2B - Aprill1, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com At Cowboys Stadium, the ending that didn't come t was supposed to end here. The script was all lined up, the pen readied to ink a rather proper and realistic ending to this season. Everyone loves a circular narrative structure, and this script even had those book- ends right. What first appeared a dream Michigan year seemed destined to end in one way: early, decisively and painfully. The whole year had felt that way. The year, you see, started seven months ago, when, as stu- dents arrived on campus in Ann Arbor, the Michigan football team STEPHEN J. walked into NESBITT the palatial Cowboys Stadium on Sept.1 for the season opener against Southeastern Con- ference powerhouse Alabama, the eventual national champion. Any overenthusiastic hopes of a Michigan football champion- ship were blown to bits right then and there. And things didn't get easier during the second semester, either. The men's basketball team, which entered the season with everybit of hype and hoopla, fell from as high asa No. 1 ranking, lost a grip on the regular-season Big Ten title and was bounced by Wisconsin in the second round of the conference tournament. Even the hockey team, enduring its worst season in over two decades, collapsed this year - it nearly made a historic run before it was stopped a game short of extend- ing its record streak of 22 NCAA Tournament appearances. Every ending this year: early, decisive and painful. All hopes for ahappy ending hitched on the Big Dance. The narrative said that the year was supposed to end this weekend, back in that exact same venue it began in - Cowboys Sta- dium - and against another SEC power, Florida, this time. Well, that's if the Wolverines even got that far - they were supposed to fall to Kansas, but fate somehow tilted back in Michigan's favor in the final moments. Sure, the Wolverines had a wealth of talent, but they came wounded into the NCAA Tourna- ment. They'd never hold together. They were underdogs and lower seeds againstboth one-seed Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen and third-seeded Florida in the Elite Eight. Few realistically expected them to survive the South Region. It was supposed to end at Cow- boys Stadium. S-E-C, S-E-C, S-E-C The chant started in the north- west corner of Cowboys Stadium; it spread rapidly through the crowd of 90,413 until nearly every crimson-clad fan was on his or her feet. The chorus grew louder and louder as the final seconds ticked off the clock in Arlington, Texas. A season that held so much promise, with Michigan coming off a BCS bowl appearance and with Denard Robinson at the helm for one final season, began with a face-washing: Alabama 41, Michigan 14. Juwan Howard watched from field level. He, too, had hoped the Wolverines could shock Alabama, shock the world like he and the Fab Five had proclaimed two decades earlier. But he could only shake his head at the outcome. Howard didn't know Michigan would be back seven months later, playing a different sport this time. He didn't know the Wolverines would be fighting for their first Final Four berth since the Fab Five. He didn't know a different Michigan team would shock the world. The parallels between the two events - the beginning and the supposed end - are striking. But the opposites are even more so. The seasonbegan with redshirt junior left tackle Taylor Lewan, flanked by a trainer, limping his way off the painted turf and up the tunnel at Cowboys Stadium. He was hurt, insulted, defeated. The season wasn't expected to extend past this weekend despite the everydaybrilliance of sophomore guard Trey Burke. He couldn't carrythe team alone, but he'd been expected to do just that all year. He, like Lewan, wasn't himself. Burke battled a flu virus in the Elite Eight, and as the clock hit zeros, he lay on his back on the court, exhausted. But then he was picked up and lifted into the airby freshman forward Mitch McGary. They were hurt, at times insulted, but not yet defeated. Seven months ago, Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon followed Lewan up the tunnel with his head bowed. But on Sun- day, he beamed, shook Michigan coach John Beilein's hand and embraced everyone he could find in front of the Wolverines' bench. Seven months ago, the football team lost 41-14, but on Sunday the basketball team led 41-17 with four minutes remaining in the first half And seven months ago, an S-E-C chant rained down inside Cowboys Stadium, but on Sunday there was a different ring. IT'S GREAT- TOtDNEEDL/Daily Sophomore guard Trey Burke saved Michigan tram ao esit io the Sweetl16 with a 30-last 3-painter at the enoa regulation. It started softly. TO BE- The chant began to rise above the cheers, buffeting the air inside the House that Jerry Built. A MICHIGAN WOLVERINE This wasn't the sound they expected in Arlington. Ovations instead of tears. Victory instead of defeat. A beginning instead of an ending. The Michigan men's basketball team was never actually supposed to reach the Final Four. The Wol- verines weren't that good, right? But, fueled primarily by a mot- ley crew of underclassmen and a superstar sophomore, they are that good. And now they're on to Atlanta and the program's first Final Four appearance since 1993, when most of the freshman class wasn't even born. It was supposed to end here. But the end of this season, this year, is yet to come. - Nesbitt can be reached at stnesbit@umich.edu or on Twitter @stephenjnesbitt ERIN KIlRKLAND/Daily Denard Robinson and the Michigan football team had less luck at Cowboys Stadium. \ , TODD NEEDLE/Daily Freshman forward Glenn Robinson Il made a crucial reverse layup late Friday. The Florida Gator never even had a chance to cheer in Michigan's dominant win. A Nik Stauskas kind of day By EVERETT COOK Daily Sports Editor After his first shot in warm- ups, Nik Stauskas knew it was goingto be a good shooting day. Maybe the rest of the arena, and the rest of the Michigan men's basketball team didn't know it, but the freshman guard. did. By his standards, Stauskas - the Wolverines' sharpshoot- er - had been in a funk from beyond the 3-point line, strug- gling to find the form that had him ascend from sixth man off the bench to one of the best pure shooters in the country. In the earlier rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Stauskas's shots from deep looked flat. They took hard bounces off the rim - the soft, floating touch wasn't there. So on Sunday, Stauskas felt what nobody else could've pre- dicted because his shots in warm-ups felt like his shots from the beginning of the season. The freshman knew he was in for a big game, and it showed. He scored a game-high 22 points and didn't miss a shot on six attempts from downtown, carrying Mich- igan to a 79-59 win over Florida to advance to the Final Four. "I was calling it for the last week - I was due for one of these games," Stauskas said. "It's been a while. ... My jumper felt real good so I just let it fly." For the majority of the first half, it looked like Florida had forgotten to scout the sharp- shooting Stauskas. While Michi- gan (12-6 Big Ten, 30-7 overall) moved the ball around on offense and in transition, Stauskas was left open in the corner. Last week, there was a good chance he didn't connect on the open attempts. But on Sunday, he made the Gators pay. Time after time, Stauskas calmly sunk the open looks from the corner, as he fin- ished the first half with 19 points, including five 3-pointers. As has been the case for most of the season, making the first shot was key for Stauskas. Known for his antics after mak- ing big shots but also for strug- gling late in games if his first few attempts don't go in, a clean swoosh on his first made 3-point attempt proved crucial. "Every time Nik makes that first three, we call it popping off," said junior guard Tim Hardaway Jr. "Nik gets excited and puts on the goggles and everything. Once he gets like-that, you can call it quits." After his third made 3-point attempt - again, from the corner - Stauskas went crazy, running down the court, smiling and wag- ging his tongue. The last time he had shot more than 50 percent from deep was in the beginning of February against Ohio State, which would be acceptable for any Wolverine except for Staus- kas. On Saturday, he became the first player in an NCAA Regional final to finish 6-for-6 on 3-point- UN-FOUR-GETTABLE From Page 1B scenes leader on a Big Ten Championship team, the 2011- 12 Michigan squad. Alongside fellow fourth-year players Stu Douglass and Zack Novak, he was rewarded with a jersey in last season's senior night ceremony. He cried after Ohio eliminated the Wolverines from last year's NCAA Tournament because it was his last game. Until it wasn't. He had redshirted his fresh- man year and was thus eligible for a fifth year, which he decid- ed to take over the summer. This year, he was given another com- memorative jersey at his second career Senior Night. "When I was taking my time and making my decision on whether I was going to come back or not, I just looked atit- and I said that, 'We were going have all our pieces,"' Person said. "I feel like throughout the whole year, my only goal was to get this team to this point where we're at right now, cutting down the nets, going to the Final Four. "It's exactly what I envi- sioned when I stepped on campus, and this is what I envi- sioned last year when I made my decision to come back for a fifth year." None of Beilein's first 671 career wins earned him a Gatorade shower. After 34 years of coaching and 672 wins, Beilein just didn't see it coming. "All I know is I saw this red substance, this red coming at me," Beilein said. "I said, 'Oh my God, it's one of those.' "I was trying not to drown." Beilein made it out alive, but his shirt didn't. An hour later, it was hanging in an empty locker cubby. "You know, I'm not going to wear anything with red on it, that's for sure," he joked. Instead, Beilein said he'd be forced to wear a sweat suit home - a rarity for him. "I've always worn the tie home, whether it was a five- hour trip," he said. But there was a day when the five-hour trip wasn't a char- tered flight home from Dallas, where he can watch clips from the game that just ended, but instead long van trips as the head coach at Division II LeM- 4 TODD NEEDLE/Daily Michigan coach John Beilein reached his first Final Four in 35 years coaching. oyne when AM radio was his only option. "We did alot of van travel, and I'd be driving one, and my assistant would be driving the other," he said. "I'd be listening to Syracuse playing George- town." Nearly 30 years later, Syra- cuse, of course, is the Wolver- ines' opponent in the Final Four. Beilein recalled listening to the radio call of Villanova winning the 1985 National Champion- ship, a place he never imagined he'd reach. "Absolutely not. I dreamed of it." In his first year at Michigan, the 2007-08 campaign, a Final Four appearance was nearly as unlikely. The Wolverines finished 10-22 and the major- ity of the small fan base that actually cared about the basket- ball program thought Beilein - his offensive and defensive schemes, his recruiting, his lack of public persona - would never win him anything in the Big Ten, let alone in the tourna- ment. "I get goosebumps just think- ing about it," said senior Matt Vogrich, who came to Michigan the following year, when it made a shocking late-season run to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. "We trusted coach Beilein, all of us. He said he was going to build the program up, and his confi- dence never wavered. "Everyone can eat their words. He's the right man for the job at Michigan." Daniel Wasserman can be reached at dwass@umich.edu, or on Twitter @dwasserman Freshman guard Nik Stauskas led all scorers with 22 points against Florida. ers. For the first time since the dribbled once to his left. With a tournament started, shooting defender close on his right and looked fun for him again. the baseline close on his left, "Nik was incredible," Hard- Stauskas hoisted up another dag- away said. "They just left him ger from deep. His 20th, 21st and wide open, and it's tough for 22nd points barely nicked the them when there are three or rim and put Michigan up by 14. four shooters on the court at the The Gator, Florida's mascot, same time. They had to pick their looked up at the scoreboard poison on who to defend and who momentarily before darting his to leave open. Nik had the hot head back down quickly. It didn't hand for the whole team today." need the giant Jumbotron to tell On his last made 3-pointer of it something that was already the day, Stauskas received a pass very clear - it was just a Nik in the corner after a kickout from Stauskas type of afternoon, full the post. He had an open look of 3-pointers, goggles and lots but put the ball on the court and and lots of smiles.