Even by the new college athletics landscape standards, Michigan basketball's offseason was fast and furious.

U-M AD Warde Manuel fired former coach Juwan Howard on March 15 and hired Dusty May away from Florida Atlantic on March 24. May was officially introduced two days later. Aside from his wife, Anna, and his three sons; Jack, Charlie, and Eli who were seated in the front row, May was all alone.

At the time there were no coaches in the fold (at least none who were staying) and no players on the roster. So, it was on the Peoria, Ill., native, moving back to his Big Ten roots, to put together the bones of his new program from scratch. In the 42 days since May first spoke at a microphone in Ann Arbor, he's done exactly that.

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He compiled a staff with five assistant coaches, which now is comprised of people like Kyle Chruch − also named the program's general manager as he's on his fourth straight team alongside May − as well as Mike Boynton Jr., a former Power Five head coach (Oklahoma State) who's shown the pedigree to recruit the No. 1 player in the nation when he lured current Pistons star Cade Cunningham to Stillwater.

There's also Akeem Miskdeen; former Georgia assistant who spent three years with May prior at FAU (2018-21); Drew Williamson, director of player development, who also held the same title the past three years in Boca Raton; and Justin Joyner after seven years at Saint Marys.

"Everything I've ever been taught growing up is that you hire guys you know, you hire guys you worked with, hire guys you trust, hire guys who are loyal to you," May said. "As far as knowing guys, I didn't want to work with my friends. ... I want guys who will complement me and my weaknesses, guys that are gonna challenge me and my players every day."

From there, it was controlled chaos for more than a month as the staff searched far and wide to compile its 2024-25 roster. In all, May and company landed six players via the transfer portal, held onto two from last year's team (Nimari Burnett and WIll Tschetter) and hauled in three freshmen, only one of whom was committed to the previous regime.

U-M has one scholarship remaining, which is still not decided if it will be geared toward this year or long term.

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May said six weeks prior that his expectation is to win right away. On Tuesday, with the whirlwind now somewhat, almost, finally, for the most part, behind him, he said it with a bit more authority.

"I'm probably more confident saying that now than I was then," May said in the Crisler Center media room. "We expect to put a team on the court that is going to compete at a high level every single night and with the talent level we have, there's no reason why we couldn't expect to win a lot of those."

All about the connections

Those who've followed U-M basketball in recent years know the stories of guys like Terrance Shannon Jr., Caleb Love and Papa Kante; highly regarded transfers or incoming freshmen who were committed to the program verbally but ultimately not able to get into the university on the academic side.

With that knowledge in his back pocket, May said he and his staff were deliberate with their time in the portal.

"We have to do our work early," May said about what he learned. "There's no reason to invest time, energy and effort ... we just tried to really see who fit us from the beginning. ... there were a few guys we had to stay away from.

"Maybe we could've got them, but we didn't go down that road because we had to be so efficient with our time."

That time seemed to work out just fine according to coaches like Church, Williamson and Miskdeen, all of whom repeated the same line at some point or another during their portion of the meet and greet.

"Eight for eight," each said with a smile, referencing how U-M landed all eight of its top outside targets (in addition to Tschtter, Burnett and previously Durral 'Phat Phat' Brooks) that it devoted true time to landing.

"We're a very confident group," May said. "We believe in our work, we believe in our principles and our way of doing things. So we were pleasantly surprised at how well-received this university basketball program has been and we've also been pleasantly surprised that the guys that joined us have.

"Did I anticipate it would go like this? I probably would've thought we would've missed on a few more guys than we have. ... but I think we provided a real unique situation for a lot of these guys."

Blank Canvas

Not only did U-M have to move with intention, it also had to have an idea of the roster it wanted to form.

"We went into this blank canvas looking for a pass-first point guard who is capable of shooting off dribble and catch," May said. (He has to) also a physical defender to set the tone."

Insert former Auburn ball handler Tre Donaldson, who stands 6-foot-2, 190 pounds and was looking for a new home after splitting time with the Tigers' Aden Holloway last year. He fit the mold of what U-M was looking for perfectly; he has Florida ties (Tallahassee native) and a staffer joining U-M next week per May is an Auburn alum (it's not yet been announced, but KT Harrell fits that description) had additional insight.

"We just thought he fit. Can shoot of ball screens, off the catch, willing passer," May said. "He was very efficient and his numbers were conducive to winning."

Then, there's North Texas shooting guard Rubin Jones. The graduate transfer who's on the team for one reason.

"I didn't want to have to play against him anymore," May joked of Jones, who he called him a "throwback" player, with a high EQ and an ability to adapt to whatever team he's on like a "chameleon." May also mentioned how Jones played the second half of last year's team with a torn hamstring, and his staff thought Jones (as an opponent) was still "the best wing defender" in the conference.

Expected to split time with Jones at the two, former Ohio State shooting guard Roddy Gayle Jr.

Asked about him, May said he could go on for "30 more minutes" with everything he could say about OSU's third-leading scorer from a season ago, but instead kept it rather concise about what excites him most − even beyond how he runs in transition, plays off the pick and roll and offensive rebounds.

"A unique ability to get down hill," May said.

May told a story about how he longed for more players to develop that ability year after year in his early days at FAU before a trusted advisor told him "that's something you have to recruit" and it "always kind of stuck." Gayle is at the top of the list for that skill on the current roster.

At the forward spot, U-M rather quickly landed 6-foot-10 knockdown artist Sam Walters from Alabama. May has known Walters since he was in ninth grade when he had a high school coach with Michigan ties, which is really how the fit materialized in the first place.

There was also some help from another former high school coach with Michigan ties, Nate Oats.

"We knew a lot of people around him," May said of Walters. "It was a quick recruitment, also coaches at Alabama, our staff is close with their staff. ... they said great things about him and I think they helped us because they thought we’d be a good fit for him."

'Guys we're excited to grow with'

For all the talent at guard and wing that U-M added, much of the excitement is contained in the form of a pair of 7-footers; Vladimir Goldin (FAU) and Danny Wolf (Yale), both of whom nearly averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds a season ago and were named to their all-league teams.

It appears the team will orbit around new 7-foot-1 center Goldin, who Williams worked with in detail during his time with the Owls. He emphasized his development on the defensive end and said he has defensive player of the year capability as a rim protector.

"It allows the guards and wings to be more aggressive," Williams said of his length. "Just the amount of shots he affects."

Goldin is more of a traditional inside center while Wolf can stretch the floor; he knocked down 34.5% (29 of 84) of his long balls last year. The idea is for Goldin to play at least 25 minutes per night at the 5, while Wolf would handle the rest. And yes, there's no doubt U-M will employ a twin towers look as part of its rotation.

"We definitely envision those guys playing together significant minutes," May said. "And also complimenting each other.”

Church said the quiet part out loud Tuesday: "We feel we have an NCAA tournament team."

“We wanted to add some young guys with some old guys, but most importantly, get guys that fit culturally and have a baseline of talent," May said. "It’s been enjoyable to see the group come together, to try to fit these pieces and parts together, use our imagination based on past experience and find the guys that we felt like were right for this university and right for us.

"Because of the staff’s diligence, their hard work, the relationships that have been built over time, we were able to get guys that we’re extremely excited to grow with.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball’s Dusty May 'pleasantly surprised' by new roster