Dusty May and Bill Rafferty’s postgame jokes reveal the reason to back Michigan this March

Michigan’s 110-69 win over Penn State on Thursday night turned into a laugher from the opening tip with the Wolverines sprinting out to a 56-24 halftime lead. And in keeping with the theme, Dusty May and Bill Raftery each decided to put on a postgame comedy act. 

First, Raftery spoke with May, who has led the Wolverines to their best start in program history at 21-1 in just his second season, and he took aim at his 24-year-old senior guard Nimari Burnett, who is in his fifth year of college basketball and third in Ann Arbor. 

“Nimari’s pretty special, the way he gets free. He had a heck of a night for you,” Raftery prompted May. “Yeah, we took two days off earlier this week,” May responded, “and that was good for the old man,” he joked. 

Nimari Burnett is the veteran depth every team needs for a deep March Madness run

Burnett finished with a career-high 31 points on 11-16 shooting in just 21 minutes against the Nittany Lions. He stepped up to provide scoring depth in the backcourt next to Elliot Cadeau on a night when fellow veteran guard Roddy Gayle Jr. submitted a DNP as he battled an illness. 

Next, the 82-year-old Raftery interviewed Burnett on the floor at the Crisler Center and led in with the effortless humor that has made Raft a broadcasting legend. 

“Nimari, we were teasing during the game. It’s nice to have somebody older than me scoring all those points, pretty special night for you.” 

While May and Raftery are simply teasing one of college basketball’s most veteran players, players like Burnett are exactly what a team needs to make a deep run in March. Burnett has seen it all, making a Sweet 16 with Alabama before arriving at Michigan under Juwan Howard and sticking around through the transition to May. 

He’s played in six NCAA Tournament games with two Sweet 16 runs and is one of five contributors back from last year’s Big Ten championship team. Of Michigan’s typical nine-man rotation, Trey McKenney is the only freshman. Burnett, Cadeau, Aday Mara, and Yaxel Lendeborg, four of Michigan’s five starters, have all played at least three years of college basketball. 

In the Transfer Portal era, it isn’t impossible to win with a team led by underclassmen, but it is incredibly difficult. Last year, the national championship game between Florida and Houston didn’t feature a single minute played by a freshman. 

With players staying in school longer and moving around more, experience is the most valuable it's been in college basketball at least this century, if not longer. And Burnett provides plenty of it.