The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MAY 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 33 more confidence going into the NCAA Tournament," May said. "… I think we'll go out there with a little bit of ex- tra edge. But this team's motivated in- trinsically by the right things. We con- trol what we can control. We're grateful to be a part of it, and matchups and all those things are much more important than what number's next to your name. "We have a fearless approach —our guys are unafraid of failure. They don't know what it is. We just keep going and going. … They're just consumed with supporting each other and working and trying to win that position." Junior Danny Wolf, a standout on the Yale team that beat Auburn as a heavy underdog in last year's tournament, chose his words carefully, pausing for several seconds when asked about the national perception that Michigan might be a first-round upset candidate. "Of course [we've seen it]," he said. "I've been on the other side of this last year with Yale when we were a 13 seed. We went into that game with a chip on our shoulder. So, I understand their perspective. "But from our perspective, we know what we're capable of. We know how good we are. These last few weeks we've tried to block out all the outside noise … We know who's in our locker room, who's been with us the last 10 months. That's what we're going to fo- cus on. That's all we care about." A few days later, though — and after the Wolverines watched more UCSD film — it was clear the Tritons had his and his coach's attention. "It's March Madness; everyone is go- ing to love the Cinderella," May said. "This is a very, very popular upset pick for a reason — because they're really, really good." BEATING THE ODDS The Wolverines were only 2.5-point favorites against the 12th-seeded Tri- tons, but they came out looking exactly like that "team with a chip" in the first half. They opened a 41-27 advantage and made it tough for the Tritons' less athletic guards to get looks and/ or score. Like Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game, when they did get their shots in the first 20 minutes, many of them came after they expended a lot of energy to get open or were hoisted over much lengthier defenders. However, UCSD came out with much more energy than Michigan in the sec- ond half, punched the Wolverines in the mouth and all but took center Vladislav Goldin out of the game offensively. He finished with 14 points on only 9 shots but still led the team in scoring. "They were double-teaming Vlad be- fore he had the ball," May noted. "We threw it to him, and he was essentially triple-teamed. He passed it back out, and it created a closeout. He generates a lot of attention. "I don't think we did a great job of taking what the game was giving us. We wanted to cause that overreaction, Dusty May gladly embraced a wet welcome from his team in the locker room after the Wolverines defeated Texas A&M, 91-79, in the NCAA Tournament's round of 32. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS