The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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Z impromptu rally cap, the fabric flow- ing backwards off his head and, fit- tingly, giving him the look of a mod- ern-day Moses. He'd done all he could to lead Mich- ack Novak stood, bare- chested, in Michigan's team room, his eyes riveted on a big-screen monitor. He'd employed his T-shirt as an BY JOHN BORTON like we had won, like someone on our team hit the shot." He stood for a moment in stunned disbelief, holding his head. Novak then began running around, hugging everyone in sight. The kid from Chesterton, Ind., who into my senior year, people started to tell me, 'You're probably not going to play college basketball, period.' "I didn't have one offer. That just igan to the Promised Land of a Big Ten championship. But now it was out of his hands, and — irony of ironies — in those of the Egyptians, aka, Ohio State. Earlier in the day, Michigan knocked off Penn State in Happy Val- ley, clawing to within half a game of had zero offers to play major college ball, who wondered if high school marked the end of his playing days, now stood as a three-time captain, the heart and soul of a resurgent Michigan program. More importantly, he stood as a Big Ten champion. "They can't ever take that away," CHAMPION LEAVING A league leader Michigan State, which was prepping to square off against the Buckeyes. A Michigan fan in the Bryce Jordan Center flashed a handmade sign: "Go Ohio. (I Feel Dirty)." Novak laughed when he heard about it. "I didn't see that, but I definitely know where he's coming from," the senior acknowledged. Novak proved one of the most vo- ciferous on the bus ride from the air- port back to Crisler Center. He urged the driver to step on it, even while the Spartans appeared to be putting the Buckeyes away in the Breslin Center. The Wolverines made their way into their inner sanctum to witness the fi- nal, nerve-jangling six minutes play out. When William Buford's fiercely defended jumper found its way home to give OSU the win — and Michigan a share of its first Big Ten title since 1986 — all hostilities were temporarily suspended. "I was just hoping we won the Big Ten championship," Novak said. "At that point, I didn't care. I wanted them to win. That shot went in, and I felt 48 THE WOLVERINE APRIL 2012 Three-Time Captain Zack Novak Fulfills His Dream freshman. The Wolverines hadn't seen the NCAA Tournament in a decade, much less scrambled to the top of a perennially tough league. "To be honest, coming in, we just wanted to get back in the NCAA Tournament," he said. "That was the biggest thing then. It happened so quickly, we probably reestablished our goals and what our expectations were. "If you would have asked me in high school if I thought I'd be a major contributor on a Big Ten champion- ship team, probably not. It's just a trib- ute to the guys I've played with, and the coaching I've received here." In high school, Novak began won- dering if he'd play anywhere beyond Chesterton. The college offers he ex- pected to come did not, and Novak began questioning everything. The Chesterton senior recalls those Novak assured. The captain freely admits he wasn't thinking Big Ten title coming in as a terton game that U-M head coach John Beilein attended. The senior nearly failed to score in the first quarter, then banked in a three-pointer off an out-of-bounds play at the buzzer. He wound up scoring 30 points in that game. Novak showed something else that drove me. That's probably the hard- est I'd ever worked, up to that point. Even in games, it really drove me. I like when people tell me I'm bad at something, or tell me I can't do something." Novak won't soon forget the Ches- were huge," Novak said. "We're play- ing the biggest teams, so I'm guarding some kid who is 6-8, 240, just banging with him. [Beilein] probably just saw a tough kid who wanted to win." Beilein saw plenty in Novak — day. He did the dirty work against someone much larger than him — an ability that would become part of his trademark. "I was playing against guys that toughness, the ability to shoot and cer- tain intangibles. The head coach often talks about Novak being a born leader. He told Novak and fellow Indi- ana native Stu Douglass they faced a unique opportunity in coming to Ann Arbor. Michigan basketball had been down, Beilein noted, and they could become integral parts of the effort to bring it back up. Of course, Beilein might have been the only one on the planet, at the time, to follow that line of thinking. The freshmen were hearing a decidedly different buzz in their early days on campus. "We heard it, especially early on, difficult days, and how they changed him, honed the ruggedness that would move him forward. "I've always been driven by people telling me I can't do something," No- vak said. "Probably the reason I ended up here is that, in high school, going how we sucked," Novak recalled with a hint of a grin. "'Michigan basketball coming back is a joke, because we've got two guys they picked up at the YMCA on the team.' It's just nice that we were able to accomplish what we wanted to accomplish. "We just kind of tuned it out. I'm sure we joked about it every now and Novak posted career highs in scoring (9.5 points per game), field goal shooting (48.8 percent), three-point sniping (40.5 percent) and free throw accuracy (85.7 percent) to help U-M claim a share of the Big Ten regu- lar-season championship. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL