Interview: Patrick Liburd on Dusty May’s recruiting pitch, what Michigan fans can expect from him

Michigan Basketball picked up Patrick Liburd on the recruiting trail last week, about a week after decommitting from Coastal Carolina. So how did it happen so quick, and what was Dusty May’s pitch to him? Liburd revealed that and much more to us:

Development is at the core of Michigan basketball’s identity. That was the program’s M.O. under John Beilein, and helping players improve has been the main focus of Dusty May’s young tenure as well.

While May has only been around for one season, we’ve seen him and his staff significantly improve the draft stock of guys like Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin , who both could hear their names called in this year’s draft.

That core principle was the main part of May’s pitch to three-star forward Patrick Liburd , who committed to Michigan’s 2025 class a few weeks ago, less than 10 days after de-committing from Coastal Carolina.

In an interview with Maize n Brew, Liburd — who played high school basketball at Sagemont Prep, roughly 40 miles from May’s old stomping grounds of Florida Atlantic — expanded on May’s pitch to him.

“It was the player development, and how me going to Michigan would be the best opportunity to have for basketball and life after,” he said.

While the month of May is typically a quiet month for recruiting, Michigan wasted little time pitching Liburd, who plans to major in exercise science, once he was available.

“(May) reached out about five days after I was released from my commitment to Coastal Carolina,” Patrick said. “He’s a really cool dude, down to Earth. He’s seen me play when he was down here, so he was pretty familiar with my game, so it was really easy to move forward.”

The plan is for Liburd to play the wing in Ann Arbor, the position that helped him fall in love with basketball. He was nine when LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to its first ever NBA championship in 2016, an age when many kids fall in love with the sport.

As he’s gotten older, Liburd has tried to make his game his own, while modeling his playing style off the shot creation and slashing from future Hall-of-Famers Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Liburd has studied Michigan’s wings a bit to prepare himself for his freshman season. Once he gets to Ann Arbor, he will get plenty of help from Michigan’s staff, another big reason he decided to become a Wolverine.

“I chose Michigan because of the opportunity that I would have and the resources that Michigan has, and the coaching staff,” Liburd said. “They did a really good job of explaining everything and letting me know about their development program and how I would excel from being at this school.”

Liburd won back-to-back state titles in the Sunshine State, scoring nearly 30 points in the state final a few months ago. Liburd got the chance to play alongside Matthew Able, a friend and five-star NC State commit.

Liburd hasn’t visited Ann Arbor yet, but he will be there soon enough. Team workouts begin on mid-June, and classes a few days after. Growing up in Hollywood, Florida and playing high school ball in Weston, the 6-foot-6 forward is in for a rude awakening with temperatures drop as the season goes along.

“Not really,” Liburd said when asked if he’s ready for Michigan winters. “I just bought a huge coat to get ready for the cold down there.”

Liburd — who ended the interview by thanking his parents, his coaches at Sagemont Prep and God for getting him to where he is today — grew up a huge Miami Heat fan, with his favorite player on that team being All-Star big man Bam Adebayo. Much like Adebayo, Liburd is willing to do things that don’t show up on the box score to help his team to victory.

“Really the main thing is being an energy guy and an impact guy,” Liburd said on his message for Michigan fans on what he brings to the Wolverines. “I just try to do the little things to make our team win, like rebounding, shooting, assisting, pushing the ball. Any small thing or big thing that needs to be done, that’s what I’ll do.