Dusty May Emphasizes Building ‘Championship Habits’ Early In The Season On WCSX

Michigan is on top of the men’s college basketball world right now. But banners aren’t hung in mid-December.

The Wolverines currently occupy the No. 2 spot in the AP Poll rankings, and they sit comfortably at No. 1 in advanced metrics such as KenPom, Torvik, EvanMiya, and NET. 

It’s not yet time to pop champagne — the season is still young — although that doesn’t mean Michigan doesn’t have its eyes set on adding another banner to the rafters of Crisler Center. A championship and some jewelry is certainly the end goal, but in an interview with Jim O’Brien on 94.7 WCSX, Michigan head coach Dusty May emphasized the importance of the process, not just the moment.

“It’s more of ‘championship habits,’ ” May said. “It’s going to take endurance. It’s going to take stamina to go through a Big Ten schedule. But yeah, we talk about that, what we’re going to need to do if we’re going to hang a banner. 

“And we’re not obsessed with that banner, but it’s just a symbol of day-to-day work. We have to layer our offense, our defense, our special teams, in a way that we can refer back to a lot of the lessons we’re learning now. So there’s always a championship in mind, and it’s not that moment, but it’s the habits that are developed today.”

For May, there is no better time than the present to build the culture and discipline necessary to be a championship team. Especially with college basketball’s postseason structure, one monetary lapse in focus can be the difference between a long ride home after the first weekend of March Madness and a deep tourney run.

And even though the Wolverines face two low- to mid-major squads — La Salle and McNeese — before the heat of conference play, May believes that this stretch will be crucial when it comes to building those ‘championship habits.’

“We practice tomorrow,” May said. “Championships are won on days like tomorrow, because it's finals week, and you have a tendency to let off the gas because you have a lower conference opponent coming in for a buy game on Sunday. But championship-level teams perform and play to a standard regardless of who they're playing. So those are the day-to-day tests — or quizzes, I should say — that we’re trying to pass.”

So far this season, the Wolverines haven’t let off the gas. They had a few early-season scares with the likes of TCU and Wake Forest, but even those games are encapsulated in the scope of building habits — in these cases, it was the ability to win games even on off nights.

With as dominant as Michigan’s start to the season has been, May and his squad have every right to have their eyes on winning it all. But it’s the process that leads to the end goal, not the end goal itself, that will propel them forward.

The Wolverines will take the court next on Sunday Dec. 21 at home against La Salle. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m., and you can get the call on 94.7 WCSX.