2B — Monday, February 12, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
T
here’s a small family-
owned deli on Long Island
— tucked in
between a
pizzeria and
a liquor store
— in the town
of Rockville
Centre.
It has
a stone
storefront and
lounge chairs
you’d probably
see more often in a backyard than
on the sidewalk. Drive by at night,
and you’ll find four overhanging
lamps spotlighting the words
“Greystone Delicatessen.”
Walk inside and there are wood
floors, with chalkboards hanging
across the right wall listing every
item on the menu.
There are two people currently
residing in Ann Arbor who have
worked at this deli.
One came to Michigan and
decided to write for his student
newspaper. That’s me.
The other?
Kevin Conry, the new head
coach of the Michigan men’s
lacrosse team.
***
Warde Manuel doesn’t
remember exactly who
recommended that he sit down
with Conry, but he does remember
that Conry was the first assistant
coach brought to his attention.
It’s easy to imagine why that
was the case.
Conry graduated from Johns
Hopkins — where he was a four-
year member of the Blue Jays’
lacrosse team — before embarking
on his coaching journey that saw
him make stops at Siena, Penn
State, Fairfield and, most recently,
Maryland. It’s at all of those stops
that Conry says he “sharpened the
knife” of his values.
Conry’s professional
aspirations were always to be
a head coach. And Michigan
offered similar resources with the
chance for him to build a program
of his own.
He finished his final season at
Maryland — one that ended in a
national championship — before
turning toward the future. Staying
in the present, he says, was
something he said he owed to his
players.
But eventually he went to
administrators at Maryland,
asking if the Michigan job was still
open. It was, and through a series
of connections, Conry ended up
sitting down with Manuel in Ann
Arbor.
“This is a Big Ten university
with unbelievable facilities,”
he says. “It has an unbelievable
academic and athletic reputation,
so when you’re looking around
you’re saying, ‘Oh man, that would
be a gem.’ And I was just fortunate
to be in the running of that one.
Why now? It was just all the stars
aligned.”
And on June 21, it became
official. Conry was taking over the
program, and he made sure to call
each of his future players to let
them know.
***
If you were to walk past
Michigan’s locker room Saturday,
in the bowels of the newly-
constructed U-M Lacrosse
Stadium, you would have found a
somewhat peculiar sight.
Members of the Wolverines
— fresh off a 15-5 victory over
Cleveland State in their season
opener and dressed in postgame
suits — walked the hall picking up
stray pieces of athletic tape.
It seems innocuous enough,
but the scene is emblematic of
the broader principles Conry has
begun to instill.
As Brent Noseworthy
describes, he has had to pick up
other people’s garbage. His new
coach is insistent that the team
leaves places better than they
found it — whether that be a bus,
a hotel room or a piece of athletic
equipment.
“How you do anything is how
you do everything, and that’s
something Coach Conry has really
harped on,” Noseworthy says.
“One of the thing he encourages
us — make your bed every
morning, because then you start
your day off productive and you
have something done.”
As for Conry’s explanation?
“Much like everything, you
kind of grow up a certain way,” he
says. “You kind of grow up with
that respectful mindset, being
accountable to all your decisions
and your mistakes. Part of our
mission here and what we talk
about is we’re gonna play the
game like we live our life and you
live your life like you play the
game.”
The culture change doesn’t end
with garbage duty, though.
Last Friday, Conry had the
freshman class and his senior
captains over for dinner.
Noseworthy says he thinks
the plan is to make sure every
class goes over at least once, and
that in the first iteration, the
team spent time meeting Conry’s
family. The assistant coaches
brought their kids over too.
The food wasn’t bad either,
complete with a spread of flank
steaks, chicken, pasta and mac and
cheese.
“It’s catered,” joked freshman
Alex Buckanavage. “He doesn’t
know how to cook.”
“I punted on that one,” Conry
admits. “I couldn’t put that one on
Mrs. Conry.”
Home-cooking or not, the
purpose behind the dinner
remains the same.
“I think we want to foster
more of a family environment,”
Conry says. “I want them to
know my kids and watch my
kids kind of grow up around this
program. … But I want to build
a championship culture, and
everything that’s entitled to it.
Part of it is the family orientation,
but it’s also just excelling at
the smallest details in every
department.”
***
Look around the Big Ten,
and you’ll quickly come to a
realization. Five teams are
currently ranked in the top 20
nationally. Michigan, the sixth, is
not one of them.
The growth will have to come
incrementally. No one is blind to
that.
“The expectations were high,”
says Warde Manuel, “while at
the same time understanding, it’s
not just gonna be built overnight
because we have a new stadium,
and now we’re gonna all of a
sudden win.”
Conry admits that, as a first-
time head coach, there are some
things that no amount of advice
can prepare you for. He says the
best coaches, in his mind, adjust to
those mistakes.
But there’s a sense of humor
mixed in with the introspection.
He’ll say he misses bagels,
pizza, crab and his family on the
East Coast. But lacrosse and film
study, he’ll joke again, have filled
the void and improved his diet.
If Saturday was any indication,
though, he’s been looking at more
than just lacrosse and film since
June.
“I’m a relationship guy,” Conry
says. “… The relationships of life
is what you take away. Everybody
leaves a little coin in the well of
your life and so you kind of build
that foundation from there. For
these guys, I’m gonna be around
them 20-something hours a week
to make sure I’m always a steady
presence in their lives.
“They want to make sure they
know me, get to know me for real,
and build a foundation of success
around it.”
Santo can be reached at kmsanto@
umich.edu or on Twitter @Kevin_M_
Santo. This wasn’t supposed to
be an endorsement for Greystone
Delicatessen, but if you’re ever in
Rockville Centre, order The Big Spicy.
Conry’s vision
PRASHANTH PANICKER/Daily
Michigan men’s lacrosse coach Kevin Conry is trying to build the program in his first year in Ann Arbor after serving as an assistant coach at Maryland.
Robinson, hot first half boost Wolverines to road win against Wisconsin
When Zavier Simpson kicked
the ball out to Duncan Robinson
in the closing minutes of the
first half, there was no question
what was going to happen next.
Even with a defender right in
his face, 23 feet away from the
basket, the fifth-year senior
guard lifted, fired and drained
a 3-pointer. It was his fourth
triple of afternoon and the
final piece of a nearly perfect,
4-for-5 effort from beyond the
arc in the first half.
And in a rare display of
emotion, he let the 15,000-
plus fans in attendance at the
Kohl Center know it with a
confident, fist-pump filled jog
down the floor.
“It felt good just to see some
go in,” Robinson said.
This
year,
Robinson
has
probably expected to see a few
more go in than has been the
case.
In
his
final
season
at
Michigan, the forward has
lost his starting job and shot
a career-worst 35 percent
from the floor. And even
with
all
his
experience,
the fifth-year senior hasn’t
played with the confidence
one might anticipate. After
the Wolverines’ victory over
Rutgers last month, John
Beilein
said
he
thought
Robinson was tentative and
“asking for permission” too
often.
But in Michigan’s 83-72
victory
over
Wisconsin,
Robinson refused to ask for
anything — even when recent
history suggested he could
have — scoring 16 points on
5-for-9 shooting in 37 minutes.
“Duncan’s a great shooter,
and we know that,” said junior
forward Mortiz Wagner, “so
I’m very happy his shots were
going down.”
Robinson’s
struggles
had
hit possibly their lowest point
prior
to
Sunday’s
contest,
having made just two of his last
13 triple attempts the past three
games. Yet, with the injury
to freshman forward Isaiah
Livers, Robinson was thrust
back on the starting lineup
Sunday, where the Wolverines
needed him to perform.
And channeling a strong
performance in practice from
earlier this week, he did just
that.
“The other day, there was
the goal of making 48 3s in
four minutes. He made 50 out
of 55 shots on the run moving,”
Beilein said. “I know he can
really shoot the ball, and I
encourage him to shoot the
ball. He did today.”
Like
Robinson,
Michigan
has
had
its
fair
share of recent
offensive
struggles.
The
Wolverines shot
just 5-for-20 in
the second half
of Tuesday’s loss
at Northwestern
—
part
of
a
three-game stretch where they
averaged just 62 points-per-
game.
But
it
wasn’t
that
type
of
afternoon
Sunday.
Two
minutes
and
change
in,
Robinson
collected
himself
and knocked down a 3-pointer
to put the Wolverines up, 7-0.
Minutes later, that advantage
would grow to 15-2 when a
pick-and-roll set up an open
look for Wagner, who splashed
his first of three triples on the
day.
That type of ball movement
was the clear difference from
the Northwestern loss, when
the Wolverines often resorted
to
1-on-1
play
when
they
couldn’t immediately solve the
Wildcats’ 2-3 zone defense.
Instead, Michigan assisted
on
all
eight
of
its
made
3-pointers in the first half
Sunday, as sound passing even
created shots for players who
seldom
get
them.
Midway
through the first half, fifth-
year
senior
guard
Jaaron
Simmons hit his first triple
since Nov. 29 after catching a
kick-out pass from Wagner for
an open look.
Michigan
went
17-for-26
from the field to score 44 points
in the opening frame — its most
in the first half since Jan. 2 at
Iowa (48).
“We know that it (would)
correct itself, and we got really
good shooters on the team, and
we’ve got really good passers,”
Beilein said.
That shooting touch evaded
the Wolverines at some points
in final 20 minutes, allowing
the Badgers to cut deficit to
single
digits.
But
the
ball
movement
didn’t.
With
Wisconsin
threatening,
senior
guard
Muhammad-
Ali
Abdur-
Rahkman
threaded
the
needle to diving
Wagner for a dunk, giving
Michigan a 13-point lead with
less than eight minutes to play.
The Badgers would make
addition
comeback
efforts
from there, but near perfect
free-throw shooting down the
stretch gave Michigan the win
it needed to have.
“It really feels good just to
have our guys just go out there
and play,” Beilein said.
And behind on the best
passing performances in some
time,
that’s
exactly
what
Robinson and the Wolverines
did Sunday — no question about
it.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Fifth-year senior forward Duncan Robinson hit his first four 3s against Wisconsin and finished with 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
The fifth-year senior forward made a triumphant return to the starting lineup, scoring 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting
MARK CALCAGNO
Daily Sports Editor
“It really feels
good to have our
guys just go out
there and play.”
KEVIN
SANTO