Let's rewind to the start of my college career at the University of Michigan. The basketball team was an afterthought, even though it had an impressive collection of talent. Student tickets could be purchased as a package with football tickets for a bag of peanuts more than the football student shirt. It was a time in the program that just a handful of games were played on national television. The athletic department craved more publicity, and in order to create a better environment for these national games they would give away free tickets to anybody with a student ID. Living on North Campus I didn't expect any hall mates to get season tickets with me, but I couldn't even convince neighbors to go to the free games. It was truly the doldrums of a once proud program.
Then after failing to even reach the NCAA Tournament for all 6 of his seasons, head coach Tommy Amaker was let go and Michigan was left searching for a coach to at least bring the program back to the mediocrity of making the field of 68. The athletic department made the unglamorous hire of John Beilein on April 3rd, 2007. He was sold to fans as the first step to rebuild the program. He was the career program-rebuilder (Canisius, Richmond, and West Virginia), but hanging banners back in Crisler wasn't even considered. And at that point, just making the NCAA Tournament seemed like a substantial, but unlikely, step.
As we skip over the forgettable 2007-2008 season, the second year started with a little momentum building around the program. Michigan was led by two former walk-on point guards, two over-looked freshman shooters, and two high volume scorers from Detroit. The team competed in the Preseason NIT, where the bracket was stacked for a top 5, tradition rich, championship game (UCLA vs Duke). The Wolverines showed the Madison Square Garden stage was not too bright as they knocked off UCLA and pushed Duke in the championship game. Then in a rematch at Crisler two weeks later Michigan was able to beat the #4 Blue Devils and enter the top 25 for the first time in 3 years. The program seemed on the upswing, and it was happening quicker than any fan even dreamed. With one win in the Big Ten tournament, the Michigan Wolverines had a 20 win season. On the evening of March 15th, 2009 Bursley Hall erupted when the basketball team was one of the last teams announced in the NCAA tournament. A ten seed, slated to play Clemson in the opening round. At the time, it felt like the pinnacle for this current state of the basketball program. I am so glad I was wrong.
The expectations grew entering the 2009-2010 season with a preseason top 15 ranking and a national recruit from California. But the Wolverines stumbled out of the gate, and couldn't recover quick enough. The team never seemed to gel, Darius Morris did not meet the lofty expectations and struggled with the college game as a freshman, and without David Merrit and C.J. Lee the squad lacked the leadership it needed to live up to the new found hype around campus. The Big Ten tournament was the last hope. After beating the #9 seed Iowa, Manny Harris put the Wolverines on his back against the #1 seed Ohio State. Then Evan Turner knocked down a 40 foot runner as time expired to extinguish any remaining hope of consecutive tournament appearances. The general thoughts around Ann Arbor was that John Beilein was not the answer for this program. In three years the team had reached their ceiling (a perennial bubble team). People were disgusted that the coaching staff could not recruit Michigan, specifically Detroit, national recruits wouldn't want to play for the gimmicky style of play, and even past players criticized the current staff stating that John Beilein's system would never win in the rough and tumble Big Ten.
There was no doubt that Coach Beilein heard the rumors and felt the pressure because in the off season he completely revamped the staff by adding Jeff Meyer, Bacari Alexander, and LaVall Jordan. The general consensus was that this was a move made to protect the head coach and keep him off the hot seat for at least one more season. Little did we know that this move was the beginning of an unlikely transformation.
The Wolverines entered the 2010-2011 season with little expectations, and even less fan interest. The roster was left without its two best players from the previous year (Harris and DeShawn Sims), and no play makers to replace their production. The media even picked Michigan to finish 10th in the 11 team conference. The conference season began as expected, with a number of close losses and a 1-6 record. The young team headed to East Lansing and beat Michigan State in the Breslin Center for the first time since 1997. This sparked a remarkable turnaround as Michigan won 8 of its last 11 conference games to finish 9-9 and secured its second NCAA tournament bid in 3 years.
Most people know what happened next. Since that night in East Lansing over 3 years ago John Beilein has led this program to the best conference record (47-17 and counting), a surprise share of the Big Ten title, a National Championship game, and now a dominant outright conference title. Winning the outright conference title with a game to go has only happened one other time in the past 5 years. If that isn't impressive enough, the Wolverines have done so without their two first round draft picks from a year ago and an injured preseason All-American center. If you are counting, that is 3 banners in as many years with the possibility of a few more. Coach Beilein has developed under the radar talent into a National Player of the Year and 2 first round draft picks (with many more in the near future), and has built a program where 5 star recruits come off the bench. But most importantly, he has built a program to be proud of with the utmost class, respect of his piers, and integrity.
I didn't think the joy that last year's journey brought us fans, at least me in particular, would ever be neared in my lifetime, but somehow Coach Beilein has led Team 98 to a similar place in my memory. I know it will not always be like this, but as I write this, all I can do is to sit back and smile realizing this year's journey isn't over yet.
And if you like a video better: http://t.co/EJoSHmUUiV
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