Two weeks into the college basketball season, it’s clear the Michigan men’s program is very different from last year.
We knew this would be the case when Dusty May, hired to replace Juwan Howard as head coach, hit the transfer portal hard to rebuild the roster. It’s proven true as far as style of play (faster pace, more ball movement, deeper rotation) and off-court messaging (in-person media availabilities, multiple-word answers, an actual plan).
Howard’s least favorite part of his job, by far, was dealing with the media. I don’t know if May likes it, but he’s good at it. He answers questions thoughtfully, gives a reason if he would prefer not to discuss a certain topic (which has rarely been the case), and has admitted fault a few times already. It’s refreshing. As a beat writer, I can cover the team in a way I couldn’t in recent years. That’s good for me but, more importantly, it benefits readers.
So far, Michigan is 3-1, which is the same record the program held after four games each of the past three years. Michigan finished 8-24 last year. In other words, it’s still too early to draw any definitive conclusions. By the end of December, Michigan will have played six more games against power-conference teams, including two Big Ten opponents. We’ll have a better idea of what they are by then, but the early results are encouraging.
My latest content
In addition to regular basketball content (the women’s team looks good too; a Wolverine has won the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award in each of the first two weeks) and football stories (Michigan will try to become bowl eligible this Saturday), I recently published a story on a behind-the-scenes figure in the Michigan athletic department.
His name is Brian Townsend, and he’s essentially a “team culture” coach. For years, his name would come up as I worked on other stories. Finally I decided, maybe I should write about this guy. So I did.
Behind the scenes, this ultimate Michigan Man helps Wolverines reach their potential
What I’m reading
Quincy Jones, a 28-time Grammy winner, died earlier this month. I was drawn to his obituary for a few reasons: He is a music icon; his name appears in the credits of one of the all-time great sitcoms, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” as an executive producer; and he shares a name with my daughter. Jones mastered the music and business sides of the music business, producing three of Michael Jackson’s biggest albums. He’s the father of Rashida Jones, an actress who appears in two of my favorite TV comedies of all time (“The Office” and “Parks and Recreation”).
Sticking with the theme of death, the guy who invented the JanSport backpack, Murray McCory, also died recently. In high school I had a JanSport, obviously, and in fact still use it to carry a basketball when I ride my bike to a park to shoot around. Never got my initials embroidered on it though.