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 |
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 |
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 |
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.