ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Dusty May turned some heads Monday when he said out loud what some loyal to Michigan’s rival in the green and white might be thinking.
May, in his second season in Ann Arbor, has revamped the Wolverines’ roster in his vision — with a collection of players from the transfer portal, a group of high school recruits, and a pair of holdovers from the Juwan Howard era.
A starting lineup with four transfers has apparently rubbed some the wrong way, from what May can tell, prompting him to say this to reporters during his weekly news conference at Crisler Center:
“I know people outside of our tribe will call our guys these derogatory names, (like) mercenaries and whatnot,” May said. “We have a group of guys that like playing with each other. They appreciate Michigan, and when you see how connected they are, I don’t know how you would classify them as guys playing just for money.”
The way May sees it, the four transfers he brought in this offseason — forwards Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB) and Morez Johnson Jr. (Illinois), center Aday Mara (UCLA) and Elliot Cadeau (North Carolina) — passed on bigger paydays to come to Michigan to be part of something. All four are flourishing alongside point guard Nimari Burnett, Michigan’s sixth-year guard who transferred in from Alabama for the 2023-24 season.
Which explains why May takes it personally when he hears words thrown at his players.
“Look, I get it,” May said. “I think everyone would rather us just come in and sign a bunch of freshmen and lose and try to grow it organically. But our job from Day 1 was to win. And so we brought in a balanced class.”
Michigan Wolverines forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) high-fives after Michigan basketball defeated Ohio State at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com
May, 49, even pointed to his decision to go “in the portal” during his college days — leaving small Oakland City University, where he played basketball and ran track, after his freshman year for Indiana, where he became a student manager under legendary basketball coach Bobby Knight.
“I thought that if I could go be a student manager for coach Knight, I could probably get a job in my mid-20s coaching a small-school varsity job,” May said, some 30 years later. “It’s whatever prepares you best for what’s next.”
May even told a story of his time at Florida Atlantic, where he and his staff thought they had an under-the-radar, all-conference player on their team. That player was lured to the transfer portal by a “high-major team” who later decided not to take him.
While it was a lesson for everyone involved, May learned not to let it bother him. It’s the way of college athletics nowadays, and in his mind, you either adapt or fall behind.
“This isn’t changing,” May said. “If we’re not fluid and flexible,(it’s not going to work). We coaches don’t have the control we had seven years ago. We don’t really have any control, and I’m OK with that.”
If a player chooses elsewhere, “we’re not mad at them. We’re not making this about us.”
Instead, May and his staff have zeroed in on finding the right players to fit their profile, be it in the portal or through the high school ranks, and ready to make adjustments as needed.
So, why’s it worked? How are the Wolverines 20-1,tied atop the Big Ten standings and ranked second in the country with a group of “mercenaries” trying to co-exist and talented players like Trey McKenney and Roddy Gayle Jr. coming off the bench?
Through honesty and transparency, May says.
“Even if we’re having issues during the season, I’ll ask the team and I’ll ask the players: Is anything that’s happening now not exactly how we portrayed it in the recruiting process? Did we lie in any way?,” May said. “Because sometimes you accidentally lie. We’ve told kids before, ‘hey, we’re recruiting you to come in here and run our team from Day 1. That’s why you’re recruited here,’ and then you start practice and you’ve got an all-league guard on your team already that you didn’t know was that good.
“We try to tell them exactly what the picture looks like and the different ways it can go, because they remember everything we tell them in recruiting. Everything in the recruiting process.”
