CHICAGO — Dusty May remembers the days when he was an assistant at Eastern Michigan watching 6 a.m. practices at Romulus High School near Detroit.
At the time, Nate Oats was coaching boys’ basketball and teaching physical education at Romulus. The two forged a friendship that’s going strong 20 years later.
From a high school gym to the Sweet 16, Michigan’s May and Alabama’s Oats will be on opposing sides Friday night at the United Center, where the top-seeded Wolverines (33-3) of the Big Ten meet the fourth-seeded Crimson Tide (25-9) of the Southeastern Conference will meet in the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament.
Tipoff is set for 7:35 p.m. Eastern in the first of two Midwest Region semifinals that will be televised by TBS and truTV. Second-seeded Iowa State (29-7) of the Big 12 and sixth-seeded Tennessee (24-11) of the SEC will follow, and Friday’s winners meet in the Elite Eight on Sunday, where a trip to Indianapolis for the Final Four will be on the line.
“To get to where he is now, I don’t think you ever think that,” May, 49, said of Oats, 51. “You don’t ever anticipate them getting to this level where they’re (at the) top of the profession but you know they’re really, really good because so much has to happen.”