Michigan just lost the man who got the Wolverines back to the top of the college basketball world and stood in Tom Izzo’s way of national title No. 2 this upcoming season.
Dusty May had just won a national title in year two with Michigan and was looking to pursue a repeat with a solid roster of a couple of returning starters and three newcomers filling out the rest of the lineup. Repeating was already going to be difficult for a Michigan team that’s losing three stars to the NBA draft, but that task got even tougher with May leaving.
On Monday morning, news broke that Dusty May would be leaving Michigan for the Dallas Mavericks job. This meant that the Wolverines would be without a head coach at a tough spot in the offseason where only an interim really makes sense for the upcoming season.
Mike Boynton Jr., a Michigan assistant under Dusty, has reportedly been named the program’s interim head coach for the upcoming season.
Dusty’s departure will have a major impact on the Big Ten, but especially for Michigan State which will have one of the top national title contenders this season. I’m not saying that Michigan won’t be good this year under Boynton who has head coaching experience, but the Wolverines likely won’t be nearly as effective without Dusty leading the way.
This departure makes Izzo’s path for national title No. 2 a little clearer.
Michigan State’s No. 1 Big Ten roadblock has taken a hit
Between Michigan and Illinois, there are a couple of major roadblocks in the Spartans’ way entering the 2026-27 season. The Wolverines losing Dusty may just take them out of the conversation — for now.
There’s also a chance that Michigan could lose a couple of guys to the transfer portal following the shocking news regarding Dusty to the Mavericks so that would take the Wolverines out of the national title conversation for the time being. In my opinion, Michigan, Michigan State, and Illinois were 1A, 1B, and 1C — in no particular order — in terms of Big Ten teams that can win a national title this season.
It may now be just Michigan State and Illinois because interim coaches don’t usually have good luck nor do they contend for national titles regularly.
Michigan is still going to be a good team with a ton of talent, but losing Dusty may have just crushed any hopes they had of a repeat. That’s good news for Izzo and the Spartans who will be featuring their best roster in a decade.
The path to No. 2 has cleared up a bit.
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