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BUFFALO, NY − With two basketball minds such as these, it's easy for time to slip away when lost in conversation.
Like the time Josh Schertz, then the future coach at Saint Louis, visited then-Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May. Schertz, a Boca Raton native and FAU alumnus, had a trip home on the docket when he reached out to May for a meeting.
The two had other plans for later that day, but never quite made it.
"It was immediately after one of the seasons, and [Schertz] said, 'I'm going to come through, we'll sit and we'll talk ball for a couple hours and we'll have lunch,'" May recalled Friday, March 20. "I think we were going to meet Jim Crutchfield [a longtime Division II coach] to play pickleball, and I think we ended up sitting in my office for 10 straight hours. We hadn't eaten anything, I think we'd had a cup of coffee, probably a couple cups of coffee and some water.
"We missed lunch, we missed everything. We missed Crutch's pickleball and we just got caught up and had notebooks full − I had a notebook full of notes and about a million ideas running through my head."
Fast forward a few years, and now the two are nearing the pinnacle of their profession; they'll face off on the opposite sideline for the first time when 1-seed Michigan plays 9-seed Saint Louis in the NCAA Tournament Midwest region second round on Saturday (12:10 p.m., CBS).
The two have had regular check-ins since that first meeting. The relationship was triggered when May recruited a graduate transfer – Cornelius Taylor – from Schertz at Division II Lincoln Memorial in Tennessee. The more May studied his film, the more he saw a system that he found impressive.
The two had similar philosophies about free-flowing offense, passing big men as hubs in the attack and a proclivity for analytics. It just so happened the overlaps in their life would grow, when Schertz took over at Indiana State – located in Terre Haute, Indiana, where May was born.
"I noticed a really well-coached basketball team on both sides of the ball," May said. "Felt like this would be a guy that would be good to know. ... When he would come back [to Boca Raton] we'd have lunch, sit and talk ball in the office, in the gym."
TOUGH TEST: Is Michigan basketball ready for 'Milk Chamberlain' and Saint Louis?
These days, the two talk weekly. Well, they did. Once they realized they could meet in the second round of the NCAAs, they cut off communication. Of course, it could wind up too late for one side. The two swap playbooks and practice video, though May joked that they found less use in those this year than in previous ones − Both often joked, saying, "I couldn't watch, you guys were up 30 in the first half, you're boring to watch."
It wasn't just May who praised Schertz, the feeling was clearly mutual. May's career path always been one step ahead − he was at mid-major FAU when Schertz was in Division II, then moved to a Big Ten powerhouse while Schertz is at a mid-major − but he still made the time for another coach with a similar philosophy.
Schertz said it's a relationship that's turned into a friendship and has transcended what happens on the court, though, ofourse, the "preponderance" of their chats are certainly basketball-related.
DEJA VU: Back in his element, 'March Roddy' triumphant for Michigan basketball
"He's been an incredible resource for me over however many years it's been," Schertz said. "I think he's like me, where we're always looking at how we can do what we do better and how we can handle situations better. And we're always picking each other's brain. Obviously not while we've been here, but prior, on how we can do our jobs at a higher level.
"He's obviously an incredible coach but has been incredibly humble and has continued to grow and evolve as the game has grown and evolved."
That friendship will have to be put to the side Saturday, when one will end the other's season. After his Billikens beat 8-seed Georgia by 25 on Thursday, Schertz said he thought Michigan was the best team in the country.
May too knows his Wolverines will have their hands full − star Yaxel Lendeborg admitted he was "surprised" to see just how much Saint Louis throttled Georgia.
Schertz, however, isn't surprised in the slightest that Michigan has done what it's done − he's familiar enough with its leader and has watched plenty of its film.
"What makes them in my opinion the best, you have certainly elite talent, I think you have elite coaching − it's a great combination to be good," he said. "They can hurt you in a lot of different ways. Their transition, they do a great job in the pick-and-rolls. They're a terrific offensive rebounding team. They can hurt you in the post, they can hurt you on the perimeter, they shoot the three well.
"There's not a lot of where you look at them and think, Oh, that's a true weakness."
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dusty May, Josh Schertz share an approach to basketball
Continue reading...
Like the time Josh Schertz, then the future coach at Saint Louis, visited then-Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May. Schertz, a Boca Raton native and FAU alumnus, had a trip home on the docket when he reached out to May for a meeting.
The two had other plans for later that day, but never quite made it.
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"It was immediately after one of the seasons, and [Schertz] said, 'I'm going to come through, we'll sit and we'll talk ball for a couple hours and we'll have lunch,'" May recalled Friday, March 20. "I think we were going to meet Jim Crutchfield [a longtime Division II coach] to play pickleball, and I think we ended up sitting in my office for 10 straight hours. We hadn't eaten anything, I think we'd had a cup of coffee, probably a couple cups of coffee and some water.
"We missed lunch, we missed everything. We missed Crutch's pickleball and we just got caught up and had notebooks full − I had a notebook full of notes and about a million ideas running through my head."
Fast forward a few years, and now the two are nearing the pinnacle of their profession; they'll face off on the opposite sideline for the first time when 1-seed Michigan plays 9-seed Saint Louis in the NCAA Tournament Midwest region second round on Saturday (12:10 p.m., CBS).
The two have had regular check-ins since that first meeting. The relationship was triggered when May recruited a graduate transfer – Cornelius Taylor – from Schertz at Division II Lincoln Memorial in Tennessee. The more May studied his film, the more he saw a system that he found impressive.
The two had similar philosophies about free-flowing offense, passing big men as hubs in the attack and a proclivity for analytics. It just so happened the overlaps in their life would grow, when Schertz took over at Indiana State – located in Terre Haute, Indiana, where May was born.
"I noticed a really well-coached basketball team on both sides of the ball," May said. "Felt like this would be a guy that would be good to know. ... When he would come back [to Boca Raton] we'd have lunch, sit and talk ball in the office, in the gym."
You must be registered for see images attach
TOUGH TEST: Is Michigan basketball ready for 'Milk Chamberlain' and Saint Louis?
These days, the two talk weekly. Well, they did. Once they realized they could meet in the second round of the NCAAs, they cut off communication. Of course, it could wind up too late for one side. The two swap playbooks and practice video, though May joked that they found less use in those this year than in previous ones − Both often joked, saying, "I couldn't watch, you guys were up 30 in the first half, you're boring to watch."
It wasn't just May who praised Schertz, the feeling was clearly mutual. May's career path always been one step ahead − he was at mid-major FAU when Schertz was in Division II, then moved to a Big Ten powerhouse while Schertz is at a mid-major − but he still made the time for another coach with a similar philosophy.
Schertz said it's a relationship that's turned into a friendship and has transcended what happens on the court, though, ofourse, the "preponderance" of their chats are certainly basketball-related.
DEJA VU: Back in his element, 'March Roddy' triumphant for Michigan basketball
"He's been an incredible resource for me over however many years it's been," Schertz said. "I think he's like me, where we're always looking at how we can do what we do better and how we can handle situations better. And we're always picking each other's brain. Obviously not while we've been here, but prior, on how we can do our jobs at a higher level.
"He's obviously an incredible coach but has been incredibly humble and has continued to grow and evolve as the game has grown and evolved."
That friendship will have to be put to the side Saturday, when one will end the other's season. After his Billikens beat 8-seed Georgia by 25 on Thursday, Schertz said he thought Michigan was the best team in the country.
May too knows his Wolverines will have their hands full − star Yaxel Lendeborg admitted he was "surprised" to see just how much Saint Louis throttled Georgia.
You must be registered for see images
Schertz, however, isn't surprised in the slightest that Michigan has done what it's done − he's familiar enough with its leader and has watched plenty of its film.
"What makes them in my opinion the best, you have certainly elite talent, I think you have elite coaching − it's a great combination to be good," he said. "They can hurt you in a lot of different ways. Their transition, they do a great job in the pick-and-rolls. They're a terrific offensive rebounding team. They can hurt you in the post, they can hurt you on the perimeter, they shoot the three well.
"There's not a lot of where you look at them and think, Oh, that's a true weakness."
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dusty May, Josh Schertz share an approach to basketball
Continue reading...
