Defend the Block 387 - Matt Aldred Transcript
5/26/2026 10:53:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Brian Boesch • 00:00
Fired up to talk with Matt Aldred, Michigan strength and conditioning coach. Coming up here momentarily on Defend the Block. Two things real quick. One, hope you and yours had a great Memorial Day weekend. Hope you took a moment to think about, reflect upon why we have Memorial Day. Can't even fathom the sacrifice that so many have given for our country, for our freedom. And we think about those loved ones, family members, friends who have lost someone in the line of battle. Thanks to all of them for what they've had to endure to allow us to be able to talk college basketball and like we do out in the trenches, football or conquering heroes, any Michigan sports. Those things pale in comparison to what really matters in life and we think about those who mourned loved ones here over the weekend. Also, just a programming note for you. This will be our final Defend the Block for a few weeks.
Brian Boesch • 00:55
This will not be a lengthy timeout, but with the start of the summer workouts quickly approaching here in just a few weeks now, Michigan will get going later on in June. We'll take a brief respite from Defend the Block. It'll be either two or three weeks. It won't be long and we'll come back with some great conversation. Start to dig into some of our player interviews as we've done pretty much every off season since Defend the Block was created. We'll have great conversations with pretty much everybody on the roster for twenty six, twenty seven. Also, hope to have some women's basketball content for you on Defend the Block as we get into the summer as well. The last thing, of course, the NBA draft quickly approaching. We now knew what I think we all probably deep down knew that Michigan was going to have to completely replace the Big three. Yaxel Lendeborg was out of eligibility, at least in terms of how all of these eligibility circumstances and structures operate now.
Brian Boesch • 01:56
But obviously some programs are challenging some of those other structures. But yes, Yax heading to the NBA as are Aday Mara and Morez Johnson junior And listen, of course I think we can all try to be greedy and there was hope, yeah, maybe Aday and Morez at some point over the course of the season, even some hoping after the season that Rez would stay. The reality was always that if Michigan lived up to its potential, and Michigan certainly did, they won a national championship, that it was going to be really tough to do it because of just how important those guys were going to have to be. And not only was Yax that, but Aday and Morez were so outstanding. And yes, there were Times over the course of the season where you know, Terry and I would talk about, man, just wait till senior year Aday or junior year Rez. But then you keep thinking and watching and seeing these guys develop and boy, it's no secret that they have a great opportunity to not just get drafted high, high in the NBA.
Brian Boesch • 03:00
I think all three of those guys can be lottery picks coming up next month, but also that they have real chances to have staying power, earning power in the NBA for quite some time. And that's a credit to them, their families, to the Michigan coaching staff, to all those who impacted them leading up to it. But yeah, as we all think about what we won't get to see with Morez and Aday coming up in twenty six, twenty seven, the example I've given for people is Kobe Bufkin because Kobe as a freshman, he was a fringe rotation player, kind of fell out of that conversation, of course, had that big three late in the game, regular season finale at Ohio State. Remember Hunter Dickinson was gravely under the weather in that game, did not play and Michigan needed it or they would have been at work at best in Dayton and at worst out of the NCAA tournament. Bufkin played very sparingly in that NCAA tournament when Michigan went to the Sweet sixteen loss to Villanova.
Brian Boesch • 04:00
And then there was the Kobe Bufkin sophomore year ascension. Where it went from, you know, November, December, boy, Kobe's got a chance to really be a good player in his Michigan career to boy, Kobe's got a chance to be, you know, an all Big ten type of a guy as a junior to oh, Kobe might have a chance to leave to, yeah, Kobe's probably going to go and, and be a lottery pick or close to it. And that Kobe Bufkin career which as a sophomore, man, what a fun player. He was a fun player to watch on a maddening team to watch because there was so much potential that didn't quite get realized. Kobe was the example of where it does feel like a bummer, a disappointment. Not that you criticize him for the decision at all. I've never passed up millions and millions of dollars and an opportunity to level up in that, that way. But when you see a player of that magnitude, Kobe Bufkin res a die guys who still have eligibility left but have the ability to go to the NBA, you really hope that they can at least have a real run in the biggest part of the season, the NCAA tournament.
Brian Boesch • 05:04
Again, Kobe got to suit up for three NCAA tournament games. But you know, the Kobe Bufkin as a freshman who did hit one of the biggest shots of the season, but wasn't a huge factor in that campaign for Michigan. He was very different than the Kobe Bufkin who emerged as a sophomore and did some really, really special things for a group that just could not quite figure out how to win at a consistent level. So, again, I don't think anybody's sitting here now mourning the fact that, you know, hey, yes, we won the national championship, but, you know, Aday and Morez are not coming back. No, that's not what I'm saying. But I do think that as we get further and further from the championship and closer and closer to next season where, yes, it's going to be that. That competitiveness, that drive, that hope that Michigan can do it again, I think we can all look back and say, hey, yeah, we'd like a die and Morez, it would be better for Michigan in twenty six, twenty seven to have those two guys, but, boy, did they maximize their college journeys, their Michigan journeys.
Brian Boesch • 06:07
And for that, nothing we can say more than a big thank you to those two. To Yax, Nimari Burnett, Roddy Gayle Jr., Will Tschetter, he's crushing it in Australia. And we will continue to monitor what Nimari and Roddy can do at the professional level. But, man, what a special group. What a special team. And it's gonna be a special NBA draft coming up here in a few weeks. So congrats to Aday, Morez and Yax in advance. A guy who helped them get to that point, Matt Aldrich. He joins me next year on Defend the Block.
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Jeff Laurence • 06:39
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 • 06:52
Always great to catch up with our good friend Matt Aldred, the czar of strength and conditioning as we talked about just for last season. And I think that hype for you works because here you are. Now, as a national champion. When I say that to you, what first comes to mind about last year? The run. The fact that as we sit in your office here, I see a bunch of twenty, twenty six final four national championship gear that was not here this time last year.
Matt Aldred • 07:20
Yeah, just extremely blessed to have played a very, very small role in the incredible season. The guys had all credit to the players and the coaching staff. We had an elite group of players. I think we had the best players in the country. And then I think the coaching staff did an unbelievable job making them the best team in the country. And, yeah, we got Some, some banners, some towels, some. We've got a gold ball up there with the players signing it and a couple of hats and yeah, again, just so many blessings from such an incredible year. And to be able to sit on that, on that bench and watch these guys play, I was just in awe of how good they were, but how well they, they did together. A very, very special year that hasn't quite sunk in yet still.
Brian Boesch • 08:05
Why do you think the culture became as special as it did?
Matt Aldred • 08:10
I think, you know, the coaches do an unbelievable job recruiting great players, but I also think they have to do the right job getting the right personalities in the locker room as well. And I think the skill is really knowing the personnel and you can't truly know until they get here. But you know, we don't have ego in this culture, in this building. Everyone is humble. You got confident, there's supreme confidence, but there's no ego. And I think the amount that coach Dusty would talk about using players skills and not having them fit in a box, but like expanding our game and how we play to fit a player's skill set. If you get really good players out there and they keep hearing that every day at practice and we're going to use this for Aday, we're going to use this for Yax and Rez, I think that just gives confidence but also like a trust in the staff of like, well, he actually does see me for who I know I can be or what my skill set is.
Matt Aldred • 09:00
And he's adjusting to how we're going to play because of that. I think that just breeds a lot of trust. And then inherently then there's a greater buy in for practice and then there's a greater, you know, satisfaction of being on the team. When you see how good your players and teammates are around you, you want to share the ball a bit more. If you have a pass first point guard, it's probably contagious in that sense. So yeah, I think the coaching staff did a great job getting the right guys on the bus.
Brian Boesch • 09:26
This team has to go to four different spots and really three, but one twice with Chicago over a four, four and a half week stretch for the postseason. And that stretch where you are almost never in Ann Arbor, where you're in hotels, it's the end of the season. How does your role change in the postseason when everybody's, hey, winner, go home, season's on the line for you. You might not have as many touch points and certainly not as much time with these players as you would as we'll get into here, looking ahead, come up over the summer.
Matt Aldred • 10:00
Yeah, I think it's. And I thought about this the other day. You know, I still have those two primary lifts at the start of the week. So if we played Thursday, Saturday or Friday, Sunday, like, I still have my touch points at the start of the week. We still do a nice job of having the guys do a hotel lift. And the hotel lift is very auxiliary, it's very low intensity. But I think at that point, like the hay's in the barn and I try not to think about it, it's like, well, how much have I done this week? That. That week could have been month five, week two. So, like, there's been a lot of training on the back end to get those guys robust and feeling good. And then honestly, when it comes closer to the. I want these guys feeling fresh and recovered and so really less is more, especially from my side, from the strength conditioning. It's. Can we get massages? Can we stretch?
Matt Aldred • 10:42
Do you need me to do any treatment like Chris? Any treatment like, can I stretch you? The night before guys could do some foam roller, soft tissue work. So you want these guys feeling good because they're already going to be amped up. They're already going to be a little bit anxious, excited. Last thing you need to do is put stress on their body to make them feel sore. So really at that point, it's making sure they're well hydrated. Hannah does a great job on the road with that, making sure they're getting the treatment. Chris does a great job with that. And then really just kind of finger on the pulse of like the practice loads, how intense we want to be day before a game. Coaching staff do a great job with that. And then really it's just giving these guys the belief, hey, man, like, you should feel good. Your force plate numbers look great. Let's just go out there and play.
Matt Aldred • 11:20
Like, try not to change up too much at that stage in the season because even if we're in Buffalo or in Chicago and hotels, they're going to eat really well. Let's try not to overeat. So that's something we keep tabs on is, is force plates and weighing them in. I don't want you to be weighing at one hundred ninety when you normally play at one hundred eighty five and this is the national semi final. That might not help you. So just giving an awareness of that. But yeah, just them feeling fresh at the end of a five and a half month season is, is crucial. And so having an awareness of that and not trying to be, not trying to just get a session and just for the sake of it. That's not, that doesn't do anyone any good.
Brian Boesch • 11:55
Can you just for fans, I've seen you work with this and measure this for players. When you say force plates, can you expound upon that?
Matt Aldred • 12:03
Yeah. So it's basically like standing on a scale, but it's like a really large scale where the guys would do force plate jumps. It'll do a hands on hip counter movement jump on the game day warm up. So probably about forty minutes before they step on the court, they'll be with me warming up in the corridor of these arenas, which is actually kind of a cool story. We used to do it very differently warm up schedule, but when we went to the players era in Vegas, the guys liked the shorter warm up and so we're like, okay, well you played pretty well, let's run that back. So we, we kind of went with that. So they're doing these, they're doing a warm up with me after they do a scout and then after they finish with me, they'll, they'll do a counter movement jump on the plate. So it looks at jump height, which is an output metric. So hopefully that stays within five to seven percent improvement in the season, which it normally does.
Matt Aldred • 12:47
You know, when you get to march these, these guys are really excited to play and so you should get good output numbers. But also I get a weigh in on them, so that's important to see as well. Like, well, you really didn't eat much or you really did and just, just to check in points, just nudges of behavior for them. And then when they're done with me, they normally have about thirty minutes before the game and so they go on the court and they do all their basketball stuff.
Brian Boesch • 13:06
In the tournament we saw some unique playlists develop for the team in some of those settings. I assume that was your music. Correct. Unwritten. And some of the other stuff.
Matt Aldred • 13:16
I'd love to, yeah, I'd love to claim it.
Brian Boesch • 13:18
Do you know when did that start?
Matt Aldred • 13:20
Yax Yax for sure. I had no idea that he knew who Natasha Bedingfield was. She's like a British pop star that's like from the ninth, I don't know, when I was two thousand, something like that. But we would early on in the summer I'd train him and, and obviously I like giving the guys the orcs, like play whatever music you want. I listen to all day, every day. Like some guys like hard rap, some guys want like pop music. Whatever. And Jax is such an energy guy. It's like, yeah, man, whatever you want. They loved Olivia Dean at the end of the season. Like, more in your feels kind of music. That's fine. Like, whatever you guys need. I do not. And so we would do that. And. And it's funny, in the Final Four, we had the court and I had the Orcs and I was like, okay, let's play, like, I don't know, little baby or something. And yeah, I said, no, that ain't us. That ain't us.
Matt Aldred • 14:03
Like, put this on, put this on. Okay, I got you. I got you. My bad. So all credit to Yax for the, for the viral warm up videos and the songs. And I really hope that she understands that. Like, for me as an English guy, like, that's kind of cool because I love that song. Who doesn't? It's an absolute banger.
Brian Boesch • 14:17
I love it. The last one, about last year, we heard so much about the value or the perceived value of how little these guys really had to go compared to other teams in terms of individual minutes. Right. Michigan won so many games by wide margins that they felt rested. When LJ goes down, the rotation shortens. You get to March and April, stakes get higher. A minute feels like it's a more difficult minute in an NCAA Tournament or a Final Four. How did you see that show up in the stretch run? Is that a viable thing? Is that real? We talk about, hey, not bulking up on minutes in November, December, January helped because of this. In March and April, you know, it's
Matt Aldred • 15:00
a really good question. I think, you know, Coach Dusty's always played eight, nine players, and obviously when LJ goes down, it then goes to eight. But I think at that point of the year, again, it's like if, if you're telling someone, hey, like, LJ had the injury, like, right, the last day in February, whatever. So now we've got March and one week in April. Oh, and by the way, guys like you might be forced to play more minutes. Who isn't going to sit there and go, oh, heck yeah. So I think that's like, part of it. And Trey had such a. And Roddy and Will, like, they all just played such. Everyone, even the starting five, everyone just knew their role, doubled down on it and, and just saw the strengths in others. So, yeah, I, I think obviously it was, it was so disappointing to see LJ go down. I, I absolutely just hate that for him. He. But obviously for the team to do what it did even without him the last five weeks, I Mean that I think just goes to show how special that group was.
Matt Aldred • 15:56
And obviously credit to LJ Obviously the documentary showed like his leadership was just remarkable and I'm so proud of that young man and he's really developing into a really, really good leader.
Brian Boesch • 16:08
We're with Matt Aldred, Michigan strength and conditioning coach here on defend the block. You came in a couple years ago with Dusty. A lot needed to be established culture wise. There had been plenty of success for Michigan in the past in this program and there had been a long standing strength coach here who had really established a culture. As you sit here two years later, it's an unknown. When anybody comes into a new role for you, how do you feel like you've established a culture? And especially that year one to year two where you're going through everything the first time, having that second look, what did that do to help you really dig roots into this place, this program, these players.
Matt Aldred • 16:48
Yeah, it's invaluable. And I think any coach sitting here, strength coach, assistant coach, head coach, like if they don't have a list of to do things for the next season, I think they're probably misguided. I think there's always areas for improvement. I think the year one initiatives are probably fill an A four page and then you're going to probably have half a page of A four. Like hey, this is what we need to refine. I think it's probably been the word. Can I take stuff out that I thought was a bit just unnecessary for those guys first year I thought is what what we needed but and force plates could be an example. We do various tests on there. Not just the hands on hip and I just felt like their effort wasn't as good as I want it to be year one and it wasn't because of them. It's because of the environment I had put them in. So I said let's just take that out.
Matt Aldred • 17:25
Let's just do that for game days. So I think refining a process but you know when you work for coach may like his growth, mindset, continuous seeking of knowledge and not just for novelty's sake, but like can this help our players? Can this help their growth and their development? And it's also fun because it's basically two different rosters. Right. So you have these guys coming in, they all have a point to prove. They'll have a chip on their shoulder. But also it's fun getting to know these young men and just create an environment. Go back to the music for Yax. It's like I Want this to be a fun environment you want to train in. Now we still will train like we're going to put load on the bar. And this room values effort and intent. If there's no intent in this room, it might as well be a yoga studio. With all due respect to yoga instructors, like this is a strength and conditioning room.
Matt Aldred • 18:07
So this is a room where you're going to get better but you're going to have to be forced to strain because when you strain, that's when the body gets better. And so I think just finding that balance of like the partnership aspect of like one on one conversations like we're having, hey, can we do this? Do you think you can push it here? What do you think about this? An athlete might recommend an exercise to me that they really like. Cool. I'll put that in like it's a partnership and I think now more than ever with our players basically being on a ten year contract and then who knows what's going to happen. I think the relationship piece and the partnership piece is key because you've got to get results and you've got to get buy in quickly. And they don't come to Michigan to lift weights, they come to play basketball and they have to lift weights. That's a mandatory thing we do and it's important for their performance.
Matt Aldred • 18:48
So how can I bring out the intrinsic motivation for that but also provide some extrinsic motivation of what NBA players do? Tell me your favorite player, show me stuff online, I've got to meet them, where they're at. And I think it's been, I've been happy with how it's gone so far and I continue to try and find ways to make the guys value lifting but also create that fun environment. So if it's pairing certain people up on a rack, if it's the music, if it's loading up different types of lifts in certain days of the week, if it's adding in yoga sessions at certain points in the season, which Namaari was awesome with last year being open, the last thing I'd say on this is being open to what the players suggest. And Nimari had a yoga instructor that he really enjoyed having sessions with. Let's do team sessions. Easy. That's such a no brainer for me. If you want that, let's do it for the team.
Matt Aldred • 19:31
It's gonna be great. So hopefully we can keep refining our process and keep getting better.
Brian Boesch • 19:36
You alluded to the ten month contracts in essence that are signed now or brought in for players and that Will start that ten month stretch starts here pretty soon. Let's talk about the two guys who are coming back who are most well known to fans, starting with Elliot Cadeau. You got to know him over that first ten month stretch. Where can he take that next step after getting some insight from the NBA, but never seemed like truly looking at it as a, hey, maybe I'll go, what can he do? And take that step forward in twenty six, twenty seven.
Matt Aldred • 20:11
Yeah, it's kind of a hard place to go if trying to improve from mop in the final four. Well, but it's, it's, you know, so he's like, yeah, it's. I want to be really cautious, cautious with these guys because I know how intense the season is. So with, with EC especially being a fourth year guy, Trey's going to go into a second year EC being a four. There's a lot of miles in that body and he has played every game in college and that's the aim to keep going. He's a very robust athlete. So you've got to really find the balance between maintaining that robustness through various strength exercises in here, but also improving his explosiveness, which is an area where I know he wants to keep improving. His ability to dunk off of his left leg and his ability to wall up on defense. I mean he's so explosive. But obviously with an explosive athlete you want to really peak them at the right time.
Matt Aldred • 20:58
And so I think that's probably a conversation that we'll have is maybe it's doing a bit less in June than we did last year because I trust him to have done stuff a little bit this off season. Maybe it's building up a bit later in the year. So it's all going to be just conversation with him. But his leadership last year in the locker rooms at halftime was absolutely elite. It's something I'm able to be in there and listen to what the messages the guys are saying and, and I see him taking even greater steps there, not just in the weight room but every day in practice being an everyday guy. But he, we did some conditioning before he went away for those workouts and to see the banner up there and he just walked down the court, was clapping and was like, hey, whenever I get tired, like just tell me about that. Tell me to look at that. And I was like, I was like, yeah, I got you buddy.
Brian Boesch • 21:42
That's awesome. You mentioned Trey. He'll be a sophomore. I don't know if there was a player who I saw, maybe Yax, but in terms of just noticing without seeing maybe him with a, with a jersey on just who he was. I mean, he came in thick in a good way when he was here, what, thirteen months ago now. His ability to lean but still be really strong was impressive. Where, where is his potential physically, conditioning wise as a sophomore after making such strides last year?
Matt Aldred • 22:13
Yeah, he. He has expressed that he wants to be even leaner. And so that's something we've been working on this past month and trying to really, again, not. Not, you know, put the water over the bucket. Like, we're not trying to overdo it in this off season as well. I want to give him appropriate time off, but also if a guy wants to lean out and lose a little bit more weight, then obviously this time is great to do it because we can control a lot of things in this period of time in May. But yeah, I think that's an area like maybe his, his explosiveness off the first step, being able to beat a guy, improving his lateral quickness and his agility. Obviously he's super strong finish at the rim. He's an elite shooter and scorer. But I think, yeah, for him, it maybe is. Is trying to be lighter so he can be quicker. Obviously, mass moves mass. So the light you are and the stronger you are, you should be quicker.
Matt Aldred • 23:02
And then obviously he might have an increased conditioning demand now if he's gonna. If I don't know. But if he were to slide into a starting position, then okay, that's probably an increased conditioning demand as well for the five and a half months. So there's areas emphasis with him, but again, it'll be a conversation. Hey, what do you think? Are you good with this? It might be again, pulling back a little bit in June to build up again because this is the longest these guys have ever played in college. Long as we've ever coached in college. Right. We got to the last game, made it through, and so, yeah, it's just going to be a reassessment. But trusting his opinion of what he needs. He is an extremely impressive, mature young man, so I will trust exactly what he wants to do.
Brian Boesch • 23:42
People are excited internally and externally about Oscar Goodman and Ricky Liburd. What can you share about those two? Their work habits, their growth. Because fans didn't really get to see much of Oscar and any of Ricky outside of a couple of exhibitions. But they've been with you since they got here?
Matt Aldred • 24:00
Yep. Oscar had a really. Being really good friends with Will Tschetter, I think, was an amazing thing for. Oh, and I think that's the energy and leadership he will bring every day to this program. So, Chet Bomb, if you're listening, dude, you.
Brian Boesch • 24:16
How about his numbers down there in Australia?
Matt Aldred • 24:18
I mean, dude, he's looking good. Come on. You're not Wemby numbers, you know. Yeah. So I think O is going to be a great leader for us. And he's again, very mature for a guy of his age. And he's, he's, you know, he's a big dude. He's big, strong but powerful. And. And as that Auburn player found out, he's got a lot more bounce than I think people think. That's something that'll be nice and surprising for defenses. And then Ricky, you know the best thing, I used to sit next to Ricky at the games and he would be obviously very excited when guys would dunk and I'd play. Rick, are you gonna, you know, he's armor doing that all year next year, like, that's me. Like, that's me. I said, okay, I'm gonna hold you accountable if you don't dunk on someone. But his attitude, I'm sure everyone across the board and our staff would be so impressed with his attitude. I mean, he, he won the conditioning test for us.
Matt Aldred • 25:04
Like, he is an absolute machine. I mean, his nickname is Ticket. Like he is an absolute robot. And his work ethic.
Brian Boesch • 25:10
Ticket T I C K E T. Yes, that's.
Matt Aldred • 25:13
That's a dusty thing. I'm sure there's an American football reference in there from some player, but yeah, he. I think the fans will be very impressed with both of their attitude because at the bare minimum, what do fans want? They want effort. They want you to dive on loose balls. They want you to show appreciation for the jersey. And that's something our team did great last year. And I think those two are going to be very impressive from that standpoint alone, let alone their basketball skills, which is sick sign. I'm really excited this offseason for those guys to. To develop again and keep getting better.
Brian Boesch • 25:41
You've alluded to each relationship being a partnership. So what advanced research. What early on relationship building do you do with the players who you are getting to know or maybe meeting for the first time?
Matt Aldred • 25:54
Yeah, I think sometimes it's a facetime with those guys just to kind of check in. But a lot of it might be this. When they get to campus, just sit down and talk to them about it. I think building that relationship they might have and knowing who their previous strength coach is is important. Gaining understanding of how they like to be trained, how they felt the training environment was. But I think this year I did a, I kind of did it different. I kind of took guys for a clean slate. I didn't reach as many strength coaches as I did my first year because I was like, okay, let me just, just have a start, a new. I don't want any prior baggage of their history in the weight room. Like I want to hear it from them and I would tell them that. So hey man, like this is, this is a partnership and I want you to be honest with me about everything. I'm going to be going to tell you the truth.
Matt Aldred • 26:38
I'm going to be a truth teller in your life and in this building. I'm going to do it with love. You're going to see very quickly. I'm very consistent. I have the utmost respect for you. I expect the same for me. But I understand that trust has to be earned. And you'll see every day in my attitude and in my detail. But also like, I just want to be reasonable if you're, if you're struggling with something, I'll probably be able to tell by your face and your attitude. And I want you to be able to tell me, this is a safe space here. I want to be like a big brother slash uncle to you. And, and we can talk about deep family stuff. We could talk about the game last night, whatever it is. But like this, this job for me is way more about the dumbbells and barbells. If it was that, I be on a, be an Instagram influencer. Like this is about people and relationships, but also it's about winning.
Matt Aldred • 27:21
So how can we just grow as individuals together? I'm still going through life as a thirty seven year old with a two year old daughter. I want you to see me be a dad. Hopefully at some point in your life you'll be a dad. And if we can leave any impact on you from seeing us and how we are as professionals, I think that's important. So just being genuine, I love my job. Hopefully the guys will see that very quickly. There's going to be a time where it's going to be super intense. Strongman's going to be intense and I'm going to be on you. But prior to that you're going to see a lot of built in relationship building and enjoyment. Like I want to enjoy coaching you, so let's just have fun with this, right? And let's see where continuous improvement every day can take us.
Brian Boesch • 27:59
Obviously there will be a few players who come in with some sort of Injury recovery process. We know about LJ, Lincoln Cosby is a freshman who will come in coming off an injury. And Jalen Reed's had to battle several of them, most recently an Achilles injury. How do you work with Chris Williams, the training staff, to understand how you can start building that up? Because it's not as simple as, hey, they get healthy and then it's all right, you're back to playing weight, conditioning, stamina, anything along those lines. How does that process work?
Matt Aldred • 28:30
Yeah, it's collaboration, not isolation. And I think Chris Williams, I think Dr. Millwood, I think Hannah, our dietician. Like if we're all on the same page and there's no egos and we can just progress these athletes how they need to be progressed with their expertise. So a lot of the time Chris sees them primarily for a lot of that and doc doing the initial treatments and then eventually it'll be all right, Matt, they can lift now. This is the contraindications they have. Okay, cool. Keep checking in. We will use force plates a lot for that to see their squat patterns. They're loading on different legs. We'll use our GPS tracker to see their loads on the court and be able to monitor those closely. We also work very closely with Drew Williamson, our director of player development. Like his, his awareness of their bodies. Is it a shooting workout today or is it more skill based workout?
Matt Aldred • 29:14
Can we go half court, full court? All those things are super important. And obviously those three players you mentioned are all obviously links a freshman. Lj's our returner and Jalen Reid's had a lot of mileage on him, but they're all essential to our team being successful next year. And this is, it's a little bit more complex than a player that just comes in fresh and ready. But these are almost the players you need to double down on the relationships with because when the summer starts, Evan will be out there on the court with the ball and they might be over on the sideline with us. So I think that's a crucial piece is checking in on their mental, finding joy in the journey as well and rewarding landmarks of improvement.
Brian Boesch • 29:52
The phrase you just used, joy in the journey. You, you've had a bunch of joy in your professional career. Last year was the first time that you experienced the pinnacle. Dusty talks plenty about not resulting, but you, you try to win a national championship. How has that championship, if at all reinforced finding joy in the process? Do you look at the process differently now that you have experienced what the process you hope maximizes?
Matt Aldred • 30:22
Yeah, I think what it did was it showed the process worked, which was really reinforcing. Right. There's only one time in my career, in this last ten, eleven years I've been in the states that you can look back and go, you know what? Like, preseason might have worked and then in season loading might have worked. Like there's reinforcement there and that might be a three percent difference of why we won, one percent, but it's still reinforcement to. And actually I found this with Roddy our first year. We'll call it March Roddy. Right. And how explosive he was. He played Texas A&M and he was unbelievable. And I was sitting on the bench and I'm like, he looks. He looks so good. And I'm like, we didn't do anything different for the last in season. So what's the key to that? In my mind, don't do random stuff like keep it simple, keep it basic. So that really reinforced the process for this year, even though it was a very different team.
Matt Aldred • 31:10
So I think that's something it does is it shows you that, okay, your process did work, but it only worked for the twenty five twenty six Michigan team. How is it going to work for the twenty six twenty seven Michigan team? Yeah, there's going to be aspects that work, but our strongman is going to need to be tweaked. This year it was already going to be different because of the summer trip. So we have extra practices and they have the extra load of a summer trip. So it's one of those things you look back and it's like, it's unbelievable, of course, but it is, you know, and I think coach has talked about this, but it is very much like you look back and remember the process and the, and the bus rides and the sessions and like I say, those pre season sessions and like the conversations with Yaxel after a lift when you know, we're talking about stuff that involves our fathers, like that kind of thing is really impactful.
Matt Aldred • 31:54
And obviously now to see those three guys hopefully do what they're going to do in the NBA draft is like, that's also just so rewarding. I keep telling my wife it's like winning the championship's like the gift that keeps on giving. Like it truly is. And I hasn't. I'm not sitting in the playroom with Lucy going, I'm a national champion. Like, you still got to do like your everyday stuff. Like there's not that. And it might recalibrate your happiness metric a little bit because you go, you know, seventy thousand fans and you're like, whoa, this is, this is weird. But like, it's, it's just like say, having conversations with you, seeing the stuff in the office, like, wow, we did do that. That was amazing. But as coaches, you know, we're drivers and it is on to the next thing. And in one month time, we will be starting up with those guys again and it'd be a whole new team, a whole new challenge.
Matt Aldred • 32:38
But that's why we do it right? We love challenges.
Brian Boesch • 32:40
Well, good luck with that next challenge. Matt, appreciate you coming by as always. And we'll be talking here as you build up to next season.
Matt Aldred • 32:46
Thanks, mate. I appreciate.
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Brian Boesch • 32:56
Matt Aldred, Michigan strength and conditioning coach. What a tremendous dude and a huge asset for this Michigan program. And his real time to shine starts coming up here in a few weeks when Michigan gets going with their summer workouts. I'll be back to bring you coverage from that, interviews from that you'll hear from returning players, get to know some of the new guys who will don the maize in blue and try to be that next line of Yax, Aday, Morez, Nimari, Roddy, Will, of national champions and of young men who have a chance to do really special things professionally and hopefully in the NBA. All right, thanks to Matt. Thanks to all of you. We'll be back in a few weeks to really rev up our twenty six twenty seven coverage. We'll continue to look back every once in a while at the national championship season, but when we come back in the middle of June, we're all eyes ahead to the twenty twenty six to twenty twenty seven season as Michigan looks to defend its national championship in the city of Detroit. All right, thanks so much for listening and go Blue.
Jeff Laurence • 34:01
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.
