When he took the job in Ann Arbor in March, Michigan Wolverines basketballhead coach Dusty Mayspoke with players who were on the fence about their futures. He couldn’t make promises in terms of playing time or role since he and his staff were bringing in so many new pieces.
“Every single player that I met and spent time with on their way out, they were great people, and I learned a lot from them about this place, about them, why they chose Michigan, what’s kept them at Michigan, what’s made them decide to leave Michigan, because I’m curious and I want to do the best job for this place,” May said on a recent episode of the ‘Defend The Block’ podcast. “But they were all great guys.”
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There were tough decisions made, such as guard George Washington IIIgoing into the the transfer portal, withdrawing, re-entering and eventually ending up at Richmond. Three players from last year’s roster, though, decided to come back — and were welcome to do so — in graduate guard Nimari Burnett, fifth-year senior guard Jace Howardand redshirt junior forward Will Tschetter.
Burnett and Tschetter, specifically, had major roles on last season’s team. The former started at the ‘2’ in all 32 outings, averaging 9.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He shot 46.9 percent on twos and 34.7 percent on 150 three-point attempts. Tschetter connected on a whopping 51.9 percent of his 54 three-point tries and 62.5 percent of his looks from inside the arc. He averaged 6.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in 17.9 minutes per game, mostly coming off the bench.
Howard — the son of Michigan’s head coach, Juwan Howard, (2019-24) — was a team captain a year ago. Missing time due to injuries, Howard played in 10 games off the bench, averaging 2.6 points.
“But the three that stayed, I think my first question or one of the first couple questions to all of them was, ‘Would you choose to attend Michigan if you didn’t play ball?’ And all of them said, without any hesitation, ‘100 percent. Absolutely,'” May continued. “They all love it here. And so when you have something that brings us together, something bigger than ourselves — and that’s the association with this block ‘M’ — I do think that makes our job a little bit easier to retain and also acquire quality people.
“It was comforting to me to know that those guys take a lot of pride in this place and wanted to leave here on a winning note and with a legacy. It was difficult at first because I couldn’t tell them what their roles were going to be. I couldn’t have told them what I projected as far as minutes or anything, because everything was so different, so new, and I needed to get to know them.”
The personality and high character of each Michigan player stood out to May.
“I enjoyed spending time with all of them,” May said. “Will, Nimari and Jace, they’re all guys that you could leave at your house for a month and have no concern that they’re throwing a ‘Project X’ party or anything. They’re great guys that represent this place well, and we’re very, very grateful that they stayed, because they’re going to help us and hopefully hang a banner on their way out.”
Tschetter, a Minnesota native, is into gardening and fishing. May has stressed the importance of relating to his Michigan players both on and off the floor — and he plans to partake in some off-the-court activities with Tschetter in the weeks and months to come.
“I can’t wait to learn how to fish from Will,” May said. “He’s been a great food source on local restaurants. He’s just a guy when he walks in your office or you see him in the gym in the morning you have a little pep in your step, because there’s something interesting that he’s into and he’s someone, as a parent of three boys, you would want your sons to act and behave as he does and be as curious and as worldly as he was.”
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