Michigan Wolverines: Good at basketball.
Some post-Big Ten Tournament observations
In the wake of Michigan’s 74–66 win over Purdue in the 2018 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Championship game at Madison Square Garden, there’s a lot to process: The teams, the unique time frame and venue, the FBI elephant-in-the-room … and the road ahead to the Final Four. Some thoughts, in no particular order:
Michigan and Michigan State’s football and basketball programs have all switched roles with each other.
As a lifelong Michigan fan, it gives me no great pleasure to concede that Michigan State has owned Michigan football for a decade. We thought the trend was reversing after the Wolverines’ win at Spartan Stadium in 2016, but 2017’s storm-soaked night-game debacle at Michigan Stadium put an abrupt halt to that thinking. MSU head coach Mike D’Antonio owns Jim Harbaugh as much as he did Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke … his teams play more ferociously against Michigan and are never intimidated, even on the road. And the reverse is also true: Michigan plays a little scattered and a little scared, even at home.
The 2015 game’s closing-seconds miracle, for example, was as much a product of MSU’s relentless approach against Michigan—paired with Harbaugh teams’ bewildering inability to finish—as it was any sort of luck from the football gods. In 2017, MSU came into a night-game atmosphere at Michigan Stadium (where they were 3–0 in the previous “under the lights” games), and walked away with a 14–10 victory. The equally experienced and more talented Wolverines (according to recruiting rankings, anyway) looked like the rattled, flustered road team.
But this sounds familiar, because John Beilein’s recent mens hoops teams have had a similar attitude toward and affect on the basketball Spartans. Wolverine football and Sparty hoops are the blue-bloods, Michigan is Bo’s football school and MSU is all-Izzone. MSU has the storied tradition, the celebrity coach, the recruiting prowess. But these days—especially when they play each other—the tables turn. In their 82–72 win against the highly-ranked Spartans at MSU’s Breslin Center on January 13, Michigan calmly went about their business and held the upper hand from tip-to-buzzer. Both teams put forth an eerily similar effort at Madison Square Garden in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals: Michigan controlling the game with turnover-free play, toughness, and a little swagger against MSU’s blue chip-laden roster.
“Coach ____________ doesn’t get the blue chips but he develops players and gets maximum effort.” “Coach ____________ always gets out-recruited but never gets out-coached.” Insert D’Antonio or Beilein.
I hope Jim Harbaugh is watching plenty of football game film getting ready for the 2018 season, but he could stand to watch a few Beilein vs. Izzo basketball games, as well. I would make this year’s two MSU basketball games required viewing by the football team during the week prior to visiting Spartan Stadium on October 20. See Beilein’s team? That’s how D’Antonio’s teams play against you.
Beilein: Last Coach Standing
Speaking of Coach B … After news broke about the FBI dragnet that snared Arizona coach Sean Miller and tagged a host of other blue-blood programs, a good friend of mine texted me: “So, when are we going to see your manifesto about how to fix college hoops.” I’ve been known to write a rant or two from the perspective of an armchair commissioner of the BCS, for example. But my reply this time was that no lengthy manifesto was required. My solution:
“Clone John Beilein.”
Beilein was a sort of “last man standing” among the country’s elite coaches, as ESPN and other sports news outlets trotted out the “wall of shame” of program logos who were touched by the FBI investigation. The Block M was nowhere to be found.
And man, do Beilein’s teams play a gorgeous brand of basketball. Low on fouling, even lower on turnovers and thereby highly efficient. This and quality shot selection—especially from 3—have been Beilein hallmarks, but this year’s team has added more toughness and tenacity, and is actually playing defense as beautifully as it runs Coach B’s patented offense. Zavier Simpson is a revelation, a fearless floor general at the point. They’re a deep rotation with no weak links you bring in to spell the superstar for a few choice minutes and pray. And did I mention Michigan will bring in a recruiting class next season that compares favorably with the ’12 class? Those pillars alongside Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. on that 2013 NCAA runner-up to vacated champion Louisville? (Too soon?)
Holding the Big Ten Basketball Tournament in Madison Square Garden was a (not so) terrible idea.
Finally, some thoughts on the B1G in New York City. Having grown up watching Big Ten sports my entire life, I despised the addition of Rutgers and Maryland and the obvious cable-subscriber grab. I understand all the conferences are doing it: Reaching outside of their regional “footprint” to expand. The ACC stretches to Boston, the SEC into Texas, the Pac 12 into Colorado. But the Big Ten is the MIDWEST, man! Penn State belonged in the Big East!!
So, when Big Ten commissioner and all-around bad guy Jim Delaney decided that it would be a good idea to borrow the Big East’s gym and play their basketball tournament in Manhattan, the idea didn’t sit well with me. Especially since Delaney and the Big Ten had to re-arrange their entire season schedule to play the tournament a week earlier, ceding the traditional tournament week to the rightful inhabitants of the Garden, the Big East. The mighty Big Ten Conference reduced to sideshow interlopers.
The Big Ten Network’s coverage of the tournament played up the NYC locale in their bumps and promos, but they rang hollow … the Big Ten simply doesn’t belong here. As much as I hate the inclusion of Maryland and Rutgers, “as long as they’re here” I was fine with last year’s Washington D.C. tournament site, and Newark’s new arena and its proximity to Rutgers would have been fine. But the Garden? That belongs to Georgetown, St. John’s, Villanova, John Thompson, Lou Carnasecca and Rollie Massimino. Not Tom Izzo and Matt Painter.
But John Beilein?
He wears it well. So does his team. I’m still not a fan of the Big Ten-in-Madison Square Garden, but more because it simply isn’t traditionally their territory and it belongs to someone else. But they just had to play the tournament in their adopted new media market, and there is really only one school, one alumni base, one team, with one coach that fit the bill of conquerers of the greatest city in the world.
