The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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26 THE WOLVERINE AUGUST 2017 Wolverines past Louisville in a round of 32 NCAA game, and redshirt sopho- more D.J. Wilson was incredible not only in the Big Ten Tournament, but also in the first two NCAA Tourna- ment tilts. He averaged 11.7 points and 4.4 rebounds over his final 15 games and was huge at the free throw line in the national tournament, knocking them down to close out games and go- ing a perfect 10 for 10. Wilson parlayed his performance into a first-round NBA Draft selection, going No. 17 overall to Milwaukee. "It was development," Beilein said. "He continued to embrace the process of growing as a player, and we em- braced the process of helping him get there. It's not the light coming on … it's all of a sudden his skill level becomes subconscious to him how to be a com- petitive player. "It slows down and happens be- cause of the repetitions that he put in. He allowed himself to be coached and just kept getting better." It all led to an incredible March, in- cluding wins over outstanding Okla- homa State and Louisville teams in the NCAA Tournament and a near miss against Oregon, a one-point loss in a Sweet 16 game. "We really felt good going in there," Beilein said of the NCAA Tourna- ment. "First of all, Indianapolis was not home court, but we were familiar with it. Then we felt our guys felt their talent and knew they could play with anyone in the country at that point. When you can beat Purdue and Wis- consin, or Michigan State and Indi- ana the way we did convincingly, they knew there was nobody that was go- ing to overwhelm them. "I wish we could have gotten Or- egon, because we would have felt the same way about Kansas [in the Elite Eight]." The way they finished the year, how- ever, won't soon be forgotten by any- one who followed them. They'll soon have a Big Ten Tournament champion- ship banner hanging in Crisler Arena to commemorate their legacy. ❏ Senior wing Zak Irvin provided the Wolverines with an all-around effort in the postseason, averaging 15.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists in his final seven U-M contests. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN The Best Of The Rest Michigan's fantastic finish on the hardwood and Big Ten Tournament title pushed basketball to the top, but several other teams finished well, too. Here is the rest of The Wolverine's ranked top-five efforts among male sports on campus over the past year: 1. Football — Michigan was only a few points away from an undefeated sea- son in head coach Jim Harbaugh's second year, but had to settle for 10-3 after heartbreaking losses at Iowa and Ohio State, and to Florida State in the Orange Bowl. The Wolverines handled everyone else on the schedule with relative ease be- hind a defense that dominated in coordinator Don Brown's first year on the job. 2. Baseball — Erik Bakich's team limped to the finish line, losing its last four games (two in the Big Ten Tournament and two in the NCAA Tournament), but still finished 42-17 overall, including 23-5 at home. Bakich spurned offers from other programs this summer to remain at U-M. 3. Swimming and Diving — The Wolverines tied for second at the Big Ten Championships and finished 17th at the NCAA Championships, went 5-1 in dual meets with the lone loss on the road to then-No. 5 Indiana Jan. 13, which snapped its dual-meet win streak at 55. Michigan tied Ohio State for second at Big Tens and every member of the team — swimmers and divers — scored, setting 47 new personal bests and achieving 69 NCAA cuts. 4. Tennis — U-M finished second to Ohio State in both the Big Ten regular season and postseason tournament. The Wolverines were 23-7 overall and 10-2 in the Big Ten, and made their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. The win total was the third-best in program history and the most since winning 26 matches in 1988. — Chris Balas Senior linebacker Ben Gedeon helped lead the nation's No. 1 defense by totaling a team-high 106 tackles and ranking second on the squad with 15.5 tackles for loss. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL