The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? six-point lead, and you're thinking you're going to come back at any time … then it never happens." It didn't happen in Grant's final two seasons, either, with the Wolver- ines encountering the misfortune of running into Dean Smith-coached North Carolina teams prior to reach- ing the Final Four. Grant waxes phil- osophical about it all, even the fact that the Wolverines did win it all the year after he left. "Sometimes you have to have a little luck bounce your way," he said. "We just never had that luck. "The year after I graduated, they shot an air ball three from the cor- ner, Sean Higgins gets the rebound and lays it up to beat Illinois [in the national semifinals]. Things like that keep you going." Grant recalls Frieder as a great coach, in terms of letting players play, giving them freedom on the floor as long as they played hard. He turned his athletes loose to go have fun, and it made for a winning for- mula, his star guard recalled. One day at training table prior to an Indiana game, it wasn't so much fun initially. Even a heated encounter with Frieder, though, turned out to be a memory worth a smile. "I was cracking a joke with one of the waitresses that was there," Grant recalled. "He got mad, and we screamed at each other. Then after we ate, I just walked out and he walked out. I didn't see anybody else again until the game. We didn't talk the whole time. "I probably had my best game ever against Indiana. We joked about it. We said we were going to do that every game." Grant didn't mind cracking wise on the court as well, despite the se- rious business at hand. He liked to break the tension, especially at the expense of the other team. When it involved another General, Indiana's Bob Knight, so much the better. Knight always carried an edge into battle, and Grant didn't mind playing off it. "I remember him screaming at his players," Grant said. "I'd walk by when he was screaming at one of his players, and the guy is not really looking at him. I'd say, 'Hey, pay attention.' "Then Bobby would look at me, or the guy would look at me. I'd just dig at 'em a little bit and run by." He ran by a lot of opponents dur- ing his four years in a Michigan uni- form. In addition to amassing the record steals and assists totals, Grant remains the fourth-leading scorer of all time at Michigan. Without sounding arrogant, Grant assured he filled the job description of a point guard pretty well. "I did all three things you should do as a point guard," he said. "I'm still the all-time assist leader at the University of Michigan, so that means I did pass the ball to players and get them involved in the game. I loved defense — No. 1 at Michigan in steals — and that helped me get into transition and make plays for myself and for my teammates. "Being the No. 4 scorer in Michi-