Dusty May returning to Indiana basketball to ‘try to win a freaking basketball game, and that’s it.’

Mike Woodson and Indiana basketball are at a crossroads in the season. With eight games remaining in the regular season, it truly is due or die time for the program this year and honestly, even Mike Woodson’s tenure as head coach of the Hoosiers.

Saturday, the Hoosiers host a red hot Michigan Wolverine team that is looking to make a run at a potential Big Ten Championship while Indiana on the other hand, it looking to avoid their fifth-straight loss.

Tensions and emotions are going to be high on Saturday as the Indiana team returns to Assembly Hall. The noise in the arena is going to be loud regardless — both good and bad — with many Indiana fans that are going to let their voices by heard.

While yes, the overall story of this game is that both teams are looking for a much needed win for different reasons however, there is something very obvious that most of Indiana and college basketball fans across the nation are going to be paying very close attention to.

The return of Dusty May to Indiana and Assemble Hall.

While it is very well-known by this point in time, the now Michigan Head Coach has a very strong tie to the state and the Indiana basketball program. May is a native of  Solsberry, Indiana where he grew up and would eventually become a manager under legendary head coach Bob Knight from 1996-2000 and then would later work under former IU head coach Mike Davis from 2002-2005.

“When I went to Indiana, even for the first year or two I wanted to be a high school basketball coach,” said Dusty May earlier this week. “That’s why I went there. I thought if I learn from Coach Knight, if I have Coach Knight on my résumé, I could maybe get one of these high school jobs in my mid-twenties in Indiana. That was my dream.”

This is not the first time that May will be making the return to Assembly Hall on Saturday as someone on the other side of the bench. In 2005, having just recently left Indiana basketball, he was an assistant coach on Eastern Michigan when they played a game in Bloomington. He would also go to Indiana games and return home, with his mother still living in Bloomington, throughout the years but admittedly slowed down doing so, especially when he became head coach at Florida Atlantic University.

“Every year. I don’t go back home very often,” said May. “When I was in Florida I would go back. I think Christmas would be typically once a year unless I was recruiting in the state.”

“We get a ticket allotment as a group (for the game on Saturday), and I have no more tickets. We take care of immediate family and immediate family only.”

It is no secret to anyone, there is a strong group of Indiana fans that have wanted, and still want, Dusty May to be head coach of the Indiana basketball program. You cannot go on Indiana basketball social media without at least some mention of fans wanting Woodson to be gone and for the program to bring on Dusty May. It has been like that since FAU made the Final Four run in the NCAA Tournament two years ago and it has not gone away and only ramped up even more when May became head coach of Michigan before the start of this current season.

While there has certainly been a narrative created with May’s return Bloomington on Saturday paired with the anger that fans have with where the program is currently, this is still just a basketball game to the Michigan head coach and nothing else. Dusty May does not view this particular game vs Indiana basketball any different than what he would vs any other team across the country.

“Without a doubt, it’s just another game. I’m sure that when we go there (Assembly Hall) to practice, you’re walking into a place where you spent 50 hours a week as an undergraduate, a practice rebounder for guys, whatever the case.” May said.

“It would be very similar if we played at University of Florida where I had great years as an assistant and established relationships…It’s not hard for me to detached the emotion because we have a job to do.”

“I’m going there to try to win a freaking basketball game, and that’s it.”

Tipoff for Michigan at Indiana is set for 1:00 PM ET this Saturday on CBS.

SEE ALSO: With the season at a crossroads, Indiana basketball continues to search for answers it doesn’t have. Why? Because ‘we’re just not a tough team right now’

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