Dusty May Thanks FAU Family After Transfer Treasure Trove Powers Michigan to Title

Michigan head coach Dusty May quickly gave a special nod after his team won the men’s basketball national championship on Monday night.

May credited his last stop before Michigan, Florida Atlantic University (FAU), during his postgame press conference. Three years ago, May led FAU to the Final Four before taking over an 8–24 Michigan squad in 2024, bringing two assistants with him.

“I want to thank our FAU guys, the team and staff that really, really—this is one time I’ll make it about me—that really helped us grow together,” May told reporters afterward. “And that was the first time I had been with a group that was truly sacrificial, where we were about each other, and because of that, we all improved so much, and this team has done the same thing.”

May took an average mid-major program at FAU in 2018–2019 and built a contender. On Monday, the Indiana native restored Michigan to the college hoops throne with the Wolverines’ first national championship since 1989 after a 69–63 victory over UConn, a scenario he had never dreamed of.

“And living in Ypsilanti when I was a young assistant in Eastern Michigan, I had never—I wasn’t that familiar with Michigan other than ’89 and being a fan of the game,” May said about his previous perception, followed by taking the helm in Ann Arbor. “And just felt like Michigan was a place ultimately with a changing landscape that we could retain really good players, even if it wasn’t going great for them. It was going to be hard to leave.”

Once famously known for the Fab Five recruiting class in the 1990s, May built his own Michigan Fab Five with the transfer portal: Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara, Morez Johnson Jr., Elliot Cadeau, and Roddy Gayle Jr.

“Man, once we transferred in, I know especially for me, the whole University of Michigan welcomed me with open arms,” Lendeborg told reporters afterward. “I’ve seen many, many Twitter arguments of these guys going back and forth with everybody saying we deserved a spot here, they’re going to cherish every moment of us being here.”

Michigan (37–3) won a program record for games this season and dominated its way through the NCAA tournament until UConn provided a challenge on Monday. The Wolverines scored 90 or more points in every game before the final.

“Yeah, I just saw so much talent around me since day one. Just like a unique set of talent, like three bigs at the same time, switching 1 through 4,” Cadeau told reporters afterward. “I just [saw] a unique type of basketball that we [were] playing, and I knew it would be a mismatch nightmare for every single team that we played, and it was this year.”

UConn didn’t let the “mismatch nightmare” scare them, as the Huskies hung with the Wolverines throughout and never trailed by more than 11 points. The Huskies were playing the championship game for a third time in four years, and it didn’t hurt that senior center Tarris Reed Jr. was quite familiar with May and the Wolverines as a former player in Ann Arbor before a 2024 transfer to Storrs, Connecticut.

“Yeah, after the game, it was just a whole bunch of emotions flowing through, just playing the school that I literally came in with,” Reed told reporters. “I remember Coach May recruited me out of the portal. I saw some of my old guys, old teammates, just talking to my guy Will Tschetter, Harrison, Nimari, just chopping it up. We came a long way.”

“I know it sucks to be in this position, but through wins and losses, just thank the Lord for it all, big man of faith, big believer in Jesus, and everything happens for a reason,” Reed added.

UConn head coach Dan Hurley, who came up short of a third title in four years, described how good this transfer-laden Michigan team is. Hurley has been coaching UConn since 2018 and in Division I since 2010.

“They’re legit. They definitely deserved to win the National Championship,” Hurley told reporters afterward. “They’re clearly the best team in the country this year.”