Michigan basketball: On 'dominant' Vladislav Goldin, where Danny Wolf can improve and role for Will Tschetter

Michigan Wolverines basketball will play with twin seven-footers down low for a significant amount of minutes per game, head coach Dusty May said when asked about using Yale transfer Danny Wolf (7-0) and FAU transfer Vladislav Goldin (7-1). Assistant coach Drew Williamson, who spent the previous three seasons with May and the Owls in Boca Raton, worked with the big men and is excited about the front line U-M has in place for 2024-25.

Williamson knows exactly how to coach Goldin, who averaged 15.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game for FAU last season. The Michigan assistant raved about what the big man brings to the table.

“He’s an unbelievable worker, man,” Williamson said. “The No. 1 thing I always thought about was, he was the first one to get in line. ‘I’m going first in every drill. I’m going first.’ Those things stand out.

“But when you talk about him as a teammate, he’s unbelievable. He’s like, ‘I want to win. So whatever that means for me as an individual, I’ll take a step back, I’ll take a step forward, but I want to win games.’ And he cares about everybody he comes into contact with.

“You guys will see, he really genuinely cares about who his new teammates will be, who he’s rooming with, all of those different things. He really has a unique gift to want to care and want to love and want to be a part of something bigger than himself.”

Goldin had 72 starts under his belt in the prior two seasons before the 2023-24 campaign, averaging 10.2 points and 6.5 boards per contest as a junior. But last season was different, with the new Michigan big taking a big step forward.

“On the court, when he’s locked in, he’s dominant, man,” Williamson continued. “He finally kind of took a stride last year where he realized how dominant he was and just kind of did it the whole game.

“He would have spurts before, but last year he took strides to where it was like, ‘Give me the ball, give me the ball. I’m gonna go dunk, I’m gonna block a shot,’ things where he changed the impact of a game.”

Goldin will protect the rim for Michigan defensively. He ranked 73rd nationally with a 6.9-percent block rate last season. Williamson said that will open up other possibilities for his teammates on that end of the floor. The Nalchick, Russia, native recorded 1.9 blocks per contest over his last 17 outings, showing a jump in production after a shift in mindset.

“It allows the guards and wings to be a lot more aggressive, because now I know I have this big seven-foot guy behind me to protect the rim,” the Michigan assistant explained.

“I think one of the biggest strides we made last year as a team was when Coach [May] just made it a little bit simpler for Vlad to say, ‘Hey, listen, we just need you to protect the rim. So stop worrying about the pick-and-pop fives that are shooting two threes a game. If a guy gets down hill, we want you to block it.’ And you could see later in the year where he just started going and attacking the rim. If he had that mindset earlier in the year, he could’ve been a candidate for defensive player of the year.

“So I think he’s figuring out ways to be able to be effective. And then just the amount of shots that he affects. Even if he’s not blocking the shot, you’ll still have to think about a seven-footer being there. Now I have to change my shot.”

Danny Wolf will work to improve perimeter defense

At 250 pounds, Wolf is extremely mobile for a seven-footer. He shot 34.9 percent on 83 three-point attempts and finished with a 50.7-percent mark from inside the arc. However, his perimeter defense — particularly against smaller, quicker players — will be something Williamson and Co. will drill with him when he arrives on campus in June.

“Even with that part, he can right now,” Williamson said of Wolf’s ability to guard on the perimeter. “It would be a developmental part, too. When we talk about player development and most people automatically talk about offensive development. But player development is also being able to help you understand angles and understand if you got a smaller guard on you, just take a step back. Your arms are long enough to affect the shot. So those are going to be things that we’ll be able to help Danny with and whoever else we need to.”

Williamson focused on the same area with Goldin.

“We worked with Vlad a lot over the last two years with him moving laterally, because we switched one through four at FAU, so teams’ solution was to figure out a way to get Vlad on a guard,” the Michigan assistant explained. “So we spent time after practice, a lot, just with our smaller, quicker guards one-on-one [with Goldin] for five minutes. So on player development, those things come into account, too.”

Will Tschetter’s role

Michigan retained redshirt junior forward Will Tschetter, a 6-foot-8, 245-pounder who averaged 6.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in 17.9 minutes per game last season, shooting 51.9 percent on 54 three-point attempts. He fits the kind of player May and Co. want out of a forward, and he’s also been a positive for the culture.

“I love Will, man,” Williamson said. “On most of the visits we’ve had, he’s kind of been the tour guide, to go out to eat with us, to give us ideas where we should eat at the restaurants. First of all, I think his energy is so contagious. He’s such a heavy-spirited guy.

“And his ability to shoot the ball … you talk about the guys that put the work in, and his ability to space the floor, which is one of the biggest keys to our offense, to be able to make some threes and pull defenders away from the basket a little bit to give everyone else space to drive and kick. His ability to shoot the ball will be really, really valuable for us this year.”