The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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8 THE WOLVERINE ❱ MARCH 2025 D usty May faced a scant few weeks to pull to- gether a team. He just might have stitched himself a championship-caliber version. Michigan's scorching Big Ten surge — featuring six straight victories, all by four or fewer points — launched the new brothers in blue to the very top of the Big Ten standings. The Wolverines' 86-83 win over Ohio State in Columbus on Feb. 16 left them a game ahead of Michigan State, which had threatened to blow through the conference undefeated before dropping three of four. That set the stage for incred- ible drama in the showdown be- tween the Wolverines and Spar- tans at Crisler Center on Feb. 21. May hinted at it in the postgame celebration in Columbus, even amid the jubilation of victory. May's players, one after another, speak to his people skills, his motiva- tional prowess, and his basketball acu- men. All stood fully on display before a disheartened OSU crowd of 18,058, which showed up desperate for a win — any win — over Michigan. They remove the M's from everything in Columbus, so they simply came away melancholy. Meanwhile, in the Michigan locker room, the interaction became gut level and raw. May revved his crew up over what they'd just accomplished before a frenzied, fulminating crowd that hates the Wolverines more than it hates per- sonal grooming, and over what can still be. "We're going to get a lot of vit- riol," May assured, his intensity ris- ing. "There's nothing that makes them more angry than us dusting that stuff off [brushing off his shoulder]. When they're doing all that stuff, we ain't into that! We're chasing something bigger! We're chasing something that's eter- nal, fellas! It's your bond for life! That's what a championship does! "You guys will be around for a long time. Championships bring this team together for a lifelong bond! This group of guys — forever brothers. Let's keep chasing the championship, let's keep preparing for the next. Let's enjoy this, this afternoon. Then we're on to …" Everybody knew what he meant, without a word. Before the Spartan spouting started in earnest, though, he turned the room over to a Wolverine who wore an Ohio State uniform just a year earlier. Junior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. absorbed all the outrage and insults during his "Escape From Alcatraz" and now led the singing of "The Victors" in the very bowels of the Schottenstein Center. The talent has come from all over. Vlad Goldin, the 7-1 grad center, fol- lowed May from Florida Atlantic, but originally made his way from Voronezh, Russia. The other twin tower — 7-foot forward Danny Wolf — went from Glen- coe, Ill., to prep school in Massachu- setts, two years at Yale, then on to Ann Arbor. Junior guard Tre Donaldson ar- rived from Auburn, grad guard Nimari Burnett from Alabama one year prior, grad guard Rubin Jones from North Texas. May built it — and they came. May admits his team wasn't fully ready for the punch in the mouth the Big Ten delivers. But he got it there, and quickly, like Rocky Balboa bouncing up off the mat. Michigan got leveled at Pur- due, 91-64, on Jan. 24. The Boilermakers dominated in ev- ery way. Eighteen days later, the Wolverines stole Purdue Pete's sledgehammer and got even at Crisler, 75-73. Afterward, May pondered the motivating blow- out. "I'm partly to blame," he said. "All summer, I underestimated the physicality of the Big Ten. We [FAU] played Northwestern in the NCAA Tournament last year and they out-physicaled us. We didn't work the way we needed to all summer, all fall. And credit to our guys, they've adjusted, they've adapted. … We have humility in our program when something's not working or something's not going well. It's about all of us putting our heads together and finding the right way for this group to get it done. "Our guys played with great physi- cality. I think the last 12 to 15 minutes, there were several possessions where I thought, we're finally the hammer on some of these possessions as opposed to being the nail." They're the hammer in the Big Ten, at the moment. If they take care of busi- ness at home against the Spartans — who likely won't be allowed the brass knuckles, finger knives, hook swords, nunchucks and a coach with his hair aflame, like they will in the season finale in East Lansing — they'll be firmly in control. Whatever happens, the Wolverines are in this fight to the end. They could cement a bond none of them even imag- ined only one year ago. ❏ WOLVERINE WATCH ❱ JOHN BORTON Dusty May's Crew Is Thinking Big With mid-February wins over Purdue and Ohio State, May and his No. 12 Wolverines headed into the final weeks of the regular season holding first place in the Big Ten. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Senior writer John Borton has been with The Wolverine since 1991. Contact him at jborton@thewolverine.com and follow him on X (Twitter) @JB_Wolverine.