Assembling Michigan’s nonconference schedule for Dusty May’s first season was a tricky task. Should the Wolverines buy a bunch of home games (and therefore, most likely, a bunch of wins)? Should they schedule to simply make the NCAA Tournament? To challenge themselves as much as possible?

“I think we were kind of building the plane as we were flying it last spring,” Michigan assistant coach Kyle Church said. “Thankfully it turned out very well.” The roster May built proved capable of handling a relatively difficult schedule. The end result was a Big Ten Tournament title and Sweet 16 appearance.

This time around, the coaches were much more confident lining up challenging games. Church, who oversees scheduling, spoke about the process on the school-produced “Defend the Block” podcast publi

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