The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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administered pep talks. "Working with Coach Sanderson made for some long days," Robin- son noted. "When they were trying to give guys who were playing some rest, I was always doing extra work or lifting extra. It definitely all paid off in the end." Robinson also recalled a welcome- to-Division-I moment, featuring high- flying wing Aubrey Dawkins, then a freshman. "In fall workouts of last year, my first couple of weeks, we were do- ing a wall-up drill," Robinson re- counted. "It's a good opportunity to get dunked on. "I ended up matched up with Au- brey. Early on, you don't want to be overly aggressive or be out of sorts. I go up and try to wall him up, and he just dunks on me so bad — worse than I've ever been dunked on before. "That was a reality check. He's an elite athlete. And the speed of the game is so much faster. Guys are so much stronger. That's why last year was big for me to transition into it." He's transitioned well, to the point that former Wolverine and current ESPN college basketball analyst Tim McCormick tosses out some big names when describing his stroke. "I'm in no way saying he's a Del or Steph Curry, but his shot is so compact and repeatable," McCormick said. "When you watched Tiger Woods in his prime as a putter, there were very few moving parts. It was the same, repeatable stroke, every time. "That's the way he plays. As time goes on, I think it's going to be more difficult for him to get off his three, which in a strange way is great news. Every scouting report is going to sud- denly key in on him and say there's no room for him at all. If you give him that, he will bury threes. "That's going to create so much more space for his teammates. Mak- ing threes is great, but creating space is just as good." Robinson has certainly created space for himself in the Michigan lineup, and Beilein assured he'll deal with the rest. "We believe in him, and we're go- ing to find him whenever we can find him," Beilein said. "There are a lot of good shooters out there. But 6-8 … and he's got a quick release that he's worked hard at. It's tough to get to him. "You can get to a lot of people … but getting to him is a challenge." Basketball loves Robinson back right now. In the grand scheme of his ascent, he's already in the bonus. ❏ Michigan's Top Three-Point Shooters The Wolverines have featured no lack of deep threats since the NCAA adopted the three-point shot back in 1986-87. Some of them stand out above all. Louis Bullock (1996-99) proved the most prolific three-point producer ever to pull on a Michigan uniform. He connected on 339 threes over the course of his career.