The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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it — yeah, this just isn't going to work out. Big deficits, and it looked highly unlikely that they were going to make a comeback. They showed great resil- ience." They've also shown their consider- able youth at times, he acknowledged. But the big rallies to win at home ver- sus the Illini and the Gophers have been part of the building process U-M head coach John Beilein and his staff hope to continue with this group. Beilein stresses fighting to the fin- ish regardless of how bad things look. Wins in some of those types of situa- tions, McCormick noted, help substan- tially. "That's a big part of developing a win- ning culture," McCormick said. "Some teams sort of expect to lose. If you get a nice lead, in the back of their minds, it's 'Gosh, this is about the time we start to collapse.' It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. "Conversely, teams can say, 'Oh, we've been here so many times. Let's tap the accelerator and get back in this thing and win it. That's what we do.' I'm seeing tremendous growth from the middle of December, when they played like a team that didn't really know who they were or who was going to make big shots. This team is playing much more mature." The downside is the Wolverines are thin enough on experienced players that they cannot afford any significant injury, and they're also limited in their ap- proach, he pointed out. "I'm always a bit reluctant to get super excited about teams that are one- dimensional," he said. "And if I'm realistic and honest, that's what this Michigan team is. They're very much perimeter oriented, and they're going to have some struggles throughout the year, especially when they go on the road against good teams." The jury is still out regarding a hoped-for fifth straight trip to the NCAA Tour- nament, McCormick noted. But he won't rule it out. "It's going to be difficult," McCormick cautioned. — John Borton ESPN analyst Tim McCormick said the key word for Michigan head coach John Beilein and the Wolverines this season is resilience. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL