The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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He received a few calls from Ivy League schools, but quickly discov- ered he ranked as a third or fourth option. That's when he turned to Wil- liams College, an NCAA Division III liberal arts school in Williamstown, Mass. The small school (roughly 2,100 en- rollment) just happened to be coached by Mike Maker, a former Beilein assis- tant at West Virginia. Robinson really began to flourish there, averaging 17.1 points for a crew that made it all the way to the NCAA Division III title game. "That was an unbelievable experi- ence," Robinson said. "Coach Maker is a great, great coach in every facet of the game. I really connected with his players, and we had a really good team. "We were really talented. We had some bumps early on, but we had a really good core group of seniors. We were fortunate enough to make a deep tournament run. "It didn't end the way we wanted. We ended up losing on a buzzer beater in the national championship. That was tough, but we learned a lot." Robinson became a D3Hoops.com All-American, his assiduous shoot- ing as a bored prep schooler finally teaming with his height to produce a tangible result. But Maker wasn't long for Williams College, and neither was Robinson. Maker took a Division I job at Marist College in New York, but helped Robinson make an even big- ger leap. He reached out to Beilein with news of an available player who fit his system perfectly. "I remember getting a call from Coach Beilein before he'd seen me play or anything," Robinson recalled. "He basically said, 'I know about you. If being a part of Michigan basket- ball is what you're really interested in, we might have a spot for you as a preferred walk-on. I haven't seen you play, so I can't promise anything.' "Just to be talking to Coach Beilein was, in a lot of ways, a dream come true. About a week later, he calls me back and says, 'I've watched all your film, and I love you as a player. I want you to be a part of our program.' At this point, I'm still thinking as a walk- on. "He goes, 'Just so we're clear, I'm talking scholarship here. I want to get you on an official visit.' At that point, it was just a dream come true." Robinson had some convincing to do with his mother, who loved Wil- liams College. "But she got on campus here, saw everything and met everyone," Rob- inson noted. "She said, 'There's no way you can turn this down.'" His mother, Elisabeth, has already ventured to the Bahamas to watch her son play. There will be plenty more travel down the road to follow his and the team's growth. Not that there wasn't a cold night or two on the way to Paradise Island. Robinson spent all of last year in the basketball shadows, working out, learning and practicing, with no court time as a reward. His NCAA-mandated redshirt sea- son featured a whole lot of strength and conditioning coach Jon Sander- son, along with some weighty, self-