Amid Michigan’s blissful trek to Final Four, Wolverines AD focuses on keeping Dusty May amid UNC chatter

CHICAGO — Dusty May leaned back on the stanchion to find a quiet place amidst a chorus of cheers, chants and bedlam. May is alone, if only for a moment, watching one by one as Michigan‘s elated roster climbed the ladder to get a piece of a net after Michigan eviscerated Tennessee 95-62 to win the Midwest Regional and advance to the Final Four. 

Fifth-year senior Will Tschetter still had some tears in his eyes, 7-foot-4 center Aday Mara probably didn’t even need a ladder and Yaxel Lendeborg‘s grin was tattooed onto his face permanently. May unleashed maybe his biggest smile of the season as his son, Charlie, took his turn to get a piece of the twine. Just a few minutes earlier, Charlie had splashed a corner triple with 62 ticks left and “blacked out” in a juiced-up United Center. 

For dad, this is bliss.

There’s also real urgency for Michigan’s brass to keep these moments alive. The North Carolina opening will loom over this historic Michigan run for the time being. The Michigan faithful that packed into the United Center for the fifth time this season mixed in plenty of “Dusty” chants, but before May could exit to the locker room, a “don’t leave for UNC” shout from the crowd was impossible to ignore.

It’s up to Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel to keep May in Ann Arbor and far, far away from maybe the top job in all of college basketball.

“I have been in the opposite position in my career, where you have a coach that nobody wants,” Manuel said amidst the celebration. “It’s a better position to be in when you have a coach that other people want. That doesn’t mean I want to let him go, or that I’m not going to work to keep him, but we have a coach that people should want.”

That much is incredibly clear. May has everything you look for in the modern coach. Sunday’s 33-point beatdown of Tennessee — Rick Barnes’ largest loss of his tenure — illustrated that point loud and clear. 

Remember the days when coaches would automatically bench a player with two fouls? Not Michigan. Michigan’s big man brigade of Aday Mara and Morez Johnson both racked up two fouls in the first nine minutes of regulation. May and the Michigan staff bobbed and weaved to keep Johnson or Mara on the floor for the rest of the first half. Michigan rewarded May’s faith with a 21-0 knockout blow, helped in part because he eschewed the auto bench. 

May has Michigan maximizing every single possession. He flies up to the officials to demand a timeout with 32.6 seconds left in the first half so that Tennessee couldn’t get the last shot. Michigan brings out a full-court press to speed the Vols up. It daringly sends two defenders at Ja’Kobi Gillespie to intentionally funnel the ball to Tennessee big man J.P. Estrella who takes the cheese, charges down the lane much to Barnes’ chagrin and gets his dunk swatted. That allows a Michigan fastbreak and a Trey McKenney triple right before the halftime buzzer.

Another problem solved.

Michigan is a machine with seemingly no off switch. Thanos in the flesh and blood. May built arguably the most talented roster in the country with six former top-50 recruits in high school and one five-star transfer making up the top seven players in its eight-man rotation. 

Michigan’s rotation, recruiting rankings version

• Yaxel Lendeborg: Five-star transfer, No. 1 transfer in 2025
• Morez Johnson: No. 31 recruit in the Class of 2024
• Aday Mara: No. 15 recruit in the Class of 2024
• Elliot Cadeau: No. 12 recruit in the Class of 2023
• Nimari Burnett: No. 38 recruit in the Class of 2020
• Roddy Gayle: No. 50 recruit in Class of 2022
• Trey McKenney: No. 21 recruit in the Class of 2025

And yet, the Wolverines play an unselfish brand of basketball. Michigan had 19 assists on 29 buckets against Tennessee, and Lendeborg erupted for 27 points using only one isolation possession all game. That’s Michigan basketball to a T. The Wolverines’ offense uses isolation just 2.7% of the time, per Synergy. That is one of the lowest rates in the country. Instead, they bend the defense with pace, space and passing. Dribbles be damned, and when it’s good, it’s breathtaking.

“The beautiful brand of basketball we were playing became contagious,” May said. “You could see these guys feeding off of each other. When you have the big-time stop, and four guys block out, one guy gets a rebound, then you lead the break, and all five guys have a big, big part in beautiful basketball, it just feels so much greater for all of us, and that became contagious. It became energizing, and then it became a snowball that just kept going.”

A snowball is apt because Michigan is flattening everybody in its path. The Wolverines have won the four NCAA Tournament games by an average of 22.5 points, and everyone on this roster is playing like the best version of themselves. When LJ Cason went down with an injury, Michigan’s guard depth was questioned. Elliot Cadeau has erased some of those concerns and emerged as a winning player at Michigan. Lendeborg has lived up to the ‘Dominican LeBron’ moniker. He is the definition of a five-tool baseball player on the basketball court. Lendeborg hits for average (64% on 2-pointers), he hits for power (37% on 3-pointers), he’s fast (elite transition scorer), he is a high-level defender and owns a bazooka (27 dunks). 

Gayle has turned into “March Roddy.” Tschetter and Burnett consistently bring the fire and ice, respectively. Johnson is the no-nonsense enforcer. Mara is the unicorn, and McKenney is the most straightforward 2026-27 breakout candidate known to man.

It’s the type of basketball May promised Manuel two years ago during those intense meetings in March 2024 when he had a pick of the litter between Michigan, Ohio State, Louisville, Vanderbilt and the rest. It’s the type of basketball the North Carolina brass should want after the slippage that has occurred. It’s the type of basketball Manuel wants to keep at Michigan permanently.

“He told me what he was about, and that’s the person he is today,” Manuel said. “That’s what you want when you hire anybody. You want them to be the same person in the job that they were in the interview. And he sold me on all the things you could see him doing now. So he’s a special, special person. I love him, and he knows that, and we’ll keep it going.”