The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1340560
MARCH 2021 THE WOLVERINE 75 Over the past 12 months, though, the lesson keeps coming around. Nothing is unstoppable. Michigan secured victory No. 13 on Jan. 22, a Friday night at Purdue. A 14th — and the season high for the senior transfer — would surely come five days later at Penn State, or shortly thereafter. Only it didn't. In fact, by Feb. 13, it still hadn't. Not because the Wolver- ines were losing games, of course. They just weren't playing any. A shutdown "suggestion" by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services — which read like a mandate to officials at U-M — put everything on hold. Not just men's and women's basketball, off to their best starts ever, but all sports. Brown and his teammates jumped through every hoop to continue play- ing — daily testing, vigorous proto- col adherence, a disciplined, hermit- like existence to avoid any hint of COVID-19. They were successful, without a positive test on the team. It didn't matter, and they closed shop at the school's command. Win No. 14 would have to wait. (It eventually came Feb. 14 with a 67-59 triumph at Wisconsin.) "It's definitely frustrating — re- ally, really frustrating," Brown com- mented during the enforced layoff. "I know that we have to quarantine and things like that. But it's about being active, not getting stiff. We're doing push-ups, sit-ups, planks. You can't really do much, because we can't get in the gym. It's a lot of stretching on our part. I tighten up quick." That said, Brown expected the Wol- verines to come back in strong fash- ion, even after not being able to play or practice for two weeks. "We're ready," he said. "We're not worried about coming back rusty. You can't think that. I know that other teams are practicing every day, and we're not, but we're not going to keep that as an excuse. We'll be good. "We're No. 1 in the Big Ten for a reason. I feel like we can beat every team, which we have so far." WORKING HIS WAY UP The 6-5, 215-pound senior excelled in three sports while growing up in Orlando, Fla. He played football, basketball and baseball, but received some future-focusing advice from Chaundee Brown Sr.