Over the last two weeks, I caught up with a couple of coaches who were there for both Florida

Atlantics' 23 run to the final four, and of course this past Michigan National Championship

season of 2026. Drew Williamson and Kyle Church had to make that long walk back to the locker

room after San Diego State walked off with a win over FAU in Houston.

Akeem Misketine contributed to the build of Florida Atlantic from a program that had only reached one NCAA tournament in Division I to what it became in the final two years

of Dusty May's time in Boca Raton, a national semi-final appearance, and then another

NCAA tournament trip.

But Misketine was not there

for either of those two seasons or the foundational season the year prior. Miscadine went to do

what May used to do, and that was be an assistant coach under Mike White, first at Florida for a season,

then for two years at Georgia. Now, Miscadine was still very much an invested viewer during that magical Florida

Atlantic run. He knew and helped to recruit several key owls who pulled off the unthinkable,

including John L. Davis, who dropped 30 points and was the reason why FAU almost reached Monday

night's title game against Yukon three years ago. But this 2026 Final Four was his first truly in the fight.

And he drew part of the Yukon Scout when made divvied up the assignments the week before.

So he was as immersed as possible. Yet after a successful scout, a tremendous victory in a very

brief championship celebration, there was Miskinine snapping a photo of a few staff members and him peeling over the transfer portal shortly after midnight from a title-winning locker room.

As we've discussed, that's a first-world problem.

That is a first-place problem, better yet.

But the refrain has been the only chance Michigan has to get back to that stage

would be to do its work early, literally, very early into the portal process right after that

title clinch. So in a way, Michigan staff has been living a bit of a double life, as we've

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