The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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28 THE WOLVERINE ❱ APRIL 2025 BY CHRIS BALAS T he last thing former Michigan basketball coach Juwan How- ard said to the media on his way out of town came in an article for The Athletic following his fifth team's 8-24 season a year ago: "Good luck to [the next coach]. He's going to need it." He'd made his frustration with U- M's lack of NIL support clear, and while he got off to a great start in winning a Big Ten title in his second season, he couldn't sustain the success. Some guys, though, make their own luck, and first-year coach Dusty May certainly falls into that category. Two years after leading Florida Atlantic to the Final Four as a 9 seed, May led the Wol- verines to a second-place Big Ten finish during the regular season and the Big Ten Tournament title March 16. It was a remarkable, improbable turnaround marked by several tight wins and an even more stunning turn of events in the post- season. The Wolverines limped into India- napolis as the No. 3 seed in the con- ference, losers of four of their last six games. They were given seventh-best odds to win it all despite earning a dou- ble bye, and were underdogs in each game they played, starting with a Fri- day night tilt with Purdue March 14. First, they hammered the Boilermakers, 86-68, taking control early and never letting up. They got their revenge on Maryland — a 71-65 winner at Crisler Arena just 10 days earlier — when junior point guard Tre Donaldson drove coast to coast for the game winning layup and an 81-80 victory over the Terps a day later. And on the third day, Michigan captured a banner and the Big Ten's automatic NCAA Tournament berth with a 59-53 win over Wisconsin in the championship game March 16. "It's great for these guys. They're go- ing to bring their grandkids and their children and they're going to point up at that picture," May said of the team photo on the championship podium. "You see those banners in Crisler [Center]. Crisler is clean and crisp, and when you're part of one of those, it's really, really cool. "For me, it confirms that we're going to be able to bring this group back in five years, in 10 years, in 20 years. I care a lot more about that than I do the actual banner. The banner with the year is just A BANNER GROUP Dusty May Leads Michigan Basketball To A Big Ten Tournament Title In His First Season At The Helm