The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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30 THE WOLVERINE MAY 2018 throws in Michigan's 58-54 grinder over Florida State. "Being a senior, after all this team has done for me, to be in that situation, I knew I couldn't let those guys down," Robinson said. "I've prepared for that moment my whole life. It was pretty cool." So was performing in the Final Four, after coming out of college basketball obscurity at Williams. Robinson kept a keen perspec- tive on it all, when his days in a Michigan uniform grew short. "To look back at this with some perspec- tive, to see how far we've come as a team from my first year here, being 16-16 the year I sat out, and to go out with a chance to win the national championship, going to the Fi- nal Four?" he recalled. "It's incredible." FIGHTING FOR EVERYTHING Another notable New Englander (bear- ing five Super Bowl championship rings) knows it's never easy competing at this level. Tom Brady didn't start in a Michigan uniform until his fourth year in the pro- gram, and then battled to hold off the next hotshot to keep his job. Robinson might not be on his way to five NBA titles, but he can relate to the strug- gle. After sitting out the required season after transferring from Williams, Robinson almost couldn't miss early in the 2015-16 campaign. He shot 60 percent on threes for most of the non-conference campaign, and al- though the Big Ten proved more rugged, well scouted and relentless, Robinson still finished at 45 percent from long range. That mark ranked second in the Big Ten and ninth in the nation on his way to a career- high 11.2 points per game. He started Michigan's final 27 games that season, and then came off the bench in all but three of the Wolverines' 38 games in 2016-17. He shot 42.4 percent from long range in Michigan's race to the Sweet 16. This year, as a fifth-year senior captain, he harbored reasonable expectations of hold- ing a starting spot. He remained in one for 19 games, before Beilein opted to go with freshman forward Isaiah Livers in the start- ing lineup and call on Robinson for fire- power off the bench. "This is a role he's really embraced," Beilein said of Robinson. "He started early in the year, played all right, and we had some good wins. I've always loved having this at Richmond, West Virginia, Canisius … a guy who can come off the bench with no conscience. "It's very hard to sit there for 10, five min- utes and go in and shoot, and he can do that." Michigan's All-Time Top Three-Point Shooters Michigan has produced prolific three-point shooters for a long time. Here's a look at the newly modified top five in terms of three-point makes for a career, a list fifth-year senior Duncan Robinson reconfigured in March. 1. Louis Bullock (1995-99), 339 Bullock not only attempted the most threes ever for Michigan (802), he also connected on the highest percentage of anyone in U-M's top 10 (42.3). Four seasons in a Michigan uniform gave him time to climb to the top. 2. Dion Harris (2003-07), 268 Harris remains in the second spot, despite playing on squads whose seasons were never extended by an NCAA Tournament run. The shooting guard for Tommy Amaker's crews of the early to mid-2000s would have loved the offense of John Beilein, who arrived a year after Harris departed. 3. Zak Irvin (2013-17), 241 Irvin made the Elite Eight as a freshman shooter off the bench, then battled some injuries along the way in his career. In the end, he finished a three-point shot away from another Elite Eight, and a solid third on this list. 4. Duncan Robinson (2015-18), 237 The newest member of the club did his work in three seasons at Michi- gan, after transferring from Division III Williams College. He made 41.9 per- cent of his threes at Michigan, second only to Bullock on this list's top 10. 5. Daniel Horton (2002-06), 233 Horton also performed without an NCAA Tournament experience, but proved an effective long-range threat for the Wolverines. 5. Derrick Walton Jr. (2013-17), 233 Beilein's third bomber to make the top five (plus ties) drove U-M to a Big Ten Tournament title and a shot away from the Elite Eight a year ago as Michigan's MVP. — John Borton In three years at Michigan, Robinson scored 1,072 points while shooting 45.5 per- cent from the floor and 41.9 percent from three-point land. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL