How did Michigan evolve into national title favorite? It aced the transfer portal

INDIANAPOLIS – Dusty May is a self-described “blue-collar guy” who cut grass, cut tobacco, baled hay and worked in turkey barns growing up in Greene County, Indiana , where he learned that “if you see a neighbor moving in, you go help them. ” So when Michigan point guard Elliot Cadeau arrived on campus last year as a transfer from North Carolina, May was there to help carry a table up a flight of stairs to the junior’s new apartment. “When a player is moving in, it's a lot quicker if we walk across the parking lot and help them move in rather than just mom and dad,” said May.

“It's kind of how we run our program. ” Yaxel Lendeborg injury news: Will Michigan star play in national championship game? And Michigan’s program runs on transfers such as Cadeau, who after two often tumultuous seasons with the Tar Heels has found a home and flourished on the Wolverines’ newcomer-heavy roster.

“I think that just comes from the coaching. They have so much confidence in me,” Cadeau said after Michigan’s Final Four win against Arizona . “It just helps me stay calm.

If I turn the ball over and I look over at coach, they're calm. So that just helps me stay calm as well. ” There is no bigger test for a major-conference program and coach than personnel management, the annual acquisition and blending of talent in an era of NIL and rampant player movement.