The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1527978
NOVEMBER 2024 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 43 2024-25 BASKETBALL PREVIEW I just lost a game. I lost us a game. And he was still believing in me, more than I did in myself at that time. It impacted me a lot. "From then on, I was like, I cannot let this guy down. I failed, but I started learning a lot. The next season, I started playing way better than I did before. That's how we made the Final Four." FAU shocked the world by reaching the Final Four in the spring of 2023. Goldin stood as a center of considerable attention, averaging 10.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. He followed that up by averaging 15.7 points and 6.9 re- bounds a game last season. Florida Atlantic's surge into the na- tional spotlight during those seasons skyrocketed May's stock, leading to his move from Boca Raton, Fla., to Ann Ar- bor a few months ago. For Goldin, it was time to pack the bags again for his final season of col- legiate eligibility. There wasn't much question where he'd wind up. "I prefer a relationship over anything else," Goldin maintained. "I know who that man is, and I know what his coach- ing style looks like. I know about his staff. I like them, because they're not too cool. Even after he took the job to Michigan, which is a big-time program, he has not changed. He's still the same guy I talked to at Florida Atlantic. "That's what I need. I need a relation- ship. I need to be confident in my head coach, in my coaching staff, that they will help me, no matter what. It was a pretty simple decision for me." ON THE ROAD AGAIN Obviously, Goldin's no stranger to a change in venues. He doesn't even remember Nalchik, a city of nearly a quarter-million in southeast Russia, in the foothills of the Caucasus Moun- tains. When he was 2 years old, his fam- ily moved to Voronezh, a city of more than one million, about five hours from Moscow. That's where he grew up, get- ting a Russian-version preview of com- ing attractions. "I would say it's similar to Ann Arbor," Goldin noted. "It's a lot of parks, forests, but if you want to go to the city and hang out, there are restaurants, malls. It's like a bigger version of Ann Arbor." Goldin wasn't the big version of a bas- ketball player he is today, but he was on his way. Enough so that his father put a basketball in his hands at a young age, even to the mild protestations of a son relatively unmoved by sport. Asked when he be- came interested in it, he responded: "It's probably a better question for my father. He was the one who introduced me to all that stuff. I wasn't a sports guy. I didn't really want to do it. "At one point, I almost quit basketball, because I wanted to hang out with my friends, and my friends weren't athletes. "My dad told me to pick another sport, and I thought, I've al- ready got friends in basketball, so I'm probably going to stick to that. I did like different sports. I'd swim, did wrestling for a while, basketball, obviously." As for when the intense interest kicked in, well … "It's an interesting question," he mused. "I like to compete, and I like to win. I'm not sure I can get the same feeling in any other sports. My best is in basketball. That's why I stuck to it." The sport certainly has taken him places, even sooner than he expected to go. At the age of 15, he went to Moscow, to perform in what he thought involved a single tournament for CSKA, a profes- sional club team. Not so, he discovered. "I didn't know I was going to stay there for a whole season," Goldin re- called. "I just thought I was playing in a tournament. When I asked my teammates, 'When are we going home?' they told me, 'In May.' That's when I started think- ing it was becoming a little bit harder." H a rd a s i t wa s, i t hardened him for what lay ahead. He played for the Russian Na- tional Team later on, performing PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS ❱ Goldin on Dusty May "That's what I need. I need a relationship. I need to be confident in my head coach, in my coaching staff, that they will help me, no matter what. It was a pretty simple decision for me."