Akeem Miskdeen ready to help architect Michigan basketball from the ground up

Bricks, typically, are not the first thought associated with winning basketball. But for Akeem Miskdeen, co-architect of Florida Atlantic’s program and eventual Final Four run alongside Michigan coach Dusty May, it’s about the process over the prize. Building a winning program means laying a foundation — brick by brick.

A major recruiter of the Owl’s 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes that eventually powered their Cinderella March Madness run just two years later, Miskdeen never saw the spoils of his efforts. Departing May’s program in the 2021-2022 season to follow current Georgia coach Mike White to the University of Florida, and then to the Bulldogs, Miskdeen never got the chance to cut the ribbon on FAU’s Final Four run.

But he laid the groundwork all the same.

So as Miskdeen stood and watched his former team topple Tennessee in the Sweet Sixteen, before kicking Kansas State in the Elite Eight, he knew his imprint was there. Even if he had made the decision to no longer stand on the sidelines, Miskdeen’s presence was on the court in its own way.

“We got the ball rolling, we were trying to build that program from, honestly, not much history and we helped build that program to what it is now,” Miskdeen said on the Defend the Block Podcast Tuesday. “But the first three years, it was up and down, but we had winning seasons each year, and we recruited a really good class. That class got them to the Final Four. So it was a lesson for me.”