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Dusty May is going back to Indiana to 'win a freaking basketball game' and nothing more

Anthony Broomeby:Anthony Broome•about 10 hours•

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Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May has his team off to a good start. (Photo by Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images)
Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May has his team off to a good start. (Photo by Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images)

Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball coach Dusty May heads back to his alma mater of Indiana University on Saturday with one goal: grabbing a victory.

Indiana is set to move on from head coach Mike Woodson after this season as a negotiation plays itself out. News of that dropped on the heels of Saturday afternoon’s visit from Michigan and given that May is a Hoosier fan favorite for the position, naturally there is a ton of noise.

May, who cut his teeth in the coaching industry under Bobby Knight as a student assistant, is blocking all of it out heading into Saturday, letting his wife handle ticket allotments and keeping the main goal as a Michigan victory.

“I’ve gotten 20 texts from friends saying, hey, I’d love to grab dinner,” May said after Wednesday night’s win over Oregon. “I just haven’t responded to many people I’m close friends with. I have a very closed mindset during the season where all I can think about is how do we play better, how do we practice better tomorrow, what’s our plan, is it clean, is it concise? I think we’re gonna go shoot Friday night when we land. And I’m sure it’ll be cool to walk in Assembly Hall where you’ve spent a lot of time, but I’m not thinking about anything. My mom lives in Bloomington, it is what it is.

“But I’m going there to try to win a freaking basketball game, and that’s it.”

Michigan has won a lot of freaking basketball games in May’s first season on the job, guiding the team to a 17-5 record and a 9-2 mark in conference play. It’s what has the Wolverines in a fistfight at the top of the Big Ten standings as it competes for a regular-season crown with Purdue and Michigan State.

Personal storylines aside, this is another game on that journey. May knows it but did acknowledge this week there are some memories involved. There would be wherever he went where he worked previously.

“It’s just another game,” May said on Monday. “I’m sure that when we go there to practice, you’re walking into a place where you spent 50 hours a week as an undergraduate at practice rebounding for guys, whatever the case, and then I worked there as a staffer. It would be very similar to if we played at the University of Florida where I had great years as an assistant and have established relationships. But I watched them play Purdue [last week]. I’ve seen them play a handful of games. They played at a high, high level in Mackey Arena. So no, it’s not hard for me to detach the emotion because we have a job to do.”

Michigan and Indiana face off Saturday at 1 p.m. from Assembly Hall in Bloomington. CBS will carry the national broadcast.

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