The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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several polls. In the end, they topped the Wolverines and the rest of the pack for the outright Big Ten championship. Of course, those inside the Michigan locker room know it didn't have to be that way. After all the ups and downs of a wild regular season, the Wolverines needed to win one game — in a raucous Crisler Arena against the Hoosiers — to split the championship four ways, between Michigan, Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan State. The final minute of that one won't be forgotten around Ann Arbor for a long, long time. With just less than a minute remaining, Michigan led 70-66, with possession. Freshman Glenn Robinson III burst out on a breakaway with the ball, a highlight reel dunk surely to follow. He slowed slightly, checking behind him, while Indiana senior Christian Watford frantically sprinted toward him from behind. Watford nearly caught up just as Robinson went up for the shot, the Hoosier swiping down at Robinson's right side like a pursuing safety trying to force a fumble in football. Robinson took the contact and continued a shooting motion, missing the layup. Had he crumpled to the court and lay motionless for a moment, officials might have called the intentional foul, essentially sealing the game for the Wolverines. Instead, Robinson landed on both feet, while the officiating crew conferred then headed to the monitors to watch the replay. They came away leaving the call as a two-shot foul, no intentional. Beilein remained diplomatic afterwards. "We had a good crew today," Beilein said. "They did look at the monitor to make the call and made it a two-shot foul. We just didn't convert it." Robinson missed the first free throw and made the second, giving the Wolverines a 71-66 edge with 52 seconds remaining. Indiana's Cody Zeller — a massive Michigan headache all day with 25 points and 10 rebounds — scored with 38 seconds left to chop the margin to three. The Hoosiers were still clearly in a bind. They fouled junior Tim Hardaway Jr., the near 70-percent free throw shooter looking to reestablish the five-point lead. He missed the front end of a oneand-one, with Zeller drawing contact and making a pair of free throws to pull Indiana within one, 71-70, with 29 seconds left. Two ticks later, the Hoosiers put Big Ten Player of the Year Trey Burke, a 78-percent free throw shooter, at the line. Burke missed the front end of his one-and-one, leading to Zeller's game winner with 13 seconds remaining. A final Burke miss and a rebound tip by redshirt junior Jordan Morgan that hung tantalizingly on the rim before falling away brought a crushing end to Michigan's hopes for a second straight Big Ten title. In the closing minute of a one-point game, unguarded Wolverines left a potential five points unscored. They finished the day 7 of 13 from the line, with Beilein having none of the