Dear, Indiana Basketball Fans - Dusty May Is NOT The Answer
After 4 long years of Mike Woodson at the helm, you couldn't find a head basketball coach that could be any worse. If there is one out there, please keep them away from Indiana. Woodson squandered talent, was terrible with x's and o's, and cared more about personal pizza parties than even learning names of recruits. On the court and behind the scenes, Woody STUNK.
So, as Indiana is balls deep in coaching negotiations, who should they take? When news of Woody's "retirement" broke I said I'd obviously cut off my left nut to get Brad Stevens, Chris Beard is a psycho who wins, and I'd rather not take Dusty May but maybe he could grow on me. Well, I can now officially say Dusty won't grow on me.
The day after Michigan played IU and I couldn't have been less impressed with what I saw from May. Mike Woodson was out coaching Dusty May. Mike fucking Woodson! The zone had Dusty in hell, and to get out from the fiery depths Dusty did absolutely nothing. Zero changes, just hopped and prayed his boys could hold on and not completely blow an 18 point lead. I realize I'm writing this as Michigan is standing alone at the top of the B10 standings, but don't let this cloud your judgement for the long term.
Indiana is all too familiar with this coaching strategy. We've seen it before with Tom Crean. I'm not sure what the deal is with people online romanticizing the Tom Crean era, but I guess it's because things weren't complete and total shit like they are currently and that's good? May is Crean 2.0. Will bring in talent, will be good enough to get you to the tournament and win a few times, but will lose to superior coaching - owned by the zone. Yeah, they've made a deep run but a lot of coaches can make a single run with some luck. Dependent on players, not a system. Yeah, you'll have some success and probably win a Big 10 title here and there, but you won't win an NCAA title.
If Indiana were to get May he'd be good enough to keep you above average but never great. Luckily for Indiana, their incompetence to let Woody go last year probably saved them from getting stuck with Dusty May. May seems to be entrenched in Michigan the way his season is going, and with talks of Michigan trying to extend him. Which is fine by me. Yes, there are way worse coaches to have than May, but May would put you in a purgatory of just good enough.