2B — March 21, 2016
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
Experience bodes
well for Michigan
T
ake a look, for a moment,
at the composition of
the starting lineups
of the first
eight teams
to advance
to the NCAA
Tournament’s
Sweet 16 on
Saturday:
Miami
— three
seniors and
two juniors;
Indiana —
two seniors, two juniors and
one freshman; Gonzaga — three
seniors, one sophomore and one
freshman; Iowa State — three
seniors and two juniors; North
Carolina — two seniors, one junior
and two sophomores; Virginia —
two seniors, one junior and two
sophomores; Kansas — one senior,
three juniors and one sophomore;
and Duke — one senior, one junior,
one sophomore and two freshmen.
Notice a trend? Each of
those starting lineups, with the
exception of Duke’s, is composed
primarily of upperclassmen.
Sometimes it’s easy to
forget the impact that seniors
and juniors have on college
basketball. Programs like Duke
and Kentucky, frequently
fraught with star one-and-done
freshmen, steal the headlines
and seem to make deep runs year
after year after year. Elite young
talent can sway the balance of
the NCAA Tournament and take
teams deep into March Madness.
But the most reliable way to
survive the opening rounds of
the NCAA Tournament typically
requires a blend of experience
and talent that is almost
impossible for most programs to
accumulate in just a year or two.
Michigan, for two years, had
one of those rare runs in which
young players carried the team
deep into the tournament. In
2013, the Wolverines started
three freshmen, one sophomore
and one junior in the national
championship game against
Louisville. One year later,
Michigan started one freshman,
three sophomores and one
senior against Kentucky in the
Elite Eight.
But Trey Burke, Nik Stauskas,
Mitch McGary, Glenn Robinson
and Tim Hardaway Jr. were
exceptional talents who left
Michigan early to play in the
NBA. Senior guard Caris LeVert,
a key player on the Elite Eight
team, will join them in the
professional ranks next season.
Some Michigan fans have
derided John Beilein for his
apparent inability to replace
those guys with equally talented
players who could keep the run
going. But at the end of this
season, one thing became clear:
His perceived failure will leave
the Wolverines with a bevy of
savvy veterans next season.
Take Derrick Walton Jr. He
came to Ann Arbor as a highly
touted recruit before the 2013-14
season, but one who didn’t have
to be a focal point right away
because of the talent Michigan
had during his freshman season.
Slowly but surely, his per-game
averages in scoring, rebounding,
assists and steals have increased
in each of the junior guard’s first
three seasons.
He’s not a bona fide star, but
going into his senior year he
has experienced nearly every
type of season possible. He
started during a deep NCAA
Tournament run during his
freshman year, suffered through
a disastrous season during his
sophomore year and helped lead
this year’s season-saving run to
reach NCAA Tournament. He
had six (!) steals in Michigan’s
loss to Notre Dame on Friday,
and there’s little doubt that the
varied experiences of his career
will help him lead this team next
year during his senior season.
Zak Irvin has experienced
a similar career arc. He has
weathered more personal
up-and-downs on the court than
Walton, but he has been through
the same range of experiences
in terms of the Wolverines’ team
success.
At times, Irvin’s shot
selection is frustrating. But as
he demonstrated time and time
again during the final weeks
of the season, he isn’t afraid of
taking the big shot, even when
he’s been way off the rest of the
game. That kind of resiliency is
why teams with older players
thrive in March, and it’s part
of the reason next season looks
bright for Michigan.
If Beilein starts the same
players next year that he started
against the Fighting Irish, he
will have two seniors in Walton
and Irvin, a redshirt junior
in Duncan Robinson, a junior
in Muhammad-Ali Abdur-
Rahkman and either a redshirt
junior or a senior in Mark Donnal
— depending on whether Beilein
decides to give him his fifth year
back — in his starting lineup.
Even if Moritz Wagner, who
will be a sophomore next season,
replaces Donnal as a starter, the
makeup of the potential starting
lineup looks awfully similar to
that of the first eight teams to
make the Sweet 16 this season.
It’s no guarantee, as evidenced
by the injury woes of the past two
years, that the Wolverines will be
a great team next season or that
they will be able to replicate the
NCAA Tournament runs of 2013
and 2014, but the last two weeks
showed that this year’s iteration
of the Michigan men’s basketball
team could compete at a high
level in do-or-die situations.
The players who made the
key shots against Northwestern,
Indiana and Tulsa will all return,
barring unexpected changes, and
if the Wolverines return to the
NCAA Tournament next season,
their lineup will be chock-full of
veterans. And if the early portion
of this year’s tournament is any
indication, that will only help
their cause.
Cohen can be reached at
maxac@umich.edu and on
Twitter @MaxACohen.
MAX
COHEN
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Derrick Walton Jr. could be one of three senior starters for Michigan next year.
storm back and tie the game.
The two teams traded blows
down the stretch with the lead
changing five times.
And when the lights were
brightest, with less than four
minutes and the game knotted,
Notre Dame forward V.J.
Beachem hit a 3-pointer. Irvin
missed his try from deep on the
other end. The Irish closed out
in the home stretch. Michigan
went home.
As Notre Dame hit free
throws late to ice the game,
Irvin stood at midcourt, hands
on hips. Stunned.
In the locker room after the
game, Derrick Walton Jr. wiped
away tears from a usually stone-
cold face. Duncan Robinson
sat with his arm over Moritz
Wagner. Wagner sat doubled
over, his jersey hiding his face.
Andrew
Dakich was
perched back
in his locker,
away from it
all.
They were
trying to
figure out how
they blew a
12-point lead.
What went
wrong in the
second half, why they would
head back to Ann Arbor on
Saturday instead of prep for a
second-round game.
But they also wondered what
they could’ve been if that team
that showed up in the first half
— the one that put on a show —
had showed itself earlier in the
season.
“We’ll never know how
special this group could have
been,” Walton said. “In my
mind it could have been one of
the best.”
One of the best?
Yeah, for 20 minutes it looked
the part of a team that could
gut out wins and make a run in
March.
Wagner was throwing down
dunks and beating his chest
like a kid who’s played in the
tournament before — not one
who watched from his couch
in Berlin last year. Walton
showed flashes of looking like
another guard Michigan had
a few years ago. Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman showed
flashes of looking like Walton
— capable of scoring, capable of
leading.
It didn’t look like that
Michigan team that couldn’t hit
shots from any range against
Connecticut in the Bahamas. Or
the team that came out dead flat
against Michigan State earlier
this season and got walloped
in front of its home fans. Or the
one that couldn’t close on the
road late against Maryland.
It looked like the team people
thought it would be with Caris
LeVert heading things up —
even as LeVert watched from
the bench. Walton and Irvin
provided the leadership on the
court, and, for the first time
in a long time, for a whole half
everything clicked.
“We were loose and
confident,” Dakich said. “We
played with that no-fear
mentality. It
was fun to be
a part of, and
fun to watch
on the bench
and fun to
play with.”
Perhaps it
was a fitting
end for a team
that struggled
to have
everything
click on the same night during
the regular season. It showed
what they were capable of.
What they could have been.
“You know you can always
have those ‘what ifs,’ especially
at the end of your season,”
Irvin said. “But I just think that
shows the strides we were able
to make from the beginning of
the season.”
Walton thought those 20
minutes validated their year.
“We can play with the best
of them and showed it,” Walton
said.
For 20 minutes they showed
it.
On the big stage, under the
bright lights, they put on a
show.
But now, the lights are out,
and the show is over.
Kaufman can be reached
at sjkauf@umich.edu or
on Twitter @sjkauf.
streaks of optimism punctuated
the gloomy and sometimes teary
vibe. Some said the 41-point first
half may have just been a preview
of next year’s team, which will
return every active player from
the 2015-16 squad.
Senior guards Spike Albrecht
and Caris LeVert effectively
ended their seasons in December,
leaving Big Ten season to the next
generation a few months earlier
than anticipated. Without its two
leaders, the team’s expectations
were adjusted, perhaps lessening
the force of a blow still too
fresh for the Wolverines to fully
process.
“We had to go through a lot
of adversity, losing our two
seniors, our two captains,”
Irvin said. “People didn’t even
think we were going to make
the NCAA Tournament, so
for us to be able to do that,
(the season) definitely ended
pretty strong. It’s just tough to
swallow this loss.”
NOTRE DAME
From Page 1B
KAUFMAN
From Page 1B
“We’ll never
know how special
this group could
have been.”
‘M’ makes strides for next year
By KELLY HALL
Daily Sports Editor
When looking at the season
in
retrospect,
it’s
easy
to
see how the year was made
for the Michigan basketball
team’s growth. After battling
departures
from
senior
captains
Caris
LeVert
and
Spike Albrecht, it was difficult
to expect the same preseason
top-25
expectations
as
the
Wolverines
learned
to
play
without their two leaders.
But though LeVert was lost
to
injury,
sophomore
guard
Muhammad-Ali
Abdur-
Rahkman proved to be a steady
replacement,
clocking
in
15
points per game this postseason.
Freshman
forward
Moritz
Wagner figured out how to help
his team again, emerging in
the Big Ten Tournament as the
spark the Wolverines needed.
Junior forward Zak Irvin hit
two game-winning shots, one to
put Michigan past Northwestern
in the Big Ten Tournament and
another to get past Tulsa during
the First Four.
Friday night’s first round
loss to Notre Dame hurt, but for
Michigan, the hurt will continue
in the offseason and remind the
Wolverines what the Big Dance
means. All of the active members
of the roster will be returning
next season — barring a player’s
departure — and being through
the tournament once before will
pay dividends.
“One
hundred
percent,
regardless of on the bench or the
court, I’ve learned so much this
year,” Wagner said. “Just the
coaches, the players — a lot of
the players — just to compete in
practice is just an unbelievable
push, unbelievable opportunity
to improve every day.”
Added
junior
forward
Mark
Donnal:
“We’re
really
close to being a special team.
Unfortunately, we came short of
our expectations this year, but I
think this serves as motivation for
next year to work even harder.”
Jon
Sanderson,
Michigan’s
strength and conditioning coach,
is known for transforming players
over the summer. Donnal thinks
that most of the Wolverines plan
on spending the summer in the
weight room, providing ample
time to improve.
Redshirt sophomore Duncan
Robinson
agrees
with
that
sentiment.
“I’m far from satisfied in that
regard — I’m far from a finished
product,” Robinson said. “I look
forward to putting a lot of work
in this offseason and getting a
lot better.”
Wagner is unsure of where
he’ll spend his summer, but
when asked if he’ll be returning
to Michigan for his sophomore
season, he answered right away:
“One hundred percent, yeah. No
doubt.”
It’s difficult to make the
argument
that
a
player’s
physical ability is less important
than the relationships between
the athletes off the court, but
many Wolverines noted the
considerable improvement in
rapport due to the tumultuous
final weeks of the season.
On the subject of developments
made over the course of the
season, a similar response echoed
from multiple players.
“I definitely think (the last
two weeks) brought us together,”
said redshirt sophomore Duncan
Robinson. “It showed that we’re
capable of winning tough games
against good teams, we just
gotta be better defensively, we
definitely learned that, and we
will be next year.”
Junior
guard
Andrew
Dakich, who initially planned
on
redshirting
this
season
but jumped in when Albrecht
announced his retirement, is
known for his leadership and
intensity during practice.
One of his big takeaways from
the season is that the team grew
both physically and mentally.
“Just kinda building off this
year in a sense of, not necessarily
on-the-court, but off-the-court
relationships,
have
grown
tremendously,” Dakich said. “I
think that’s the kind of bond, to
have that, and progressing on
the court as well, (next season)
could be something special.”
The
2015-16
Michigan
basketball season has come to a
close, but the Wolverines are far
from done ruminating about its
bittersweet ending.
“It’s awesome,” Wagner said of
the NCAA Tournament. “At the
end of the day, it’s just basketball,
but it is just a stage thing. It’s a
huge stage. You kinda feel that
around you, the environment is
impressive, but at the end of the
day, it’s playing basketball.”
Added
Dakich:
“Just
to
see how close we can be to
something special kinda speaks
for itself, in a sense.”
Fifty-one weeks from now, the
Wolverines will still be thinking
about
the
2016
tournament
while awaiting their 2017 fate.
Every starter will know how it
feels to lose, and that experience
will only help them.
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
John Beilein’s team returns every major contributor after making a dramatic run to sneak into the NCAA Tournament.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
‘M’ holds off MSU
By PAIGE VOEFFRAY
Daily Sports Writer
EAST
LANSING
—
The
Michigan women’s tennis team
(1-0 Big Ten, 8-4 overall) had
more
to
compete
with
Saturday
than just rival Michigan State¬¬
— it also had to battle a hostile
road crowd that even cheered
at
the
Wolverines’
errors.
Michigan ended up fighting off
both in a 5-2 win.
“We’re on the road — we don’t
expect them to be cheering for
us,” said Michigan coach Ronni
Berstein. “The crowd was tough
on us, and I think we showed
some toughness to get through
here today.”
Bernstein’s task of putting
out a lineup was made tougher
with freshman Kate Fahey still
sidelined by a minor injury.
Bernstein
thought
she
found the answer in senior
Ronit Yurovsky and freshman
Brienne Minor, who led the
lineup as the No. 1 doubles team,
but their connection seemed
to be lacking as the Spartans
dominated the matchup.
Michigan State controlled the
match, and both Yurovsky and
Minor showed frustration. The
duo eventually lost, 6-3.
Sophomores
Alex
Najarian
and Mira Ruder-Hook, the No. 2
doubles team, were able to level
the playing field by defeating
Michigan State, 6-3. Both sides
began the match trading games,
but quick hands at the net and
high intensity made the difference
for Najarian and Ruder-Hook.
The winner of the No. 3
doubles match would clinch the
doubles point and give either
team an advantage going into
singles play. Freshman Teona
Velehorschi and junior Sara
Remynse were more than ready
for the challenge.
Michigan
was
up,
5-4,
and serving for the match.
Velehorschi produced a big serve
that allowed Remynse to poach
at the net and end the match, 6-4.
In singles play, if Yurovsky
and Minor were affected by
their doubles loss, they definitely
didn’t show it. Yurovsky came
out firing on all cylinders,
jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the
first set. Her power from the
baseline couldn’t be matched by
Spartan Erin Faulkner, allowing
Yurovsky to finish her match first
with a score of 6-1, 6-1.
“You have to come into singles
with a totally different mindset,”
Bernstein said, “you’ve got to
let that doubles go whether it’s
good or bad.”
Though Minor had to work
a little harder for her win than
Yurovsky, she stayed dominant
for the duration of her match.
After taking the first set, 6-3,
Minor jumped out to a quick lead
in the second and rolled to a win.
The Wolverines look forward
to continuing conference play
in front of their own rowdy
home crowd in the following
weeks with the next matchup
against Indiana.
MICHIGAN
MICH. STATE
5
2