0 0 0 0 I Thursday, November 12, 2009 - Tipoff -The Michigan Daily 5C t's easy to let your guard down when talking to John Beilein. In many ways, he doesn't seem like the face of the revived Michigan men's basketball program. The way he learns your name, the sometimes-crooked smile, the sto- rytelling ability - it's almost more paternal than anything. He's at ease, and he makes those around him feel comfortable. It's not hard to under- stand why Beilein, 56, enjoyed teach- ing high school history classes more than 30 years ago. On the court, the lesson plan is strictly basketball. That's where Beilein's intensity and Midas Touch appear. That's where - for four dif- ferent programs that he has coached - unexpected runs to the NCAA Tournament have become realities. Last season, it was the Wolverines' turn, when they earned a tournament bid for the first time in more than a decade. It's easy to trust Beilein when he sits you down and tells you he's turn- ing around a program. "The first time I talked to (him), I could hear it in his voice - the con- fidence of how he was going to turn this team around," freshman forward Blake McLimans said. That confidence - and the comfort - in Beilein's words is one of the oft- overlooked parts of his magic. Andit's ahuge reasonwhyBeilein's Wolverines are ready to step into the limelight, stand up to the expecta- tions and redefine themselves as one of the nation's top basketball pro- grams. THE TIPPING POINT Everyone's got a different answer to the same question: When did the Michigan basketball program really turn the corner? The media and nationwide fan- base went crazy after the Wolverines upsetNo. 4 UCLA and No.4 Duke last fall - signature wins that put Michi- gan in the 2009 NCAA Tournament picture. But junior guard Manny Harris said the seeds of the turnaround were planted in another contest against the Bruins, one with a different result. On Dec. 22, 2007, Michigan suffered a 15-point loss to then-No. 8 UCLA at home in the midst of a rough first sea- son under Beilein. "Even though we lost, that's a game that kind of had me like, 'This team is going to be good in a few years to come,' " Harris said. "That's one game that people look past, but I thought we played real well. ... That's kind of when it all clicked for me." Harris wasn't alone. Former Fab Fiver and current Michigan radio broadcaster Jimmy King also saw signs of progress scattered through- out Beilein's first season - one where the Wolverines finished a program- worst 10-22. "I saw it the first year when you saw injuries, you had transfers, you had guys getting used to a new coach," King said. "How he interact- ed with the team, how he coached the team, what he was instilling in the team. Even though it didn't resonate in wins, I knew that he was going to build a great program like he has in a short amount of time." Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, in his 15th yearat the helm in East Lan- sing, thinks it was even earlier. "I'll be honest with you - I saw it coming when (former Michigan coach) Tommy Amaker was there," Izzo said at last month's Big Ten Media Day. "John Beilein has done a great job bringing his system in, incorporating everything. It has con- stantly been growing.... I (have seen) it emerging the last four or five years, and John has put frosting on the cake." Izzo pointed to some of the high- profile recruits that Amaker brought to Ann Arbor - like Harris and senior forward DeShawn Sims, whom Izzo called "two bona fide pros." "I thought he made some serious progress, and I think John has elevat- ed it one more level," Izzo said. That's the part nobody can deny - Beilein is a major piece of the puz- zle of Michigan's re-emergence on the national stage. And he has done this sort of thing everywhere he has been. Beilein's first Division I coaching gig was at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., where he took a team that went 8-22 in his first season to the NCAA Tournament once and the NIT twice in his five-year tenure. He moved to Richmond for anoth- er five-year stint, leading the small school to the tournament once and two NIT appearances, too. Then came West Virginia, yet another repeat of the Beilein pattern: A five-year stretch with two NCAA Tournament appearances (including an Elite Eight finish in his third sea- son) and an NIT championship. Really, what's going on at Michi- gan is more of the same - except he's finding success a little quicker than normal. "Coach Beilein talks about build- ingup a program, that's what he loves to do," said freshman guard Matt Vogrich, who committed to Michi- gan before the Wolverines earned their NCAA Tournamentbid last sea- son. "In West Virginia, he did it. And Richmond, he did it. Everywhere he's been, he did it. So I thought it was awesome that I listened to him and I believed in him and I knew that he could do it, but I didn't know it would be so quick. So quickly the team evolved." ISOLATE AND IGNORE Dealing with hype is a good prob- lem to have. But for a program that, for the first time in more than a decade, is now dealing with expecta- tions higher than making the NIT, it can be overwhelming. Instead of being distracted by thoughts of where the Wolverines will be in March, the players have decided to focus on this week's prac- tice. And then their first game. And then the practices after that. "We can't hang on to last year much longer," Beilein said. "Hopeful- ly, we get used to that type of image that there are high expectations here. No one has higher expectations than I do." Some of those expectations center around in-conference performance, and others on a potential seed in the NCAA Tournament. And for the first time since the Fab Five in the early 1990s, reaching the tournament is more than just a reasonable goal. It's an expectation. There's an excite- the Wolverines have been ranked ina preseason poll in 12 years. When asked about addressing pre- season rankings during team meet- ings or at any point before the season, Beilein was adamant. "I probably won't say one word about it," he said. "I'll just say, 'All right, we just do what we always do and try to.' If I see them playing like they think they're better than they really are, then they'll hear about it. I don't expect to even address it." The upperclassman leaders have addressed the rankings. Well, kind of. "They just said to play hard, and we'll see what happens," said Vog- rich, the freshman. "Don't look at the rankings. Don't read about yourself. Don't read about the team. Don't read about what everybody else is saying. All that matters is how we end up at the end of the year and how the team plays together and develops." STAYING HUNGRY Before his players started classes this fall, Beilein sent them a letter. He couldn't wait to call a team meeting in person, and he couldn't sit around and wait through the waning days of August - the message was too impor- tant. He didn't want his team to be "The whole message was about being focused," Sims said. "Don't let nothing get us off our initial goal, which is to become a better team." And when that goal is something players can visualize on a daily basis, it makes it easier to reach. A sampling of success - but not all of it - can do that, too. "We hungry, we definitely hungry," Harris said. "By losing that last game, making it to the tournament, seeing what it was like, that makes us even more hungry." Off-season workouts and body transformation seem to validate that claim. Players like Novak and red- shirt sophomore Laval Lucas-Perry are thinner than they were last sea- son, and many players have talked at length about adding muscle. "If I worked a little harder, it could only equal more success and oppor- tunities for me and my team," Sims said. "A lot of guys took that mindset because they're hungry for more." Beilein phrases it like this: Last season, the players whetted their appetites. Now, it's time for the main course. WHAT'S NEXT? Fans would love to fast-forward to the Sweet Sixteen, or some part of the NCAA Tournament. The tournament is the testing ground where expecta- tions are met or exceeded. But for 11 teams, that's not where they'll define their success this sea- son. Welcome to the Big Ten. How tough is it? Just this week, ESPN's Andy Katz pegged it as the nation's top conference. Michigan was the seventh-place team in the Big Ten last season and made the NCAA Tournament. This year, some Big Ten coaches think there could be as many as eight or nine bids to teams in the conference. From the cornfields of Iowa to the happy valley of Penn State, the Wol- verines know their proving ground - and what they need to achieve to reach the next level. "(If) they get a break or two, they can win the league," Izzo said. "Where I think you evaluate a pro- gram is 'Are they contenders?' In Feb- ruary, do they have a chance to win the league?" Izzo said it doesn't necessarily matter ifa team actually wins a con- ference title or not. "You should be evaluated on whether or not are you in a position, have you put your team in a position to be knocking on the door," Izzo said. "If you're knocking enough, some- body's going to answer. That's where I think Michigan is. They've put their See MICHIGAN, Page 8C "It doesn't matter who scores ... they just want to win. That's what's going to take them from the middle of the pack to the front." - Jimmy King, former Fab Fiver ment around the team that's hard to deny. Student season ticket sales sky- rocketed from 480 last year to 2,537 sold for this season. "We love that," sophomore guard Zack Novak said. "It's fun to play in front of your friends and the kids you go to school with. If they're excited about it, that just makes us more excited about it." It's not just the fanbase, either. It's the national media and the country's top coaches. Michigan came in at No. 15 in both the writers' and coaches' preseason polls, the first time that content with last season's surprising success. "Last year was last year," Beilein said, describing the content of the note. "Now, let's keep hunting wins. ... As long as I'm coaching here, we're always hunting, no matter who the opponent is." That message has already taken hold of the program in the weeks and months since the letter was deliv- ered. The playersbringup the note often, and they keep the same refrain: be the hunter, get hungry, stay focused.