How Wolverine Veterans Showed New Players the ‘Michigan Way’ On Way to Final Four

Michigan basketball punched its ticket to the Final Four for the ninth time in program history with a 95-62 drubbing of the Tennessee Volunteers on Sunday at the United Center in Chicago.

While it’s evident to see the connections Michigan has on the court with how the team shares the ball and celebrates each other’s successes, it’s the off-the-court bonds that were built that started back in the offseason that partly allows the team to gel the way it does.

With head coach Dusty May knowing he had to bring his team close together with four transfers coming in and a freshman that was set to play a significant role in Trey McKenney, the Wolverines began their magical season with atrip up north to Charlevoix, Michigan to a farm that belongs to Matt Lester, a big-time Michigan donor and founder of Champions Circle, Michigan’s NIL collective.

That trip during Labor Day weekend, along with Tik Tok lives on Yaxel Lendeborg’s Instagram account and other various moments of time spent together outside of basketball, helped form deeper connections from members of the team, as Michigan star forward Yaxel Lendeborg discussed in the postgame press conference after the team’s win on Sunday.

Lendeborg on the ‘Michigan way’ and close bonds between teammates

The UAB transfer, Big Ten Player of the Year and Midwest region MVP of the NCAA Tournament, explained how teammates LJ Cason, Roddy Gayle Jr., Will Tschetter and Nimari Burnett—who all played significant roles in May’s system even prior to this season, helped bring the new players along and teach them the “Michigan way.”

“From day one, the vets—Will, Nimari, LJ, Roddy—those guys pretty much took us in under their wing and showed us the Michigan way,” Lendeborg said. “Nobody had any secret motives, nobody tried to beat anybody out from day one. And it pretty much set the standard for how Michigan is gonna be this year.

“We went up there (up north) and went on that team vacation man, it was awesome. I was pretty much the only guy sheltered, playing the video games until the morning. I remember Will and Oscar (Goodman) were gonna go to the lake and I was up still playing 2K at like 6 in the morning. It was an interesting moment, they finally got to see my on my element. But oh man, it was really fun. Just all the road trips—we started playing ‘Among Us’ as of recent. It’s awesome. We’re all being super childish and just having fun, not letting any of the noise bother us and just playing our hearts out for each other.”