Michigan's championship punctuated Dusty May's homecoming in a full-family affair

INDIANAPOLIS -- A few ticks before midnight on Monday, Anna May stood on the confetti-strewn court at Lucas Oil Stadium when the opening bars to "One Shining Moment" began echoing through the arena.

She affixed her eyes to one of the big screen television overhead, her left handing covering her mouth and a look of disbelief on her face. It was as if she realized CBS' annual March homage to the improbabilities and serendipities of the NCAA tournament suddenly starred her family.

Anna and her husband, Michigan head coach Dusty May, grew up an hour away from Indianapolis -- where the Wolverines had just won the championship -- and circled back to Indiana after a vagabond coaching career that now has a clear high point: Dusty May delivering Michigan the program's second-ever national title. It unfolded in a game mostly devoid of art and drama, with the May family homecoming storyline as compelling as any of the on-court action.

"It's special because so many people could be a part of it," Anna May told ESPN. "But it would be special anywhere."

In a dizzying flurry amid the 69-63 victory over UConn, May solidified himself at the top-tier of basketball coaches, and Michigan among the sport's elite programs of this era.

Over the weekend, May pledged his fidelity to the Wolverines amid speculation about the then-open North Carolina job, with Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel reflecting he's "glad [May is] staying" while taking in the on-court celebrations Monday.

On a night when his team failed to dictate the style but still won the fight, May flashed the sideline savvy that's quickly ushered him among the sport's top coaches after a meandering journey through the sport's backroads to arrive there.

"It doesn't feel real," Dusty May said.

Anna May estimated a hundred family members and friends in attendance. That included folks from rural Greene County, Indiana, where the Mays grew up and dozens of college friends from Dusty's time as an Indiana manger and Anna's time at Purdue.

Their younger sons, Charlie and Eli, were both part of this full-circle homecoming. Eli is a sophomore manager at Michigan who said was he perched atop the ladder the moment "One Shining Moment" began playing. Charlie a senior walk-on, didn't get to watch the video amid the fracas. "I can't wait to watch 'One Shining Moment,'" he exclaimed in the locker room.

While Eli and Charlie were along for the entire ride as part of the team and staff at Michigan this season, the oldest May boy ducked in for a cameo. Jack May got a quick break from his job in the Miami Heat video room to join the family for the championship game. "Spo was really nice about it," Jack May said of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

Jack May said he lived in seven states by the time he was 10, as his dad jumped to far-flung places like Eastern Michigan and Murray State and Louisiana Tech amid his climb. Jack holds an appreciation for how hard both his parents worked to push toward this moment. In a classic dose of May Midwest sunshine, he summed it up as "awesome."

"We all loved the game," Jack May said, "so it was the coolest thing ever to just follow it all."

Eli May, the youngest of the Mays' three sons, slipped out from his duties coding the film in the locker room with a few minutes remaining to watch and be part of the ending. Charlie May said he couldn't remember the last time he saw his mother cry.

The emotion washed over the family.

"I wish I could say I've dreamed of this moment, but I haven't even dreamed of it," Eli May said. "Who does this happen to?"

It happened to the Mays on a night when many things didn't go Michigan's way, as UConn dragged the game into deep water -- but the Wolverines managed to stay afloat. In the first five NCAA tournament game, Michigan scored a historic clip by becoming the first team to score more than 90 points in its first five NCAA tournament games. There wasn't much clinic tape on Monday, as the Wolverines shot 2-of-15 from 3-point range, assisted on just 7-of-21 baskets and needed 25-of-28 free throws to survive.

The Michigan staff waited nearly 17 minutes for star player Yaxel Lendeborg to score -- never pulling him despite the lack of production, limited by an MCL and ankle sprain -- and he didn't grab a rebound or have an assist until well into the second half. The Wolverines' vaunted fastbreak was stuck in the mud, as they finished with just two points in transition.

May made subtle adjustments all game, speeding up the tempo by pressing about 14 minutes into the first half, even though that's not a primary schematic weapon for the Wolverines. Michigan also went small for a while in the second half, not a mainstream lineup for a team nicknamed the "Monstars" because of their preponderance of size.

"We never really want to win a game like that because Dusty likes to play a game that's much more offensively driven," said Michigan assistant Mike Boynton. "So got to give credit UConn making us play the way that we had to play tonight.

"That's what champions do, they have a great influence on the way the game is played, but there's also credit to our guys for being able to then find a way in that muck."

The players clearly enjoyed the delivering the pinch-me moment for May. Assistant coach Justin Joyner spoke of how May's ethos is more of a partnership with the players, which creates connection and buy-in. They clearly relished reciprocating his trust and support.

"To be able to deliver for him and see that big smile on his face tonight, because the job's never finished until that final buzzer goes off with that dude," senior Will Tschetter said. "So to be able to see that smile and just kind of the sense of, man, we did it means a lot."

March glory is both forever and fleeting. May's staff quickly shifted focus to the transfer portal opening on Tuesday. Joyner will head to Oregon State to be the head coach. Five players are graduating.

Jack May, who had a morning flight to meet the Heat in Toronto, took a minute to soak in the scene.

"It's so deserving, but you never feel like you're going to win it all and then it just happens," he said. "So it's unreal. It's surreal. It's crazy."

That's what happens when life meets montage.