The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1111798
40 THE WOLVERINE MAY 2019 BY JOHN BORTON M ichigan basketball fans headed into the season that just ended wonder- ing how their favorite team could possibly recover from its personnel losses. Moritz Wagner, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Duncan Robin- son were all key parts of a crew that kept playing until there were only two teams left in the spring of 2018. After their departures, many figured a tough rebuild lay ahead. Five months later, those same folks agonized over two near misses on Big Ten championship banners and an NCAA run that stopped at the Sweet 16. Saying John Beilein has raised the bar is like saying 7-1 center Jon Teske can dust the top shelf. The Wolverines went 30-7 over- all and 15-5 in the Big Ten. Three of those losses came at the hands of Michigan State, causing U-M to finish one game off the pace set by the 16-4 Spartans and Purdue Boil- ermakers. It's tough for many to not dwell on what might have been. At the same time, what was unfolded in historic fashion. Here's a rundown from the highs and lows of the season, with another major retooling effort possibly on the horizon. WOLVERINES ACHIEVE PROGRAM BREAKTHROUGHS Michigan won 30 games in a sea- son for the second straight year, fol- lowing last year 's 33-victory run to the national championship game. The back-to-back 30-win campaigns stand unprecedented for U-M bas- ketball, dating all the way back to 1908-09, when G.D. Corneal guided the Wolverines to a 1-4 record. In fact, Michigan has posted only five 30-win seasons ever, three of them under Beilein. The national champions of 1988-89 — guided throughout the season by Bill Frie- der and the magical six-game tourna- ment run by Steve Fisher — proved the breakthrough crew in that regard. Those Wolverines went 30-7 as well. Four years later, the Fab Five surged all the way to the national championship game, going 31-5. MAKING HISTORY John Beilein's Wolverines Broke Barriers in 2018-19 Beilein and his Wolverines won at least 30 games for the second straight year, a first in program history. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN