It would be easy to criticize Dusty May and say that the Michigan men’s basketball coach used the NIL to win a National Championship, which he did. But to say that will be ongoing is simply premature and wrong in a way. So, just how is May building the basketball team, and why his approach looks more like professional team building is because that is where college sports are. May is going to continue to spend NIL funds to bring in top players while recruiting top talent.
While it is true that Dusty May spent money and built a championship team, he felt it was the right approach in order to give his vision of Michigan basketball a boost. Now, in the aftermath of a National Championship, May and his staff are hitting the recruiting trail. But why? Why recruit when he could just sign players?
Much like professional sports teams that sign free agents, they have a core of players. This is what May’s vision is: to recruit players while signing players to give the roster a boost. The reason he did not do that this season is that this was just his second season in Ann Arbor. By winning a championship, May knew that it would get top recruits’ attention, which it has.
The Michigan staff is being aggressive in signing top recruits, which will add length to winning. Putting core players with top transfer portal players is good business. Those NIL players can help and then move on, while the core stays together with new portal players. It is a way to keep winning. It is a solid strategy and one that could pay big dividends.
Michigan’s basketball program joined the elite programs with a wrinkle: May will keep a core together and build around it. While the approach has been met by others with anger and frustration, it should not; again, this is today’s college sports. Others will adapt to time, and by that time, Dusty May will find a different approach. He has already shown that.
