Defend the Block 385 - Akeem Miskdeen Transcript
5/12/2026 8:21:00 AM | MGoBlue Podcasts
Brian Boesch • 00:00
Over the last two weeks, I caught up with a couple of coaches who were there for both Florida Atlantic's twenty twenty three run to the Final Four and of course, this past Michigan national championship season of twenty twenty six. 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 Miskodine contributed to the build of Florida Atlantic from a program that had only reached one NCAA tournament in Division One to what it became in the final two years of Dusty May's time in Boca Raton, a national semifinal appearance and then another NCAA tournament trip. But Miskdeen was not there for either of those two seasons or the foundational season the year prior. Miskdeen 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.
Brian Boesch • 00:51
Now, Miskdeen 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 thirty points and was the reason why FAU almost reached Monday night's title game against uconn three years ago.
Brian Boesch • 01:09
But this twenty twenty six Final Four was his first truly in the fight and he drew part of the uconn scout when May divvied up the assignments the week before, so he was as immersed as possible. Yet after a successful scout, a tremendous victory and a very brief championship celebration, there was Miskdeen snapping a 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.
Brian Boesch • 01:37
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 discussed, an occasional enjoyment of the title and then thorough work on the chance to win another one next year. And we get to talk about both of those unique facets to Akeem's life here today, as of late.
[music builds]
Brian Boesch • 02:08
Akeem Miskdeen, national Champion, is our guest as we continue to visit with Michigan assistants right here on Defend the Block.
Jeff Laurence • 02:17
We're talking Michigan basketball. Welcome to Defend the Block, where we'll take you inside the basketball programs with interviews, analysis and so much more. Now here's your host, Brian Boesch.
Brian Boesch • 02:30
Always great to visit with Michigan assistant coach Akeem Miskdeen here on Defend the Block. Akeem. First off, there were a lot of people obviously emotional after the national championship win, including you. But I remember what it was like talking to you immediately after the Final Four clinch in Chicago, back home for you. As you reflect back, you know, about a month or so after the fact, what do you remember most about the win over Tennessee? One that I know you coaches are
Brian Boesch • 02:57
greedy, but at least you knew in the last couple of minutes you could start thinking about clinch and celebrating all that.
Akeem Miskdeen • 03:02
Yeah, yeah, we play really well. So it honestly felt like a regular season game. We always go through the handshake line and we shake the opponent's hands. Then we always high five each other twice after the game, and we got to do that after a game to get to the Final Four, which is kind of unreal when you're thinking about a game to get to the Final Four. But there's so many memories with that game. You know, I think we talked about playing the United Center. I grew up in Chicago and watching Jordan and those teams playing the United Center. I got to coach in there. Hearing Nimari get his name called out last, and he's from Chicago. I can only think about the theme, the Bulls theme music playing in my head and seeing Morez's name get called out. He's also from Chicago, so, man, that was something that I'll always remember.
Brian Boesch • 03:56
Formative years. When you are learning what you want to do in life, how much does the osmosis of what surrounds you and the fact that the Bulls were what they were back when you were growing up, how much did that tilt you toward the game of basketball?
Akeem Miskdeen • 04:12
A lot. But I would say my brother. My brother's four years older than me. He played basketball. I was basically. He basically took me wherever he went. So with the Bulls winning and just basketball in general in Chicago, you know, where I grew up, it was a ton of different really good basketball players in my neighborhood. Corey Maggette, Michael Finley, Steven Hunter. I can go on and on. And I got a chance to watch them while I was in grade school. So I would think, I would say that takes precedent even over the Bulls, because I got the chance to watch them when I was a child.
Brian Boesch • 04:46
I remember talking to you when we first met the what, Spring of twenty twenty four, about the fact you were at Madison Square Garden for the Sweet sixteen Elite eight. When FAU got to the Final Four, you were so crucial to the build.
Brian Boesch • 05:00
The early years of Dusty at fau, did it have a different feel for you, maybe, versus a Drew or a Kyle? Because they were there for the end of fau. You were there and then went somewhere else, Got a great opportunity. So that was your first opportunity to get to a Final Four as an assistant coach. How did you take all of that in knowing that when you saw so many guys who were so important to you get there? You were a fan. You were an invested fan, a committed fan, but still a fan compared to them.
Brian Boesch • 05:29
Was it any different for you, do
Brian Boesch • 05:31
you think, because you saw it but weren't necessarily in that fight like some of these other guys were?
Akeem Miskdeen • 05:37
Yeah, it was definitely different. Cause when I was being a fan, I was being a bad fan. I was yelling at the refs like, this is the first time I can ever scream at the refs and talk trash to the refs. So I let it all hang out for me as a coach. I was so in the moment of the game that, you know, I was just so locked in. But it's definitely a different feeling, you know, to go there as a coach. I posted on my Instagram in twenty sixteen, coaching goals. I took a picture of. I was at the Final Four in twenty sixteen. I took a picture of it and I put coaching goals. And, you know, I achieved one of those goals. So it's something that I always want to do, coaching the Final Four. And, you know, we superseded that by winning the national championship.
Brian Boesch • 06:17
You're an undefeated assistant coach in the Final Four. That's pretty darn cool. When you think back to those days, and we'll talk about the immediate aftermath of the. The instant recruiting you have to start doing. But when you think back now, what are the foremost memories that come to mind about anything in that week from Wednesday arrival to Tuesday departure in a national championship?
Akeem Miskdeen • 06:38
One of the things that stick out in my head is just like all the alums, Terry Mills spoke to our team the day. Day of the game. That was huge. Like, I can remember when we won, I went right to Terry. It's like, man, you got to partner up there with your banner and just see how happy he was before the Arizona game. Just dapping up to five. Five. Man, that was awesome to see them. Like, I think I hug Ray Jackson. You would think we were a family member. We hugged for so long. That was a huge memory. Trey McKenney's big shot. That was huge. Roddy Gayle just throwing the ball. What a moment. Like, Roddy Gayle throwing the ball down the court with four or five seconds left. That was so smart in that moment. Like, all of that stuff was huge. And I was just talking to Elliot, like, two weeks ago, and he said, coach, did you see me shaking? I was like, what do you mean? He said, man, I got to the free throw line later, I was, like, shaking.
Akeem Miskdeen • 07:35
I was like, seriously? He's like, yes, I was shaking. So just to have those real moments, you know, with a player who he was mop of the National Championship or the Final Four, and he admitted that he was shaking, he was nervous. So just those real moments, I think those are, for me, I'll remember those more than anything else.
Brian Boesch • 07:54
Were you ever a different level of nervous in either of those games compared to a normal game, or were you able to stay pretty baseline?
Akeem Miskdeen • 08:03
I was pretty baseline. It took me years to get this way. So many reps. I was pretty baseline because the confidence we have in our team. Coach May always says this. We prep for this in the summer. I think our guys were ready for the moment and they, you know, a team like that gives you confidence. So our team was really good. So I was pretty baseline. I was more anxious to get to the game and just play the game. As far as versus being nervous.
Brian Boesch • 08:32
The Elliot allergy with the nut consumption, he gets there a little late. How did he handle all of that from your standpoint? It seemed like it was pretty common. He wanted to shake it off, but. But there was definitely a uniqueness to the fact that, you know, the guy who ended up being the latest player to show up to Indianapolis was one who was the mop at the end of it.
Akeem Miskdeen • 08:53
Yeah, he handled it very mature. Him and his family did a great job. Our staff and everyone just handled it very mature. And we've. We've always handled stuff like that all season. We have a running joke because between us coaches, we'll forget our. Our. Our quarter zip before games. And we're like, oh, we're undefeated when that stuff happens. So anything weird like that happens. We kind of got a running joke amongst our staff that, oh, we're going to win because something like that happened.
Brian Boesch • 09:20
Do you remember when you forgot a quarter zip or were you for.
Akeem Miskdeen • 09:22
Yeah, I forgot my quarter zip during the Final Four when we got to Indiana. Bob is so good. He called Spencer and Spencer got another one. They shipped me one. I think Coach Mike, he forgot his twice. He forgot his pants one game. I forget what game, but he went to Target and bought some pants and he forgot his sweatshirt. I want to say in Chicago, I think he forgot his quarter zip and Bob had An extra quarter zip. It was a little small. Nobody noticed it, but it was a little small. So we joked with coach Mike about not raising his hands on the bench.
Brian Boesch • 10:02
Maybe he did a little extra in the workout room that way.
Akeem Miskdeen • 10:04
No doubt.
Brian Boesch • 10:05
We're with Akeem Miskdeen here on Defend the Block. A couple of junctures that anytime this team lost it was obviously surprising because of how good this group was dominant this team was at times starting with the Duke game. What do you think that experience did for this team? Facing a Final Four esque team, a team that was within a heck of a shot of getting to the Final Four and maybe seeing Michigan again in a national championship? What did this team learn from that?
Akeem Miskdeen • 10:32
That felt like an NCAA tournament game with the, the media surrounding it, with the crowd. So that really helped us for the NCAA tournament. We, we were, I would have to say we were a little overwhelmed with everything going on. And it's so ironic when I say that because we had a camera crew following us around. But it was just the attention, the media, the hype of the game and granted I think we'll be like that for the rest of the time. We'll be here. But Duke's been playing like that every game and I think that was our first chance to see, man, this game is really hype. We're on college game day at nine thirty. So it helped with our preparation of everything that goes into a NCAA game and a sweet game and Final Four games. So our guys seem prepared. So that's what we learned from that.
Brian Boesch • 11:18
How about the Big Ten tournament?
Brian Boesch • 11:19
Because that was to me probably the
Brian Boesch • 11:22
stretch on the schedule where Michigan probably
Brian Boesch • 11:24
most did not quite play to its potential.
Brian Boesch • 11:27
Two close games. Probably fortunate to get out of there against Wisconsin and then Purdue. The physicality overwhelming. What did this team take from that?
Akeem Miskdeen • 11:37
Coach May does a good job. He always tells our guys we don't want to rely on talent in a one game situation. We don't want to rely on telling. And I thought in the Big Ten tournament I think we tried to rely on talent a bunch and we squeaked past Wisconsin. We just didn't play well. I don't think we are as connected. Even when we were in the hotel. Our guys do a fantastic, fantastic job of self organizing, you know, board games and watching other games and it was ghost town in our, in our banquet hall. But I think our guys realized that and that's where we learned. Purdue did a great job. They played an awesome game, but I don't think our guys were as connected as they normally were. And I think our guys realized that and we came back and we had some great practices after the Big Ten tournament.
Brian Boesch • 12:22
We will continue with Akeem Miskdeen in a moment. But first, if you are in the New York City area, the fourth annual Wolverine Lacrosse Golf Classic is coming your way Monday, july twenty seventh. It is at the Harrison Meadows Country Club in Harrison, New York, just north of the city. You can support Michigan Lacrosse by joining for a noon shotgun start and a dinner to follow. And if you can't make it, you can still contribute via some great sponsorship packages. Now spots are filling up quickly. Head over to givebutter dot com C fourth Wolverine Golf Classic fourth being the number four th that is givebutter dot com C slash fourth Wolverine Golf Classic the fourth Annual Wolverine LACROSSE Golf Classic coming Monday, july twenty seventh in Harrison, New York.
Brian Boesch • 13:11
So let's look ahead now because there was the picture.
Brian Boesch • 13:14
Did you take the picture of a
Brian Boesch • 13:15
couple of guys looking at the portal at twelve fifteen in the morning in the locker room with nets and confetti around?
Brian Boesch • 13:23
How unique was it?
Brian Boesch • 13:24
And was that something you guys had to talk about in advance to be like, listen, no matter what happens here,
Brian Boesch • 13:29
we do have to be forward looking almost as soon as we get back
Brian Boesch • 13:33
into the locker room?
Akeem Miskdeen • 13:34
Yeah, we talked about potentially even doing a zoom if somebody was in the portal. So we talked about doing a zoom after we win a championship because that would be so unique. But we just didn't get to it. So we did zooms the next day, but we talked it all out. One thing about our staff, we're very prepared for what's next. And we were prepared and we think we did a good job in the portal.
Brian Boesch • 13:56
Let's talk about first, a few of the guys that are now going through the process of the NBA draft. Aday, Morez, and Elliot. From all accounts, what we've heard, this is just information gathering for Elliot.
Brian Boesch • 14:09
Seems like it's likely to be the
Brian Boesch • 14:10
case for Morez and Aday. How do you and how does this staff make sure to hey, I know from a victory, from a competitive standpoint, you'd love to have all these guys back. You'd love to find a waiver for yaks and all that, of course. But how do you make sure you're doing the best to help these young men with a unique decision? Because how could there not be an attachment to Michigan based on what just happened? But also, it's the NBA. You want to make sure you're living out a dream and maximizing that opportunity, we support them.
Akeem Miskdeen • 14:38
I mean, that's our biggest deal. Like their goals. We tell them when they get here, their goals and their dreams are our goals and our dreams. So we just support them anyway. We won't. We don't want to influence their decision in any way. We just say, we're here for you. If you want to talk, we'll give you the facts. But our biggest thing is just supporting. Supporting our guys and being there for them, you know, lending the ear and just talking them through it, you know, whatever they want to do, whatever their camp and their family wants to do. Like, we're going to support them. We're going to be Michigan regardless. And they're going to be Michigan, man, regardless. It's just like when Justin got a head coaching job. Our guys supported them. It's the same in the same realm of if I get a head coaching job one day, I'm sure they're going to be there to support me. It's in the same realm.
Brian Boesch • 15:18
Not if. When. It'll be a when. I promise you that.
Brian Boesch • 15:22
Some of the guys that were added to the roster.
Brian Boesch • 15:24
One I want to talk to you about is Jalen Reed, someone who you have a relationship with. Someone that at least when I'm looking around, doing some reading on potential targets, kind of came out of nowhere compared to some of the rumblings of other players, whether they're incoming freshmen who are added late or in the transfer portal.
Brian Boesch • 15:40
So what can you tell us about
Brian Boesch • 15:41
Jalen and what he's had to endure over these last couple of years? Because you've known him since back in high school, recruiting him in Florida?
Akeem Miskdeen • 15:47
Yeah, I've known him for so long, I was looking at some old text messages. We recruited him when I was at Florida and we got a commitment and we ended up leaving. He went to lsu. But first and foremost, his family are. They're incredible. His mother, Felina, his grandfather, doctor Boykins, who went to ud, and his aunt actually went to Michigan, so. But he's an incredible person. He's going to be beloved. It'll be in the same manner as Yax. His personality is very lovable. He's a big teddy bear. And it was a good thing. We kept it under wraps. You know, bigs are a hot commodity. Kudos to us, I guess, and kudos to Florida, too. Arizona has been a bunch of really good teams with big. So now everyone's looking for big. So we didn't really want to get that out there, then have other people start recruiting them really hard because maybe People forgotten about him, but we just thought, you know, if he can get healthy, he can be really good for us.
Akeem Miskdeen • 16:42
He's a, he's a big dude who's very skilled when healthy. He can be a very, very special player when healthy.
Brian Boesch • 16:52
That's obviously a big question. So how do you. It's going to be unfortunately an issue for a few guys. Lj building back up from the acl. There'll be some others who we'll talk about here in a moment. But the fact that it is probably after back to back significant injuries, how do you make sure to put that young man in the best possible case? Probably not physically, that'll be done by the doctors. But mentally, emotionally, to have the confidence to go back out there and compete.
Akeem Miskdeen • 17:16
Yeah, most of that would be coming from the doctors and we have great doctors and Chris Williams is one of the best trainers in the country. So we have the right people around him that'll help him mentally and physically. You know, Coach May gives everybody confidence when he comes here, you know, so he'll be fine with our doctors and our trainers, but mostly that'll come from them. You know, he'll have to figure out, you know, how to get through his, you know, his past injuries on the court. But that'll come from Chris and the doctors.
Brian Boesch • 17:50
Yeah, I mentioned Lincoln Cosby also. He'll be battling back from an injury. You mentioned the bigs and the obvious uptick in attention because of what Michigan and others have accomplished. So JP Estrella, Moustapha Thiam, they get added in along with Jalen Reed. Compare and contrast what you guys think about that trio inside with what you already have in place. Compared to the build of, of Rez, Adai and Yax last year.
Akeem Miskdeen • 18:16
Yeah, this, it'll be much different. Chom is definitely a good shot blocker. He can score with his back to the basket. The good thing about those three, they all are lob threats for Elliott Cadeau. You know, we always try to build a team with what we have. And Elliot, he even, you know, he's pressing us out. I gotta get some, get some guys that can catch some lobs. So you know, he was a part of a lot of this when we, when we asked about what we need to help for next year. So those three are very good lob threats. And the difference between those three as opposed to Aday and Morez, they come in with a good shooting percentage. So there are guys that can step behind the three and shoot the ball. So that'll bring a different dynamic, but it'll Be definitely different. But, you know, it was different our first year as well.
Brian Boesch • 19:07
Yeah. Lastly, I want to get your thoughts about a couple of returning guys who Michigan fans know of but haven't gotten to see a ton or at all in Ricky Liburd's case. But Ricky and Oscar Goodman, guys who certainly were engaged, they stayed ready even though we knew Ricky wasn't going to play last year. And Oscar was kind of waiting for something that fortunately never came in. Sort of any sort of, you know, difficult injuries. So what have those guys brought and why is this group as confident as it is in those two being able to be rotation guys as soon as maybe November?
Akeem Miskdeen • 19:39
Yeah. I mean, if you go back to our first year, if Ricky was here our first year, he might have played because we lacked depth. But Ricky, anybody seen Ricky? He looks like Terrell Owens. Hopefully Coach Whit and those guys don't ever come to practice because we do not want them taking Ricky from us. But he does everything in the right way. He's very militant, almost similar to Morez. They're going to look you in the eye and do what you ask them to do. He's going to have a great career here. Oscar is six, seven, and both these guys are like a Swiss army knife. They could play multiple positions. Oscar, six, seven, really strong. And I mean, he's been here for a year and a half playing, playing against Danny Wolf, Yaxel, Morez Johnson, Aday, Vlad Goldin. So he's been playing against four or five NBA guys. So he's went. He's been through the ringer and we think he's prepared to take his next step.
Akeem Miskdeen • 20:33
And if you look in the past of all Coach May's players from Nick Boyd, Laurent that plays from West Virginia, Alijah Martin that went to Florida, the guys that stayed in his system have had success and. And that's what we hope for for Oscar and Ricky.
Brian Boesch • 20:50
Looking forward to it. Well, Akeem, national champ, appreciate you making some time for us here on Defend the Block and we'll be catching up throughout the offseason.
Akeem Miskdeen • 20:57
Thank you, Brian.
[music builds]
Brian Boesch • 21:06
Appreciate Akeem Miskdeen for stopping by. Enjoyed his conversation. The chats we had over the last couple of weeks with Drew Williamson and Kyle Church, you can still check those out here on the MGO Blue podcast feed. Yeah, you can probably guess who's up next. Mike Boynton junior Stops by next week
Brian Boesch • 21:21
on Defend the Block.
Brian Boesch • 21:23
Some reflection, some discussion, some looking ahead, as the Wolverines have gotten this roster to a very good spot for twenty six, twenty seven. So again, thanks to Akeem. Thanks to all of you for stopping by as well this edition of Defend the Block. Go Blue.
[music builds]
Jeff Laurence • 21:37
Thanks for listening to today's edition of Defend the Block, part of our Michigan Athletics Podcast Network, M GO Blue Podcasts. The preceding has been a Learfield presentation of the Michigan Sports Network.
