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We are still about 4 weeks away from the tip-off of a new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Michigan assistant coach Justin Joyner, who talked about his new job and his expectations for this season.
You were a 3-time captain at UCSB: what is the key to being a good leader? Consistency in general: you need to always keep the team in mind and be about the right stuff. The team comes before everything, which we have here at Michigan with Coach Dusty May.
You won back-to-back Big West tourney titles in 2010/2011: what is the key to winning games in March? The easy answer is playing your best basketball…but there are so many highs/lows that you need to keep everyone working toward a common goal and keep getting better every day.
You graduated with 357 AST (#8 all-time) and 134 STL (#2 all-time): what is the secret to being a good PG? In large part it was out of necessity if I wanted to get on the court. I was coached at a high level, so I had a good feel about how to guard opponents and what risks to take. You also need very good teammates who can score and you must be selfless, which was a strong suit for me.
You spent the past 7 years working for Randy Bennett at St. Mary’s: what makes him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? It goes back to consistency. He lives this profession/mission of letting young men become the best version of themselves. He is great every day and expects greatness from his entire program. I learned that the beauty is in the margins: you need skill/athleticism but the separators like work ethic/attitude/toughness require zero talent. It must be every guy because 1 bad apple can spoil it: you cannot waste any days.
Gonzaga has owned the WCC for most of this millennium but last year you won both the regular season and conference tourney titles: how do you explain the rivalry to someone who has never seen it in person? It is extremely electric and there is a ton of respect for both programs: Coach Mark Few and Coach Bennett are on the Mount Rushmore for coaches out west. They are complete opposites in terms of styles of play with different environments but they both want to 1-up each other. The bar was set externally with Gonzaga, and we did not have to talk about it: if you want to win titles you have to dethrone the Bulldogs. They are probably the most consistent/elite program in the country so we knew that if we could win the league then we could play at the highest level. I could not feel better about how we ended the conference season because I had a small part in leaving the place better than I found it.
Last April you were hired as an assistant to Dusty May at Michigan: why did you take the job, and how is it going so far? I worked for 1 of the best coaches/leaders in the country. You want to continue to evolve/get better and this place speaks for itself as an athletic department/basketball program. Dusty is about everything I believe in: I see him as a young coach who is ahead of the curve. St. Mary’s was more focused on defense/pace of play, so it is enticing to learn a new tempo here. The challenge/opportunity was something that I could just not pass up and it has gone so well so far. We have great human beings in our locker room/offices and that is the only way that we want to win. We are excited to build this program into the national contender that it should be.
Your team lost 6 of its top-8 scorers from last year (Dug McDaniel/Terrance Williams/Olivier Nkamhoua/Tarris Reed Jr./Tray Jackson/Jaelin Llewellyn): how will you try to replace all that offense/leadership? In college basketball you need to be able to adapt to those kinds of things, and the portal allows you to rebuild quickly. If you look at our roster, we have a center who was in the Final 4 in 2023 (Vladislav Goldin) and a guard who is ready to make a huge jump (Roddy Gayle Jr.). Sam Walters played in the Final 4 last April and Tre Donaldson played for an NCAA tourney team during each of the past 2 years. Nimari Burnett/Will Tschetter are also coming back so we have really good players with all guns pointed in the same direction.
The Big 10 added several new teams last summer: any thoughts on conference realignment? It is crazy but you need to adapt as it comes. There will be a West Coast flavor to it but it will be a physical/tough brand of basketball. We will play our fun/attractive style of ball.
Your wife Tracy is the head coach of the women’s soccer team at UC-Davis: who is the best coach in the family? She was Big West COY last year so I am obligated to say that she is awesome! She had made me a better leader/coach and is special in that regard: she is doing a great job with her young women because she is elite at her profession.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? My goal is for us to be consistent in the product we put out on the floor. That is what wins game and what is important. We will be extremely competitive, and we want to play for championships. The bar is high…and we hope to smash it down!