Notebook: What Dusty May and Michigan are working on in week off

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The Michigan men’s basketball team is at the top of the college basketball world. Ranked No. 1 in KenPom, NCAA NET, Bart Torvik, and seemingly every other computer metric, the Wolverines dominated every opponent at the Players Era Championship to secure a title and an extra $1 million in NIL money.

Most notably, Michigan didn’t just win the tournament; it did so by defeating three high-caliber opponents by 40, 30, and 40 points, respectively, proving just how in control it was throughout.

Now, it’s a matter of staying grounded while all eyes are turned to the hottest program in the country. Between Michigan’s Players Era Championship win against Gonzaga last Wednesday and this upcoming Saturday in the conference opener against Rutgers, there are nine days that Michigan coach Dusty May and his squad can use to process and improve from an already sky-high start.

“Excited to have a week of practice and more time to continue to learn ourselves and get better as a program, but it’s also a test to see how we’re going to respond,” May said Monday. “… Going forward, we’ve got to get lost in the fight, in the process of improving.”

In the nine days between games, May mentioned multiple areas on Monday that his team is looking to attack — both on the court and mentally — to prepare for the rest of the season.

Not getting too high or too low

Granted, the Wolverines are still undefeated, but they’ve had about as much of a high and low start as they could’ve had considering that fact.

An opening-game win over Oakland that was never in question then led to an overtime win against Wake Forest and a slim road victory at TCU. Although both the Demon Deacons and Horned Frogs are power-conference opponents, those two wins felt a bit hollow at the time.

But then at the Players Era Championship, the switch flipped completely. Quality wins over San Diego State, Auburn and Gonzaga have rightfully earned Michigan a spot at the top — even if the other wins earlier didn’t look as pretty.

The message from May, after the start: the Wolverines aren’t going to get too high or too low, no matter the outcome, no matter the point differential, even if they win.

“We never get too high, too low,” May said. “When the world’s falling because we only beat a good, Big 12 team by X number points, the world’s not falling in our locker room. And we’re not screaming from the mountaintop now. I mean, our temperature rarely changes.”