A common talking point this time of year with the season quickly approaching is the physical change of players on the roster.

That's always been a point of pride within Michigan men's basketball's program,

and second year head strength and conditioning coach Matt Aldred is making his mark here in Ann Arbor.

Aldrid's a fascinating person, being an England native who didn't have a basketball background

before getting into the sport at this level. Aldred made such an impacted Furman that he earned a

rare title for somebody in his specialty assistant head coach toward the end of his time with the

Paladins. And those six years at Furman made such an impression on Dusty May that Aldred was one of May's first hires here in Ann Arbor.

Now, much of a player's on-court progression comes in practice, but for that, fans get 35 to 40 checkpoints each season,

the games, to witness that improvement as a player. A player's biggest jumps that come in strength and conditioning,

those normally take place with much fewer external updates.

Aldred's work is year-round, but the off-season is quite an opportunity to mold each player.

And while there are some team-wide interactions, activities, workouts, plans,

Aldred has called his relationship with each player a partnership.

And the comp is that the player is in the driver's seat and Aldred is in the passenger

seat.

On this week's episode, Aldred takes us inside his areas of focus, describes to an extent

how the sausage is made. And for the first time,

this coming Friday, we'll get our first peek at the fruits of all that labor on the court in the

gym with conditioning. Because March moments are made possible when few are watching, except in many

cases, Matt Aldredred in the passenger seat.

I had a blast during this conversation.

I think you will too.

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