8 — Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Robinson ready for D-I tourney

By SIMON KAUFMAN 

Daily Sports Editor

Two years ago, on the first 

Sunday 
of 
March, 
Duncan 

Robinson crammed into his 
coaches’ 
offices 
with 
his 

Williams College teammates as 
they awaited their fate in the 
Division III NCAA Tournament.

There was no fancy primetime 

two-hour Selection Sunday show, 
no texts pouring in from family 
afterward and no media waiting 
to talk with the team afterward. 
Robinson — then a freshman at 
the small Williamstown, Mass., 
liberal arts college — watched 
on an online stream as his team’s 
name was called. Williams was 
going to the Big Dance, except it 
wasn’t that big of a deal — it was 
only Division III, after all.

Fast forward two years, and 

Robinson — now a redshirt 
sophomore 
guard 
for 
the 

Michigan 
men’s 
basketball 

team after transferring from 
Williams — will get a taste of 

the big Big Dance: the Division 
I NCAA Tournament.

The 
NCAA 
Tournament 

Selection Committee announced 
Sunday that the Wolverines 
would play Tulsa in Dayton, 
Ohio, as part of the tournament’s 
First Four. A win Wednesday 
would give them a No. 11 seed and 
a Friday night matchup against 
No. 
6 
seed 

Notre Dame in 
Brooklyn, N.Y.

In 
2014, 

Robinson 
helped 
lead 

the Ephs to the 
championship 
game 
and 
a 

runner-up 
finish. But even 
so, 
playing 

at 
that 
level 

meant their Selection Sunday 
prior to the tournament had a 
different feel to it.

“We had a little viewing party 

— I guess you could call it, in 
our coaches’ offices, but nothing 

to this scale,” Robinson said. 
“There was no media afterwards, 
I can tell you that.”

On 
Sunday, 
Robinson 
got 

a 
different 
experience. 
The 

Wolverines watched this year’s 
Selection Sunday show from 
the Weiser Crisler Center Club 
— a club level-esque area of the 
arena, and afterward, about 

two 
dozen 

members 
of 

the 
media 

waited to hear 
from 
players 

and Michigan 
coach 
John 

Beilein.

“The 

scale is a lot 
different, hard 
to 
compare,” 

Robinson 

said. “When we got into the 
tournament at Williams, I might 
have gotten one text from my 
mom. This time, I got a few more, 
I guess you could say.”

More recognition, be it texts 

from friends or shoutouts from 
noted college basketball analysts, 
has been a theme for Robinson 
since arriving in Ann Arbor.

After sitting out the 2014-15 

season due to NCAA transfer 
rules, Robinson has made a 
name for himself at the Division 
I level. The New Castle, N.H., 
native broke into Michigan’s 
starting lineup in its 10th game 
and has been a staple since. He 
has paced 11.2 points per game 
to go along with 3.3 rebounds 
and has been the Wolverines’ 
best look from 3-point range, 
shooting at a 45-percent clip 
from deep.

Despite 
his 
success, 

Robinson’s numbers dropped off 
midway through the season as he 
struggled to find his stroke. After 
starting the season shooting 
better than 50 percent through 
21 games from beyond the arc, 
Robinson shot worse than 30 
percent from the perimeter in 
Michigan’s final 10 regular-
season games. But in the Big Ten 
Tournament, Robinson regained 
a bit of his rhythm, going off for 
21 points against Northwestern 
and hitting a clutch 3 against 
Indiana that set Michigan up for 
a buzzer-beating victory.

“This has been such a great 

learning experience for him,” 
Beilein said. “For right now, it just 
gives him another opportunity 
to validate that his performance 
in the Big Ten, both hitting 
clutch shots and just playing a 
lot of minutes in the Big Ten —
rebounding and having assists in 
the tournament — validated why 
he’s here.”

Robinson validated himself 

as a Division I player during 
the regular season. Now he has 
the opportunity to do it in the 
postseason.

“This 
is 
why 
I 
came 

here,” Robinson said. “(The) 
opportunity to play in the NCAA 
Tournament. … You build it up 
in your head, but that moment 
when you hear your name called 
is pretty surreal.”

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

Redshirt sophomore guard Duncan Robinson will play in the Division I NCAA Tournament for the first time Wednesday.

“That moment 
when you hear 

your name called 
is pretty surreal.”

Connor (POY), Wolverines
nearly sweep Big Ten awards

Compher, Motte, 
Connor all earn 
first-team honors; 

Berenson COY

By JUSTIN MEYER 

Daily Sports Writer

Michigan took home six Big 

Ten hockey awards Monday 
afternoon, led by star freshman 
forward Kyle Connor as Player of 
the Year.

“It’s a great accomplishment 

and I’m really honored,” Connor 
said. “It’s pretty cool.”

The nod is an indication 

that 
the 
quiet 
left-winger 

has separated himself among 
Michigan’s stars in the Hobey 
Baker 
race. 
After 
posting 

61 points in 34 games, he is 
considered by many voters to be 
the frontrunner. Boston College’s 
Jack Eichel won the Hobey in his 
first season with near-identical 
points per game numbers last 
year, but freshmen have only 
won the award twice and never 
in back-to-back seasons.

The accolades didn’t stop 

there. 
In 
a 
perhaps 
more 

impressive 
honor, 
the 
CCM 

line — composed of Connor and 
junior forwards Tyler Motte and 
JT Compher — swept the first-
team All-Big Ten awards.

Michigan coach Red Berenson 

said it was the first time he could 
remember that happening.

“We’ve had some great lines — 

and maybe some that could’ve or 
should’ve (swept the first team 
selections) — but this one did,” 
Berenson said.

The CCM line has been the 

most dominant in college hockey 
this season. Connor, Compher 
and Motte rank first, third and 
fifth in the NCAA for points, 
respectively. The line began to 
jell after Christmas and never 
slowed down. Connor is in the 
midst of a 23-game point streak 
and Tyler Motte set a modern-

day Michigan record with a 
12-game goal streak.

“I think we’ve just become 

more vocal with each other 
as linemates,” Compher said. 
“It’s easier said than done to be 
all equal when you’re older or 
younger, freshman, junior, senior 
or whatever it 
is, but I think 
we’ve actually 
done a really 
good 
job 
of 

being open to 
suggestions.”

Sophomore 

defender Zach 
Werenski 
was 
named 

Defensive 
Player of the 
Year and added to the All-Big 
Ten First Team. The 18-year-old 
recorded 51 blocked shots and 28 
points. Werenski emboldened 
his case with six points in the 
last three games, bringing him 
from 15th to tied for fifth among 
all defenseman.

Berenson was also named 

Big Ten Coach of the Year — his 
third such honor in 32 years of 
coaching. Berenson previously 
won two coaching awards in the 
CCHA.

“As far as the coach award, 

that usually goes to the team that 

overachieves 
and does better 
than 
people 

expect,” 
Berenson said. 
“If 
we 
did, 

that’s a tribute 
to our players 
and our whole 
coaching staff 
— it’s no longer 
a 
one-man 

coaching job.”

Berenson is in the final year 

of his contract and undecided 
on his coaching future. Under 
his 
watch 
this 
season, 
the 

Wolverines are a lock to make 
the NCAA Tournament for the 
first time in four years.

“I don’t get too carried away 

with these coaching awards,” 
Berenson said. “We’ve had years 
where I think we’ve done a 
great job coaching the team we 
had into overachieving, but we 
weren’t the Coach of the Year.

“Nowadays, I think its more a 

sign of respect and age.”

Senior 
forward 
Boo 

Nieves 
rounded 
out 
the 

awards, receiving the Big Ten 
sportsmanship honor.

In a down year for the Big Ten, 

Michigan shined this season. 
The Wolverines enter the Big 
Ten Tournament with a sure 
spot in the NCAA Tournament, 
the highest-scoring team offense 
in more than a decade and three 
viable Hobey Baker candidates.

The true rewards — a Big 

Ten 
or 
NCAA 
Tournament 

title — are still to be had, but 
the 
announcements 
Monday 

afternoon gave an opportunity to 
reflect on the remarkable regular-
season run Michigan strung 
together, 
and 
the 
individual 

heroics that made it possible.

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Freshman forward Kyle Connor’s standout freshman season earned him Big Ten Player of the Year honors Monday.

“I think we’ve 
just become 

more vocal with 

each other.”

Breaking down the 
dramatic shots that 
powered Michigan

By LEV FACHER 

Daily Sports Writer

It’s 
easy 
to 
attribute 

Michigan’s NCAA Tournament 
bid to a single shot: sophomore 
guard Kam Chatman’s already 
legendary 
3-pointer 
against 

top-seeded Indiana in the Big 
Ten Tournament quarterfinals 
on Friday.

Chatman, deservedly, walked 

away from the weekend an 
unlikely star. He had made just 
seven 3-pointers on the season 
before a case of mistaken identity 
left him with the ball in his hands 
and time ticking down, and his 
game-winner left fans around 
the country with an early taste of 
the madness March is known for.

But two other shots were 

equally 
instrumental 
in 

shoehorning the Wolverines 
into 
the 
68-team 
NCAA 

Tournament field.

One 
shot 
came 
Thursday 

against 
Northwestern 
on 
a 

play that Michigan coach John 
Beilein calls “Magic,” a set 
for redshirt sophomore guard 
Duncan Robinson to find space 
around the perimeter. Many 
might have expected Beilein to 
call Robinson’s number, but the 
audacity of the play call stood out.

Michigan perfectly executed 

the sneaky set, in which Robinson 
inbounded the ball from the 
sideline, gave it to junior forward 
Zak Irvin curling along the 
baseline and then took the outside 
route on a screen from sophomore 
forward Ricky Doyle to give 
himself enough space for a shot 
after Irvin gave the ball back. 

Without Robinson’s trey and 

Beilein’s play call, Chatman 
would never have been in a 
position to play hero the next day.

“I think Stan Van Gundy was 

probably the coach of Orlando 
at the time, and I was just there 
watching an NBA game one 
time,” Beilein said on “Inside 
Michigan 
Basketball,” 
his 

weekly radio show, on Monday. 
“The Magic needed a 3, and 
Orlando ran this play for J.J. 
Redick. So I looked at it, and 
I said, ‘We’ve got to run that 
play.’ To this day, we’ve called 
it Magic.”

Beilein said he first installed 

the play three or four seasons ago 
for Tim Hardaway Jr., now with 
the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. But 
the Wolverines hadn’t used the 
play before Friday, when Beilein 
drew it up for Robinson during a 
frantic, late-game timeout.

“It’s not even out there on a 

scouting report the last three 

or four years,” Beilein said. “We 
drew it up, we practice it once 
a week, at least — it seems like 
Duncan makes it every time. 
But when (Northwestern center 
Alex) Olah came out on him, Olah 
was huge. And Duncan, when we 
looked at the shot, the ball went 
a good three or four feet above 
the backboard, and Duncan’s 
shot usually arcs out below the 
backboard. So he had to put extra 
on it, and he just buried it.”

It was a lot of faith to put 

in Robinson, a transfer from 
Division III Williams College. 
The moment wasn’t too big for 
him — nor was his shot the next 
day against Indiana, which tied 
the game at 69 to set up Chatman 
for the game-winner moments 
later. That Robinson 3, while 
equally instrumental, came on a 
more orthodox play call.

Beilein discussed yet another 

non-Chatman 
shot 
that 
the 

Wolverines 
simply 
couldn’t 

have done without on Monday: 
Irvin’s overtime jumper with 
time winding down against 
Northwestern, which came just 
minutes after the unexpected 
Robinson 3.

“He loves that moment,” 

Beilein said of his decision to give 
Irvin the ball for the overtime 
period’s final play. “I had dialed 
him up two or three plays before 
in the Northwestern game, 
and he missed the shot, and he 
wasn’t having a great night. And 
I said to myself, ‘Why do I keep 
dialing him up? I’ve got to do 
something else.’ ”

Luckily for Michigan, Beilein’s 

idea to stay away from Irvin in 
the final moments didn’t stick 
around for long.

“When we wanted to run that 

last play, (Northwestern) knew 
what we were running,” Beilein 
said. “It’s a play we run once or 
twice, at least, a game. I said, 
‘Who do I trust out there right 
now to make this shot or make 
the right decision?’ Because 
(Doyle) was open rolling to the 
basket as well. He was wide open. 
I said, ‘It’s Zak.’ So I went to him, 
and it certainly paid off.”

Michigan is hoping no such 

late-game drama is necessary 
Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, as 
it takes on fellow 11-seed Tulsa 
in a First Four play-in game. The 
Wolverines’ bus embarked on 
the three-hour drive Monday 
night — a trip that could end 
Wednesday night with a loss or 
last through Sunday if Michigan 
can get through Tulsa and then 
No. 6-seed Notre Dame on Friday 
in Brooklyn, N.Y.

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

John Beilein’s team punched its tournament ticket with a series of big shots.

