Wolverines Basketball Making A Return to the Elite

It's been awhile. The year was 1998 to be exact. Whether you choose to believe it or not, that's the last time being a Michigan fan really meant something. There have been great moments since then, but not consistently sustained greatness. Being a Michigan fan has been a rather pedestrian experience for the past decade and change. It's gotten so bad that I now support Michigan State just to have a second horse in the race.

It's important to understand that I've been a Michigan fan since birth. My friends and family did an excellent job brainwashing me into believing that decent wholesome people cheered for the Wolverines, and that Michigan State fans were simply savages who couldn't educate themselves any better than to root for the glorified community college that was located in East Lansing. Also, East Lansing isn't really a place. They drilled that into me so well that I still believe it to this day. Let's be serious. If you've ever been to Lansing, you know the only way to get to East Lansing is to be on Michigan State's campus. As a matter of made up fact, Mateen Cleaves is actually the mayor/emperor of East Lansing. Though this isn't true, it very well could be because East Lansing isn't a real place...but I digress.

Let's get back to the year that was 1998. We (yea, I said we...dammit) kicked things off by winning the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. That win subsequently clinched our most recent national championship in football and derailed the rest of Ryan Leaf's career. You also wouldn't be going out on a limb if you were to say that it derailed the rest of his life. The win also ushered in the creation of the BCS, the completely nonsensical system that we currently use to decide the national champ. Don't forget that if not for one of the luckiest play in the history of sports, Nebraska would have lost to Missouri earlier in the season and the BCS would have never existed. Eight year-old me was devastated by that Nebraska win against Missouri. Like most eight year-olds, sharing was not high on my priority list. Sharing a championship was unfathomable to me then (okay, it still is now).

Since the BCS era began in 1998, Michigan has been involved in five BCS bowl games. They have won both the Sugar and Orange Bowls, but have lost three consecutive Rose Bowls. The biggest game the program has played since 98' wasn't even a bowl game, it was their #1 vs #2 showdown with Ohio State in 2006. They lost that game too. They even suffered through a period known as the Rich Rodriguez era, when the always proud Michigan defense looked like they had been swapped out with the Delaware Blue Hens defense. Michigan football is now on the road to recovery under Brady Hoke, but the program is nothing to poke your chest out about.

The Tractor was the Tournament's MOP

A few months later in the glorious year of 1998, Big Ten basketball fans were introduced to something that had never been seen before -- a conference tournament. Back in these days, the Ivy League was joined by the Pac-10 (now the Pac-12) and the Big Ten (now the Big Ten with 12 teams) as athletic conferences that did not indulge in the hoopla of playing a conference tournament. However, all of this was due to change in Big Ten country. The Big Ten kicked off their inaugural tournament at the United Center in Chicago, and expectations were high for Michigan. The Wolverines featured three future pros (including one lottery pick, Robert "Tractor" Traylor), and were on the safer side of the bubble going into the tournament. Michigan caught every break they needed, avoiding both Michigan State and Illinois on their way to the championship game against Purdue. The scene was set for me to be watching the first ever Big Ten Championship Game at the Detroit Roller Wheels Skate Rink, because my mom had forced me to go to some girl's birthday party on that particular day. eight year-old me struggled mightily to stay upright on roller skates, but I managed to see enough of the game to imprint the lasting image of Robert Traylor (R.I.P.) cutting down the nets after a decisive victory. 

That was the Michigan basketball program's last great moment, but a return to the elite is on the horizon. The 2012-2013 Michigan Wolverines are good. Truthfully, they are damn good. To top it off, not only are they damn good, they're just as young as they are good. It's a sinister combination.

It all started when the university decided to hire John Beilein as their next head basketball coach back in 2007. Beilein had experience winning games while wearing maize and blue. He had been brilliant during his time at West Virginia, carving a Big East mainstay out of humble beginnings in Morgantown.

Blake was a bit much for Zack Novak

Despite his winning reputation, I admittedly didn't like the decision to bring in Beilein. I'd always viewed Michigan as a sleeping giant in college hoops, but I thought it would take a big name to shake some life into the program. I always secretly hoped to land Tubby Smith (now the coach at Minnesota). I always believed Beilein to be a coach with a low ceiling. He got the most out of his squads, but their potential would always be limited. I dreaded an assumed two decades of seeing my beloved Wolverines bounced in the Sweet Sixteen year after year with no breakthrough in site. At first it seemed that I was right. Beilein's Mountaineer teams could always shoot the rock, and Beilein promptly went to Larry Bird country (Indiana) to find two marksman. Stu Douglass and Zack Novak arrived on campus armed and dangerous, and they proved to be a perfect compliment for Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims, the two standout Detroit Public School League products that former coach Tommy Amaker had left behind. The new core of the Wolverines instantly changed the team's fortunes and put them in the NCAA Tournament in Beilein's second season. They would advance to the second round to play against Oklahoma. The game against the Sooners summed up everything that was wrong with Beilein in my eyes. Oklahoma was led by their 6'10 somewhat superhuman power forward Blake Griffin. Michigan's starting power forward was 6'4 Zack Novak. In layman's terms, Michigan showed up for the NCAA tournament without a power forward. Michigan played hard and hung tough with the Sooners, but ultimately lost the game. Blake Griffin scored 33 points and grabbed 17 boards. To this day he probably thinks he played that entire game wide open. He probably never looked down to notice Zack Novak.

To make matters worst, the next year's Michigan team floundered under the weight of high expectations. They missed the postseason, and a riff between Beilein and star player Manny Harris caused him to make an ill-advised jump towards the NBA. My dislike for Beilein ratcheted higher as it seemed that not only could Beilein only recruit shooters, he was also scaring away the most talented player that he already had.

It looked as if the wheels would officially fall off of the Beilein regime in year four when Michigan started 1-7 in the Big Ten. However, something very strange happened midway through the conference schedule. Beilein's long term plan began to fall into place. Novak and Douglass were two of the countries top shooters, and sophomore point guard Darius Miller was quietly turning into an early entry NBA candidate. With Harris no longer around, Beilein was able to give his minutes to another freshman gem, Tim Hardaway Jr. When Selection Sunday rolled around, the Wolverines were winners of 9 of 13 games and safely in the tournament field once again. With a little more size now on the roster, the team demolished Tennessee before giving Duke a handful in a losing effort. The team was now on everyone's radar, and not even the early departure of Morris could quell expectations for success.

Burke is one of the nation's best point guards

Morris' departure was nullified by the addition of Trey Burke. It's not very often that a freshman point guard is an upgrade over a point guard that is currently playing with the Los Angeles Lakers, but if you asked Mike D'Antoni if he would pull the trigger on a Burke for Morris swap, I don't think he would hesitate. Burke was a Freshman All-American (he was the Big Ten Freshman of the Week seven times) who showed glimpses of being dominant at times. With Burke pushing the pace, last year's team raced to a share of the Big Ten title. It was a fitting send off for Novak and Douglass, the two recruits who changed the culture of Michigan basketball. Even though Novak and Douglass were almost living legends on campus, rumblings had already started to surface that their replacements might even be better. The trio of Glenn Robinson III, Mitch McGary, and Canadian import Nik Stauskas was being hailed as one of the best incoming groups in the country. A quick glance at the roster revealed that the Wolverines were only losing two contributing players from a team that won the Big Ten, and from there the hype machine was born.

When Michigan entered this season as a top five team, it seemed a little bit outrageous. Though they had a great season last year, they did get bounced in their first NCAA Tournament game, there were definitely areas that should have attracted more concern. Could a trio of freshman really be that much better than two proven veterans who played the game with an extremely high level of intelligence? 

It didn't take long to find out. 

Just over a month into the season, Nik Stauskas is being touted as the most surprising freshman in the country. He has proven to be as good of a shooter as Stu Douglass, but can attack the basket with the reckless abandon of Zack Novak (with much more efficiency and skill). You can pencil Stauskas in as being one of the Big Ten's most deadly offensive threats for four straight years. 

Glenn Robinson III has simply lived up to his name. The Little Big Dog does so many things that make him resemble his dad during his days of dominating the Big Ten while he was at Purdue. GR3 has an incredibly sculpted NBA body. If you gave an NBA general manager a magical marker and told them to draw a small forward, the picture would look very similar to Glenn Robinson III. The skill set would be fairly on point as well. The kid can play on the wing by using his athleticism, or he can turn into a power forward on the low block. 

Mitch McGary has drawn some favorable comparisons to a player who had a decent college basketball career. When you see McGary running around the court like a mad man, it's hard not to see the type of motor that made Tyler Hansbrough one of the greatest college players ever. What makes McGary a terrifying player is that he is taller, stronger, and faster than Hansbrough ever was.   

Add these three with returning stars Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway, and it is clear that Michigan is not to be taken lightly. This Wolverines outfit has already taken down the likes of Pitt, K-State, Arkansas, and North Carolina State on it's way to a comfortable perch in the top three of both polls. They are living up to the hype, and are a legit Final Four contender. In addition to this season's success, if Beilein can continue to recruit at a high level (he already has a commit from next year's #5 point guard and #5 small forward in the country) the Wolverines could do something that not even the Fab Five could do -- win a national championship.