The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/970722
74 THE WOLVERINE MAY 2018 D on't feel bad if you were one of the many not bullish on Michi- gan basketball this season. You certainly weren't alone. Most prognosticators had the Wolverines pegged for a fifth-place finish (or worse) in the Big Ten, citing the losses of three starters in guard Derrick Walton Jr., and forwards D.J. Wilson and Zak Irvin as reasons why. Even some of the Wolver- ines had their doubts. "I didn't [think we'd get here]," redshirt sophomore Charles Matthews said after U-M beat Florida State in Los Angeles for the right to play in the Final Four. "Back when the season started, I didn't think we'd have this chance." Once again, head coach John Beilein got everything he could out of his team and then some, much the way he did the 2011-12 Big Ten co-champs. That team, with 6-3 Zack Novak at power forward, ran out of steam and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but not before capturing the pro- gram's first Big Ten title since 1986. This year's squad underwent several makeovers before finding its stride as a defensive dynamo with the occasional propensity for an offensive outburst. When the two were working at the same time, like they were in the last three games of the Big Ten Tournament (wins over Nebraska, Michigan State and Pur- due), it was almost sublime. Even when they weren't, this group found ways to win. "I believe we really accomplished a lot as a team, what a team could do," Beilein said. "We did it with not our best offensive team, but cer- tainly our best defensive team. "There are a lot of ways to win, and I think that's what we learned this year. A lot of ways to win." One of them is an aspect that can't be measured by statistics — heart. This team had a ton of it, and Beilein — now more than ever — knows which strings to pull. "[Former Michigan assistant] Jeff Meyer used to always say, 'We've got to coach their hearts this time of year,'" Beilein said back in February. "It's really important [as a coach] to show a lot of love and have a lot of relationship building with your team this time of year. "… They need to know you really care, because it's a long year." But it also takes players with heart, and there was something about this team, with flaws that included poor free throw shooting and scoring droughts, that didn't know when to quit, that didn't realize that — with its absence of NBA talent and incon- sistent offensive play — it wasn't supposed to be able to compete with the best of the best. For some of them it was evident early in their careers. Senior shoot- ing guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur- Rahkman, this year's co-MVP, was a recruiting afterthought, pursued by very few before Beilein got a tip about him late in the recruiting process. He was only signed as a stopgap when the Wolverines had unexpected attrition. The soft-spoken assassin put up 18 points in East Lansing in a near-upset loss at Michigan State in overtime as a fresh- man, blossoming into one of the Big Ten's most complete players three seasons later. Fifth-year senior Duncan Robinson is the only known transfer from a Division III school to earn a Division I scholarship, and his attitude after losing his starting job — becoming an asset off the bench and turning his "de- motion" into Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year honors — was a big reason this team went as far as it did. And co-MVP and junior forward Moritz Wagner … well he was this team's No- vak in a much bigger pack- age. He relished being the bad guy in hostile environ- ments, carried a "this is too good to be true" attitude every time he took the court in a Michigan uni- form and was the soul of this team, even if it took him some time to em- brace the role. Beilein challenged him halfway through the year, telling him he expected more, and the German re- sponded with an incredible second half of the season. "It's a great relationship, obvi- ously, because he's on me so much," Wagner said. "If you watch practice sometimes you might think, 'Okay, do they have a great relationship?' But I know the way he cares about me and the team. He's been on me for three years, and I appreciate that because he wants me to get better." Together, they all accomplished something no Michigan fan will ever forget. As the late, great voice of Wolver- ines football Bob Ufer might say, they finished No. 2 in the country, but No. 1 in our hearts. ❏ Chris Balas has been with The Wolver- ine since 1997, working part time for five years before joining the staff full time in 2002. Contact him at cbalas@ thewolverine.com and follow him on Twitter @Balas_Wolverine. INSIDE MICHIGAN CHRIS BALAS The Heart Of A Champion Junior forward Moritz Wagner went from averaging 12.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game during the 2016-17 campaign to clips of 14.6 points and 7.1 boards per contest this year. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN