Why Michigan vs. Saint Louis could be March Madness thriller we've been craving

BUFFALO, NY — The connection between Michigan and Saint Louis starts with coaches Dusty May and Josh Schertz, who once met up in Boca Raton, Florida, with plans to quickly watch film but ended up spending 10 hours talking shop inside May’s former office at Florida Atlantic. “He's an absolute basketball junkie,” May said. “He's a savant.

I've learned so much from him. ” They are coaches cut from a similar cloth: May and Schertz are film-chewing basketball devotees who started as head coaches on lower levels — FAU for May and Lincoln Memorial and Indiana State for Schertz — before ascending to Saturday’s second-round matchup in the Midwest region between the No. 1 Wolverines and No.

9 Billikens. And they have constructed two teams built in similar ways, with similar styles and a desire to set the pace with fast-tempo offensive playbooks designed to push the score up, up and up. “They kind of play like us, to be honest with you,” Michigan guard Roddy Gayle Jr.

said. “Very similar to us. Honestly, I look at it like, how do we guard ourselves?