Dusty May’s exit could have sent Michigan’s men’s basketball program into a scramble. Instead, the Wolverines have stayed locked in, and transfer Jalen Reed says the message from the departing coach helped keep the room pointed at the same target.
Speaking on “In the Block” with Brian Boesch, Reed said the reaction inside the program has been less about disruption and more about conviction. Michigan has already seen all but two players announce they’ll be back next season, and interim head coach Mike Boynton Jr. has helped preserve much of the roster May assembled.
“I've just been really impressed with how much guys are in the gym and how much guys really, really, really believe in each other and believe in this team," Reed told Boesch. "You know, it was easy for when Dusty left for everybody to kind of split and splinter. But everybody said, when we woke up this morning before the news broke, we thought we were a championship team and nothing's really changed."
Reed said the championship talk wasn’t just empty optimism. According to him, May was the one who walked into the locker room after the news broke and made it clear the group still had the kind of talent to win it all.
"I want to say Dusty came in right after the news broke, came in the locker room and said it first," said Reed. "And everybody was like, you right?
Like Coach Mike even followed up on it. And the team kind of agreed and our leaders spoke up, Elliot and Trey.
And, you know, everybody just kept believing in the goal."
Those leaders, Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney, carry something that can’t be faked: the feel of winning at the highest level. Reed said that kind of experience matters, especially for the younger players now trying to absorb what championship basketball actually looks like.
"Just that experience, that winning experience. I mean, you can't replicate going out and getting the NCAA championship and you can't replicate that experience no matter what, unless you win it," said Reed.
"So I feel like just them having already got it done and having that knowledge to give the young guys and even me as an older guy is special. And it's rare.
You can't. You can't find that everywhere, everywhere in the country because, I mean, you got to have winners to have that."
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