Recreating the two-headed monster

T

he 1991-92 season was a 
good year for Michigan 
athletics.

In the fall, the football team, 

led by eventual 
Heisman 
Award-winning 
wide receiver 
Desmond 
Howard, 
marched 
through the 
regular season, 
losing just 
once to No. 1 
Florida State. 
The 10-1 regular season earned 
the Wolverines a bid to the Rose 
Bowl, where they lost to eventual 
national champion Washington.

As the football team was 

wrapping up a successful season 
under Gary Moeller, five freshmen 
were getting ready to change the 
landscape of college basketball.

The Fab Five arrived in 1991 and 

electrified college basketball with 
their high-flying dunks, baggy 
shorts and trash talk. Their rough 
style of play startled the rest of 
the sport’s realm and led them to 
a National Championship game 
appearance, where they lost to 
Duke, 71-51.

That was the last time both the 

football and basketball teams had 
an insurmountable amount of hype 
around their respective programs 
at the same time, creating a two-
headed monster of Michigan 
athletics. Since then, the two 
teams have teetered back and forth 
in their successes.

And that has been especially 

true for myself as a near-sighted 
observer.

As an out-of-state student 

from California, Michigan sports 
haven’t always piqued my interest. 
While I watched the occasional 
Michigan football game, I can’t say 
I ever put time aside to invest in 
Michigan athletics.

But I really started to pay 

attention around October of 2012 
— my senior year of high school — 
when I decided that I would apply 
to the University.

I vividly remember following 

the Michigan men’s basketball 
team that year. From watching 
the top-ranked Wolverines 
narrowly lose to No. 3 Indiana 
in Bloomington, to watching 
Wisconsin’s Ben Brust drain 

a near-half-court shot to 
force overtime in Madison on 
SportsCenter and, of course, to 
watching Michigan make it to the 
NCAA Championship game, which 
culminated in an 82-76 loss to 
Louisville in Atlanta.

On the flip side, while the 

football team had gone to the Sugar 
Bowl the year prior, the squad had 
just wrapped up an average 8-5 
season in Brady Hoke’s second year.

And the trend followed me to 

Ann Arbor. The basketball team 
won the regular-season Big Ten title 
my freshman year and was an Aaron 
Harrison 3-pointer away from 
another Final Four appearance, 
while the football team slugged its 
way to a 7-6 season.

But situations change — and 

pretty quickly.

Just two years later, all the 

talk around campus is about Jim 
Harbaugh and the football team 
— and for good measure, the team 
has executed a perfect season thus 
far — while the basketball team, 
albeit having some success, has 
taken a back seat.

That can change, though. While 

the basketball team might not be 

able to overtake the football team 
in Ann Arbor, where the gridiron 
has always been king, it might be 
able to at least reach the same level.

Though it’s never a guarantee 

how a team might perform, the 
Michigan basketball team has 
some of the ingredients necessary 
for a great season. This is what will 
factor most into this season’s hype:

After finishing the 2015-16 

season ranked a putrid No. 322 in 
the NCAA in average rebounds per 
game, Michigan will need to assert 
more authority in the paint on 
both ends of the court. Last season, 
senior guard Derrick Walton Jr., 
standing at just 6-foot-1, led the 
Wolverines in rebounds. That stat 
won’t fly this season, and Michigan 
will need to see more paint presence 
from its bigs in sophomore forward 
Moritz Wagner and redshirt junior 
Mark Donnal.

Speaking of Walton, he and 

senior guard Zak Irvin have been 
key contributors throughout their 
three years of college so far.

This year, however, is a little 

different. Not only will Walton 
and Irvin be looked upon to 
perform well on the court, the 

two are also now the oldest 
members on the team and the last 
players remaining from the last 
time Michigan won the Big Ten 
regular-season title in 2014. How 
well the two handle high-pressure 
situations on the court could 
indicate the outcome of the season.

While the Wolverines fared a 

bit better in team defense, ending 
the season at No. 67 in the NCAA, 
there’s still room to improve. Last 
season, there was a clear gap in 
defensive prowess between Walton 
and Irvin and the rest of the team. 
And even then, the duo’s defense 
was not up to par.

But after the departures of 

assistant coaches LaVall Jordan and 
Bacari Alexander, who both left 
Michigan to pursue head coaching 
careers at Milwaukee and Detroit-
Mercy, respectively, Beilein brought 
in assistant coach Billy Donlon.

Donlon last coached at Wright 

State and is known for his defensive 
tactics, which at one point put 
the Rowdy Raiders in the top 20 
in the NCAA in scoring defense. 
Beilein has repeated multiple times 
already that he is giving Donlon a 
great deal of responsibility with the 

defense, a strategy that should pay 
off almost immediately.

And last, while the starting 

lineup seems to be set, team depth 
is still a big question mark after 
the departure of five players over 
the summer.

Beilein has said that, ideally, he 

would run an eight-man rotation. 
This means that players like 
Donnal, freshman guards Xavier 
Simpson and Ibi Watson and 
redshirt sophomore forward DJ 
Wilson will be relied on heavily 
to give the starters a breather. If 
they can spot the starters for 12 to 
15 minutes a night, it could prove 
vital down the stretch come NCAA 
Tournament time.

And to not only reach the NCAA 

Tournament, but also do well in it, 
would go a long way to recreating 
the scene from 1991. While it may 
be a stretch, the fact of the matter 
is that the Wolverines have the 
pieces in place to make it possible.

Now Michigan just has to go 

and do it.

Doan can be reached at 

minhdoan@umich.edu and 

on Twitter @_minhdoan.

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Michigan coach John Beilein’s team has the talent and experience to take a big step forward and return to prominence on campus.

MINH
DOAN

Friday, November 11, 2016 // Tip Off 2016
3B 

