The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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M ichigan head coach John Beilein went to 8 a.m. mass at St. John's Catholic Church in India- napolis March 13 — Selection Sunday — but it wasn't to pray for an NCAA Tournament bid for his team. Beilein has long been a stalwart at early morning services in Ann Arbor over the years, so it wouldn't have been a surprise to any- one who knew him to see him there on a Sunday morning. It was, however, an eye-opener to the priest, who raised his eyebrows a bit when offering the Michigan coach communion. He stopped Beilein on his way out with some words of encouragement. "He was from Minnesota, and he'd been at the [Big Ten] Tourna- ment the day before," Beilein said. "Walking out the door he said, 'Coach, I think you're in. I've got a guy that is better than [ESPN brack- etologist Joe] Lunardi.' I said [point- ing at the sky], 'Are we talking about this guy?' But he had another guy better than Lu- nardi. "Little did I know, he was right." It didn't matter that it was a play-in game against Tulsa, Beilein added — nor should it. The Wolverines haven't gotten a break in three years, starting with sophomore big man Mitch Mc- Gary's back injury that sidelined him for the 2014 NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines made the Elite Eight and were a Kentucky three-pointer with seconds remaining from advancing to their second straight Final Four, and McGary could have — some say would have — been the differ- ence. An NCAA suspension forced McGary to go pro before last season and was one of the reasons sopho- more Glenn Robinson III chose to leave, too. Injuries to sophomore Derrick Walton Jr. and Caris LeVert INSIDE MICHIGAN CHRIS BALAS Just Reward Despite injuries and early departures that robbed the Wolverines of their senior class, head coach John Beilein put Michigan on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble in 2016. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN