The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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ketball again after he left Michigan, he'd do just fine professionally. As it is, he intends to head overseas to play ball once his time at Michigan is done, while working on some unspecified business ventures. "That's been unbelievable," he said In fact, if he never touched a bas- sundae an unforgettable Sunday pro- duced — he's a Big Ten champion. Making the tournament three years out of four certainly registered as an accomplishment, Beilein noted. But this … "As we began to talk about the con- of his all-around experience. "Besides basketball, it's the people I've met here, the education that I've gotten. I don't know anywhere else I could have gone that would have given me the best of both worlds as well as Michigan has." Oh, and there's that cherry on the gan basketball reunions. He knows he will again, with the pride of a champion. "The guys who win, it seems like, ference championship, that really was special," Beilein said. "Now, you're one of only 13 teams in the history of Michigan to win a championship. Now, it's put them to another level. A lot of teams have gone to the NCAAs, but winning those championships is something." Novak has experienced the Michi- days in the mid-1980s. Roy Tarpley battled personal demons in the NBA and is now well into middle age. Those were Michigan's last two captains of a Big Ten cham- pionship squad — before Zack Novak and Stu Douglass. Much has happened since — a national championship in 1989, the phenomenon of the Fab Five, Michigan's NCAA dark days and the 10-year wilderness that followed. Captains have come, and captains have gone — all with- also remember the player almost no- body wanted, who became indispens- able. ❑ Zack Novak And Stu Douglass Join Elite Crew Of Captains Butch Wade has lost a step from his rugged rebounding Ten championship overall, in history. We've been playing a long time … it's really unique for us to have this honor right now. We hope we get a lot more of them, because it's one of the ultimate measures of success for the university. That means Novak and Douglass will go down in history " out reaching the pinnacle of the league. That's not an ac- complishment to be taken lightly, Michigan head coach John Beilein cautioned. "A lot of good coaches and a lot of good players have been able to play at Michigan and not do what we were able to do, so it does mean a lot to us, " he said. "This is our 13th Big among a very limited group of leaders. It's almost fitting that their numbers will be unintentionally included in a banner that reads: 2012 Big Ten Champs. Novak's "0" and Douglass' "1" will be right in the middle of the year, just like the captains were right in the middle of the effort it took to hang a banner. Here's a look back at Michigan's Big Ten championships • 2012 — Zack Novak and Stu Douglass • 1986 — Butch Wade and Roy Tarpley • 1985 — Leslie Rockymore and Butch Wade • 1977 — Steve Grote and John Robinson • 1974 — Campy Russell and C.J. Kupec • 1966 — Oliver Darden • 1965 — Larry Tregoning • 1964 — Bob Cantrell • 1948 — Bob Harrison • 1929 — Ernest McCoy • 1927 — Edward Chambers • 1926 — Richard Doyle • 1921 — Arthur Karpus has re-accelerated under Beilein, there could be more on the way. But for now, Novak and Douglass stand out as the first captains in more than a quarter century to lead a Michigan team to the top of the Big Ten. Both of them admit they were just glad to make it to Michi- That's 13 titles, and 18 captains. The way U-M's program Novak and Douglass are among a group of 18 U-M team captains that have led the Wolverines to at least one of their 13 Big Ten titles. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My whole life growing up, it's what I wanted to do. I wanted to play in the Big Ten, wherever that was. I wasn't a huge Michigan fan growing up. It's safe to say I am now. " Novak said. "I realized " — John Borton APRIL 2012 THE WOLVERINE 51 were the closest," Novak observed. "They stay close, and you just have that bond forever. I love the guys I play with. We've got something for- ever. We'll get to come back, and peo- ple in Ann Arbor will say: 'That's the team that won the Big Ten, for the first time in 26 years.'" Those who watched closely will down through the years, and the players tabbed as captains on those teams: gan, in the beginning. But their vision changed, as they saw what was developing, and how they themselves were a part of something increasingly special. "I've just never taken it for granted,