For the first edition of Michigan Musings, we take a look at two Michigan head coaches who are in search of their sports’s ultimate prize. For Dusty May and the basketball team, this boils down to the number nine. For Brandon Nuarato and hockey, it’s just about finding a little normalcy.
Welcome to Michigan Musings!
Every Monday — at least until the start of football season — this will serve as your prime source for all things Michigan Wolverines ; a weekly digest featuring thoughts and commentary on (mostly) the top stories from the week that was. Similar to a newsletter (Brewsletter?), this will feature an assortment of stories and opinions from football to basketball to hockey to pop culture and everything in between.
Grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and let’s get after it.
Dusty May’s Magic Number
To paraphrase the 2008 seminal text Blades of Glory, Michigan basketball is a freight train from Hell headed straight to the top of the Big Ten. With wins last week over UCLA and Washington, the Wolverines have now won five in a row, remain undefeated in conference play, and have improved to 13-3 on the season.
The buzz around the program has reached a fever pitch with Danny Wolf garnering first-round NBA Draft projections, and head coach Dusty May entering the National Coach of the Year conversations. But as the wins stack up and the bandwagon fills up, keep one number in mind. Nine.
Nine is the magic number for the May-ze and blue. If Michigan can make nine threes and limit itself to nine turnovers per game, the Wolverines could win the national championship. Although reductive, the rule of nine works to explain all three of Michigan’s losses this season. Losses in which the Wolverines relinquished a double-digit lead each time.
Against Wake Forest, the Wolverines reached their threshold from the perimeter (10) but turned the ball over 16 times. In their two most recent losses, Michigan missed the mark in each category.
Facing Coach Cal and Arkansas, the Wolverines only made eight from deep and committed 17 turnovers. In the Jordan Brand Classic against Oklahoma, Michigan only turned the ball over 10 times (season-low), but also only connected on four shots from beyond the arc (season-low).
The most impressive thing is the Wolverines only lost all three of these games by a COMBINED five points. One less turnover or one more made three in each game is all that stopped this team from tying its best-ever start to a season.
If Michigan and May can abide by the rule of nine in March and April without sacrificing success in other areas, this team will reach the Final Four for the ninth time in program history.
Brandon Naurato’s Quest for Normalcy
Following Michigan hockey’s series split with Notre Dame this weekend, I realized something — head coach Brandon Naurato has never had a normal season leading the program. Normal is subjective, especially in Ann Arbor, but Naurato has had the deck stacked against him since taking over the program under unusual circumstances in 2022.
After months of uncertainty about whether former head coach Mel Pearson would or would not be retained due to a WilmerHale investigation determining Pearson lied to investigators and helped foster a toxic culture within the program, Warde Manuel finally made a decision 55 days before the season started.
Assistant Brandon Naurato was named the interim head coach on Aug. 7 with no time to spare, inheriting a roster that featured 12 freshmen and only one of the top-seven scorers returning from the year prior. Despite the turnover behind the bench and on the ice, the Wolverines were rolling early with a 9-3 record. Naurato’s offensive strategy took hold like a hand in a glove and the team clicked as if they had been playing together for years. Then, near tragedy struck.
In Nov. 2022, before the Minnesota series, six Wolverines were forced out of the lineup due to an adenovirus breakout. The worst of which nearly killed defenseman Steven Holtz, who was intubated and placed in a medically induced coma. Holtz made a full recovery and remarkably returned to the ice in February.
With a full complement of players, including eventual Hobey Baker Award-winner Adam Fantilli, Michigan won the Big Ten Tournament and returned to the Frozen Four for the second straight season. Once Naurato’s team officially punched its ticket to the national semifinals, Naurato was finally named the permanent head coach on March 31, 2023. Unfortunately, the Wolverines fell to eventual national champions, Quinnipiac, in the semifinal game.
Entering his first offseason, Naurato was able to fill out his coaching staff with his guys and hire a full-time goalie coach, something the team did not have during his maiden season at the helm. However, he was still waiting to complete his roster.
Fantilli was projected to be a top-three pick in July’s NHL Draft and where he was selected was going to play a key role on if he would return to the Wolverines for his sophomore season. Awaiting in limbo, Naurato built his roster the best he could around one Hobey Baker-sized hole in case Fantilli was to return. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, Fantilli was selected third overall, signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Michigan was left standing at the altar.
Unfortunately, the personnel drama wasn’t over.
Days before the 2023 season-opening series against Providence, it was announced that sophomore defenseman Johnny Druskinis had been dismissed from the team due to allegedly vandalizing the university’s Jewish Resource Center. Without a depth-providing defenseman and the nation’s top player, Michigan played .500 hockey out of the gate.
But as Naurato teams are known to do, the Wolverines turned it on in the second half of the season. After sneaking into the NCAA Tournament, the Wolverines upset North Dakota and Michigan State to earn its third straight Frozen Four berth. Michigan fell short once again, but Naurato had the foundation of a juggernaut on his hands. Or so he thought.
In the offseason, Naurato expected to return four of his best players. But on April 15, it was announced that forwards Gavin Brindley and Dylan Duke had signed NHL contracts. Three weeks later, defenseman Seamus Casey signed his NHL contract. And three months after Casey signed, the most painful departure was announced.
After Michigan lost again in the Frozen Four, one thing remained certain: Rutger McGroarty was returning. He announced it himself, but after a lengthy dispute with the Winnipeg Jets (who held his draft rights), his contract was traded to Pittsburgh. McGroarty immediately signed with the Penguins on Aug. 22, six weeks before the 2024 season opener.
Facing another mountain, Naurato already had his climbing gear packed. The Wolverines got off to their best start since 2016 while playing one of the hardest schedules in the country. Entering a crucial series with Minnesota, everything appeared to be rolling. Behind the scenes, however, Michigan had another roster shake-up.
In late November — while most were concerned about what was taking place on the gridiron in Columbus — it was confirmed that Arizona State transfer Tim Lovell had left the university and has now subsequently moved to Finland on a pro contract. Although Lovell’s role had diminished in recent weeks, in the first games with him absent, the Wolverines endured one of the worst three-game stretches in program history.
For the first time since the early 1940s, Michigan was shut out in three consecutive games. The team looked deflated. Lifeless in a way that no Naurato team has ever played. Desperately looking to address this void and inject some life into the locker room, Naurato brought in Will Horcoff — formerly of the USNTDP — to join the Wolverines during the winter break.
Against Ohio State, Horcoff’s impact was immediately felt. The 17-year-old notched a goal and an assist in his first career collegiate game as the Wolverines split a pair with its rival. Following Sunday’s OT victory at Yost, everything appeared to be balancing out and Naurato’s team was poised for another signature second-half push. Until two days later.
Last Tuesday, it was reported that struggling freshman, Christian Humphreys, had left Michigan and signed with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL. Although Humphreys’s season wasn’t going to plan, the 2024 seventh-rounder had shown flashes of an elite offensive player who could grow into a key role next season.
At this point, it’s not if something else happens, but when. In less than three years, Naurato and the team have experienced last-minute promotions, team viruses and hospitalizations, alleged hate crimes, and player departures during and after the season vastly exceeding the standard definition of roster turnover.
Hockey is a sport that is perhaps more reliant on chemistry than any other. So how can a team with championship aspirations build anything resembling cohesion with incessant disruptions? For now, Naurato has been able to play the hands he’s been dealt as best as can be expected. But until he and the team can obtain a little normalcy, an elusive NCAA title might be out of the cards.
Quick Hits
- Transfer Portal: Last week, the Wolverines added former UCLA long snapper, Trent Middleton, who has three years of eligibility remaining, as well as UMass wide receiver Anthony Simpson .
- Football Recruiting: All hands on deck for 2025 five-star and current Alabama commit, OT Ty Haywood . He is scheduled to visit Ann Arbor this week. Haywood would be Michigan’s third five-star recruit of its 2025 class, and second five-star offensive tackle.
- Basketball Recruiting: So much for waiting! 2025 New Zealand basketball commit, Oscar Goodman, has already joined the Wolverines. Kellen Voss has you covered with everything you need to know .
- NFL Playoffs: All it took for an Ohio State quarterback to succeed at the next level was a Michigan wide receiver.
- CFP Thoughts: Go Irish