Dusty May Explains How Michigan, Saint Louis 'Mirror' Each Other Ahead of Round of 32

The Wolverines will be seeing a team that is very identical in a lot of ways.

Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

After the buzzer sounded and Michigan defeated Howard in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, it was time for Dusty May and the Wolverines to scout their next opponent. And it was a game between two close friends of May: Mike White of Georgia and Josh Schertz of Saint Louis.

Schertz' program ended up taking down the Bulldogs with ease and now the Wolverines will be taking on a Saint Louis team that just scored 102 points against Georgia, and a team that nearly averages 88 points per game.

Speaking with the media ahead of Saturday's game, coach May sees a lot of similarities between the Billikens and his Wolverines. Saint Louis has one of the more popular characters in the NCAA Tournament, big man Robbie Avila, who transferred into Saint Louis. He does it all and the ball goes through him. He can pass, shoot, and rebound — something May sees in his own big man.

Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

"You know, they're like us, they have a lot of really talented unique players that play to their strengths," May said of Saint Louis. "They present a number of challenges. I stopped studying Ken Pom numbers as closely recently just because we've gotten so busy. But I think most of the year both of us were top 10 in two-point field goal percentage offense and top 3 in two-point field zone percentage defense.

"So when you look at a lot of our metrics and analytics, we mirror each other in the final result. They shoot the three a little bit better, we offensive rebound a little bit better, whatever the case.

"But they present a number of challenges because they have guards who can post, they'll attack early offense like we do with an early post-up, with their centers throwing the high-low passes like we do. Fortunately on a quick turn, I think a lot of their concepts, the way they play are similar things that we do. They probably set more guard to guard pick-and-rolls. And we probably set more guard to guard pick-and-pops, things like that philosophically that I think are probably more dictated on personnel.

"But they present a number of challenges. Hopefully our size and length can disrupt their rhythm and timing just enough."

There are likely a lot of similarities between the two programs because the two coaches share tips. Coach May met Coach Schertz a few years back when he was coaching in the Division II level. May was looking into one of his players and the two coaches hit it off.

Now, May and Schertz share team workouts with one another in hopes of making their programs better. But on Saturday, despite both teams seeing each other in the mirror, there is only one spot available for a Sweet 16 appearance.