Can Dusty May bring Michigan basketball to the NCAA Tournament in 2025?
We are a few weeks out from Dusty May being hired as the next Michigan basketball coach, and so far, things are looking great. May has made some tremendous hires, very recently hiring Akeem Miskdeen from Georgia, and hiring former Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton. Those are two home run hires.
In the case of Boynton, hiring someone who was a pretty good head coach as an assistant coach is phenomenal. Boynton was a great defensive mind and a great recruiter. He brought Cade Cunningham to OK State, and developed him into the #1 overall pick. This is a huge hire.
Miskdeen worked with May at FAU and is a tremendous recruiter. A silver lining with Miskdeen is that he was the primary recruiter for former five-star Michigan basketball commit Khani Rooths at Georgia. Georgia was the perceived leader once he decommitted, however, Michigan may have retaken the lead here. May has been in contact with Rooths and Juwan Howard expressed his belief that Rooths would do great at Michigan under May.
Rooths would be a huge land, especially for a team that is in desperate need of players. That would be a massive victory for May. Also in the recruiting world, May is in contact with five star Indiana decommit Liam McNeeley.
May has been active in the transfer portal thus far, and the current belief is that Michigan is the favorite for FAU transfers Vlad Goldin and Johnell Davis. Those are the two best players from FAU's final four team and would be incredible for Michigan basketball to land. The Wolverines are also perceived as the favorite for Yale big man transfer Danny Wolf.
If Michigan can close the deal with those three and one of Khani Rooths/Liam McNeeley, they would have a solid core for the 2025 season. They'd have a star guard, a star bigman (possibly two), and a very talented freshman. Add in three-star commit Durrall Brooks, Will Tschetter, some other possible returning players, and some other transfers and that's an NCAA Tournament team.
In today's era of college sports where the transfer portal reigns supreme, rebuilds can happen in a much shorter time period than in the past. High caliber teams can be built in just one offseason, and that is what May is aiming to do.
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These next few weeks are going to be critical to the short term future of Michigan basketball. Dusty May has done all the right things thus far and has put Michigan in a phenomenal position. Now we just have to see if the administration will give him what he needs to secure these commitments and bring Michigan basketball back to the big dance. Stay tuned for more news, but things look promising in Ann Arbor.