The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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FEBRUARY 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 41 back in China about how I was eating. They were getting kind of jealous. "It's a great experience, going from a pretty rural town to one of the biggest cities in the world in Beijing. That can provide a lot of eye-opening experi- ences. I'm super thankful to my parents for being able to make that happen." Food and travel also played a big role in what he recalls about the grade-school sojourn. "The level of travel, going to Southeast Asia and Asia in general, was really cool," Tschetter offered. "I would say my favor- ite experience would have to be the food, to be completely honest. To experience a completely new cuisine that is not at all represented very well in the United States. … Chinese food is not at all what Chinese food is over in China. The way we ate is really cool." Fast forward to the summer of 2023, and Michigan basketball's energizer found himself putting his education to good use. He landed in Bozeman, Mont., for several weeks at the North Bridger Bison Ranch. He spent his time help- ing build and maintain wetlands, after a making a connection via a Michigan associate athletics director. Tschetter described his duties as helping out with "regenerative agriculture," and doing so in a setting that proved unceasingly breathtaking. "It was a great, great, great experience," he said. "I was out there for about five weeks. I learned as much as I could, fly- fished a bunch, ate a bunch of good food. It was an amazing experience. So, so, beautiful. Just being up in the mountains every day was crazy. It's a great life." He's now helping his teammates try to scale another mountain. His role, in his own eyes? Whatever it takes. "It's just kind of being a plug-and- chug," he said. "Whether it's defending the ball screen in the USC game, com- ing off and switching onto a guard, get- ting stops. Other games, it's been to step up. They're playing really heavily onto some of our better playmakers, so it's time to step up and hit shots. Just con- tinue to read the game and slow it down for myself, being able to know where I'm needed. That's how I can make the big- gest contribution." He's well aware Michigan hasn't arrived yet, and May reminds the Wolverines fre- quently. Tschetter joins those who be- lieve cutting down on turnovers can make the biggest difference in U-M's success from here on out, while he downplays the team's tendency to lose substantial leads. "Honestly, the turnovers would be the biggest thing we need to work on," he said. "People are going to talk about losing leads, but we've showed that bas- ketball is a game of runs. We go on runs. These good teams are going to go on runs. But I think we've done a really good job of absorbing runs and being able to come back from runs. "You even look at the Arkansas game. Yes, we lost, after we were up big. Then they were up big, we closed it, and it was a one-possession game at the end of the game. We were able to come back and take leads and win games, after going down. But this also plays into losing leads, just our turnovers. Value the basketball. Be able to really lock in. When we are up, not getting loose with the basketball. It's staying locked in and taking care of it." It's largely about the journey and the process, Tschetter noted, echoing May. Yes, it's a great start. But the finish makes all the difference. "What I love most about this team is our level of selflessness," Tschetter mused. "The guys — whether it's in the locker room or every day — it's about something bigger. It's not about my stats, my ambitions to go to the league, things like that. Obviously, everyone on our team has ambitions to play at the next level. But our team has done a really good job of buying into the idea that, if good things happen for our team, it will come. Win- ning fixes everything, in that sense. For us to give into a little bit of sacrifice to win those games, it makes everyone look good." And yes, he acknowledged, he's with those who insist Michigan can win the Big Ten. "You have to believe that," he said. "You have to think that. You have to have that mentality. At the same time, we talk a lot about the process, being able to come in and have an excellent practice, day-in and day-out, week-in and week-out. Keep stacking days. At the end of the day, when we've got two games left in the Big Ten, then we go, 'Oh, shoot!' We're in first place!' "We've just got to keep that mental- ity. It's not done yet. We've only played four games. We've got 16 left. We've got to be able to keep our head down and stay focused." ❏ Dusty May: Energy Sets Tschetter Apart U-M head coach Dusty May isn't looking for a 30-point-per-game scorer. He doesn't need a single Wolverine owning the three-point line. He's good with where things stand statistically through the opening 16 games of the season — five players averaging double figures, eight falling somewhere between 15 and 5 per game. There's an area, though, in which junior forward Will Tschetter clearly stands out, the head coach noted. It's one everyone can emulate, even if they can't match it. "Will Tschetter is our emotional leader," May told Fox Sports. "If you take him out of practice, ev- erything feels differently because of the energy and juice he brings. We stress it, but we have a real cumulative effort in everything we do. We're balanced in scoring, other than Danny's [Wolf] double- digit rebounds, we're balanced in rebounding, we're balanced in assists and I think our guys share the leadership role as well. I do think we're unique because we're not leaning on one or two guys to do something — outside of Will Tschetter, who's definitely bringing super-caffeinated energy to everything he does." Tschetter plans to keep bringing it, right into the madness of March. — John Borton ❱ Tschetter "What I love most about this team is our level of selfless- ness. The guys — whether it's in the locker room or ev- ery day — it's about something bigger. … Winning fixes everything, in that sense. For us to give into a little bit of sacrifice to win those games, it makes everyone look good."