8. Dusty May (Michigan)
Michigan bottomed out last season, winning just 8 games while finishing 3-17 in Big Ten play in Juwan Howard’s final season as head coach. At the same time, May had Florida Atlantic back in the Big Dance one year after that crazy run to the Final Four. The Wolverines no doubt saw what May’s already accomplished in his brief coaching career and brought him to Ann Arbor, with certain pleasure from the initial results.
The Wolverines have nearly doubled last season’s win total already and are in fact 6-2 in the Big Ten. The season has been far from perfect, but May has built quite the frontcourt duo with Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf and has a team that can absolutely win the Big Ten. This team has already won true road games at Wisconsin and UCLA, though their hot start was dulled by a real stinker on Friday against Purdue.
Regardless, a team picked to finish 9th in the Big Ten still looks like it can win this conference. That pair of 7-footers has done significant damage and the Wolverines could be a surprising team in the NCAA Tournament several weeks from now. May has been a revelation for the folks in Ann Arbor and has people talking about Michigan basketball in a positive light again.