0 0 0 TheMiciga Daly Tioff- TursayNovember 12, 2009 WANT TO BE COOL? FOLLOW @MICHDAILYSPORTS. MICHIGAN From page 5C team in a position where they're knocking on the door and they have a chance." And there's a reason opposing coaches and those close to the pro- gram see the Wolverines reaching the doorstep of the Big Ten's upper echelon. "What I've witnessed," said King, "is it doesn't matter who scores, doesn't matter who rebounds, doesn't matter who gets a blocked shot, who gets the winning bucket - they just want to win. That's what's going to take them from the middle of the pack to the front." It hasC King pre- dicts atop-three started, Big Ten finish for Michigan, nowhei would likely f translate into a finis top-four seed in the NCAA Tour- nament, which would in turn give the Wolverines an opportunity to play deep into March. FAB FIVE ATTITUDE They wore baggy shorts, black socks and their mouths on their sleeves. And for two years, the phrase "Fab Five" was synonymous with the Michigan basketball program. While the most noticeable aspects of the quintet were the quirky uniforms that turned into nation- wide trends, they weren't the most important. What mattered most was the attitude. "We didn't use the word 'swag- ger' back then, but we had a hell of a swagger," Chris Webber said in Fox Sports Net's program "Beyond the Glory - the Fab Five." The Fab Five was more cocky than confident, to say the least. Though that's a far cry from the Michigan basketball team under Beilein, it certainly has some par- allels in that area. "Watching these kids from afar, the biggest thing that they remind me of that was similar to us is their attitudes," King said. "(The current players) go into a game believing they can win regardless of who they're play- ing. Like last year, when they played UConn, nobody gave them a chance that they were going to play hard or even hang with UConn. They go into their place and almost win." King pointed to a few games during Beilein's first year, match- ups that Michigan ended up los- 0 0 ing after the team shrank 10- or 20-point deficits in the game's final moments. The fight, that it- ain't-over-til-it's-over attitude, was perfectly clear. According to Beilein, it's a "believe you can beat any opponent" mentality. And that's what brings for- mer players like King back to the early 1990s. Sure, the Fab Five was known more for its trash talking than its confidence. But when five freshmen tell the national media that they expect to win a national championship, it's hard to ignore that attitude. Nobody on the Michigan roster this year predicts a national title. But that doesn't mean the goals aren't lofty and the pressure isn't cooking. ertainly "If they were to ask me what but it's to expect this year, I would re near just say, 'You ,hed. guys won't be a surprise this year - you're on the radar,' " King said. "Now, when you go into a Wiscon- sin, or a Michigan State or a Penn State or wherever you go on the road, the crowd is gonna know, they're gonna know who you are and they're gonna be gunning for you." WHERE MICHIGAN BELONGS Back to the present, though, for just a moment. "Right now, we're 0-0, and so is every team in the country," fresh- man walk-on Josh Bartelstein said, echoing a mantra other play- ers have used. "We know we have a lot of work to do. Nothing's going to be given to us easy, that's for sure." Beilein has instilled that kind of attitude in his players. It's why when he sends a letter telling each athlete to "be a hunter," the team takes it to heart. It's also why the players exude confidence when they take the court. And for all of those reasons, Beilein finds himself in the center of another program revival. It's certainly started, but it's nowhere near finished. "Until we can get Michigan to point where they're in the NCAA Tournament -this is normal to be in the NCAA Tournament - we haven't turned anything around yet," Beilein said. "I think that's where Michigan belongs. If you're in the tourna- ment every year, dang it, you've got a chance of winning it. That's where we want to go, sustain the program." Choose from the following games: FRI, NOV. 27 -8 PM vs. LA. CLIPPERS TH U, DEC. 10 - 7:30 PM vs. DENVER WED, DEC. 23 - 7:30 PM vs. TORONTO TUE, DEC. 29- 7:30 PM vs. NEW YORK SAT, JAN. 9 -7:30 PM vs. PH ILADELPH IA FRI, JAN. 15-8 PM vs. NEW ORLEANS SAT, FEB. 6 - 7:30 P vs. EW JERSEY FRI, FEB. 19 - 8 PM vs. MILWAUKEE FRI, MAR. 12-8 PM vs. WASHINGTON FRI, APR. 2 - 8 PM vs. PHOENIX 24-37-e g gPITN.O/OLEEIHS LET'S G TO WORK.