practices and offer how good they thought they were, May recalled.  

“You’d have coaches you respect coming in that maybe they’re in the NBA or whatever the case, and they’re talking … giving you a different view of your team that you’re not in that foxhole with every single day,” May said. “There were several times this summer I walked in and asked one of the coaches during practice, during a break and I’d say, ‘man — we’ve got a chance to be pretty darn good.’ They’d say, ‘no question.’ That was usually the answer.”

Graduate center Vlad Goldin told us before the season, too, that he’d never played with a better group, and he’d been on a Final Four team at FAU. He said championships were the ceiling, and while they’re not there yet, they’re on the doorstep. 

For a several week spell, the Wolverines struggled to play their best ball, and it looked like they might fade back to the pack. A few tweaks, though, including inserting a healthy Rubin Jones into the starting lineup, has them on the cusp of a title.

“We knew we had a long way to go,” May said. “We had to figure some things out, but we were confident once we saw our team together, and even that didn’t happen until August or September because Ruben had some health issues and whatnot. We never really saw our group practice. [Frosh Justin] Pippen wasn’t able to practice all summer.

“We didn’t see our group together I think until probably September when we had the bulk of them together. But I think since September we knew we had a chance.”

Now, that chance is better than ever. Winning is about finishing, and there’s still plenty of work to do. Where they are in year one, though, is farther along than anyone but maybe May would have guessed.