Champions again

Helped by an unlikely

breakout game from
Jon Teske, Michigan

overwhelemed Purdue

» Page 2B

Clean sweep

The Michigan men’s hockey
team swept Wisconsin in the
quarterfinals of the Big Ten
Tournament
» Page 4B

Big Ten Champion hats perched on

their heads, music blaring, a group of

Michigan players trot off the confetti-

littered podium, toward the locker

room, singing “Empire State of Mind”

by Jay-Z at the top of their lungs.

Water bottles fly through the

visitors’ locker room — dousing

the Michigan players, coaches and

staff — as John Beilein turns his

congratulatory speech into a team-

wide dance circle.

“Surreal,”
said
senior
guard

Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman as

he described the scene after Michigan

had capped off its second consecutive

Big Ten title. The senior guard — once

a two-star recruit — earned a spot on

the all-tournament team.

It was all real, of course. The

trophy. Four wins in four days. Again.

The confetti falling from the roof.

The maturation of a team once an

afterthought, rapidly evolving into a

juggernaut.

A swarm of reporters rush to the

locker room to greet sophomore

Jon Teske — “Jon Sleep,” Abdur-

Rahkman calls him — the largest man

in the room who so rarely garners the

attention his stature would imply.

Teske’s role, perhaps, has been the

most steady of any player all season

— the defensive-centric, offensively-

limited backup center, who plays

12 minutes a game, stifles shots at

the rim, and keeps himself quiet on

offense. Tell that to Isaac Haas, the

7-foot-2 center for Purdue who Teske

turned into a poster and then let Haas

know, en route to 14 points in the

biggest game of Teske’s life.

This championship was because

of him.

Walk out into the hallway and find

Beilein with a reflective tone.

“Duncan Robinson, for example,”

Beilein says, amid a question of team

growth.

“Growth” is a peculiar way to

describe a fifth-year senior who says

he “(doesn’t) have the young legs I

once did,” he said.

In recent weeks and months,

Robinson has been crystal clear about

the need to play with urgency. These

are his last few games of organized

basketball until, well, maybe ever.

He’s just a couple months removed

from being benched for a freshman

amid a prolongued shooting funk. If

the 42-percent career 3-point shooter

wasn’t going to make threes, what

was he going to do?

“I just want to help. As a guy who’s

been through it, I want to help us

win,” he says after playing 32 key

minutes in the tournament

final, in which he limited

Purdue forward Vincent

Edward to just four

points. For a fifth-

year senior who

spent much of

his career as the

butt of opposing

scouting

reports,

“growth”
is

underestimating

his
defensive

transformation.

As his 3-point stroke

has resurfaced, his defensive

revelation is a major reason for the

team’s new defensive identity.

This championship was because

of him.

But no one gets to claim ownership

of the 6th-ranked defense, by adjusted

defensive efficiency in KenPom.com,

more so than Luke Yaklich.

The assistant coach stands in

the middle of the room, unable to

drop a gaping smile. He shakes

each reporter’s hand, eagerly and

earnestly
engaging
with
each

question, not skipping a beat as he

high fives Charles Matthews who

chooses to take a lap around the

room in his towel. Freshman Ibi

Watson shakes hands with Yaklich,

as Yaklich turns back to him and says,

“I love you, dawg.”

After he was hired from Illinois

State, Yaklich met with Beilein,

expecting a traditional welcome.

Instead he got a question he never

expected.

‘What do you think we need to do

better?’

Yaklich couldn’t believe that the

11-time NCAA Tournament head

coach was asking him. “I need to

learn how to teach defense better,”

Yaklich recalls Beilein saying.

This championship was because

of him.

It’s impossible, though, to mention

the defense — one that held Purdue,

a team that averaged 82 points

per game, to just 66 points in the

final — without talking about

its leader.

The
first
drill
of

practice
in
July,

Yaklich told the

team they would be doing

slides — dives on the floor.

Instead of complaining,

Simpson marched right

up to the front and said,

“I’ve
got
you,
Coach

Luke.”

“He backed up every bit of talk

that he told me the first couple weeks

on the job,” Yaklich said. “He backed

it up with effort every single day.”

Simpson shut down each of his

four opponents in this weekend’s

Big Ten Tournament, as the four

opposing point guards shot 11-for-36.

This championship was because

of him.

But it wasn’t just about the leaders.

For a guy like Jordan Poole, who came

to Michigan with more than enough

swag to go around, the evolution to a

championship team supercedes him.

Poole, who has been asked to make

winning plays, not just his personal

highlights, notched two

steals in the title

game,

forced

two

other turnovers and dove into the

stands to save a ball destined to go out

of bounds.

“When I look at stuff like this, it’s

more than myself,” Poole said. “It’s

definitely for the guys around me. For

guys who put in so much work, when

you work so hard. Guys like (Abdur-

Rahkman), who’s been here for four

years, and Duncan who’s been here

for four years.”

This championship is because of

him.

Perhaps
most
embodying
an

individual sacrifice for the greater

good of the team, fifth-year senior

guard Jaaron Simmons stands by

his locker, removing his jersey as the

whole scene unfolds. Simmons, who

transferred from Ohio University

this past offseason as the presumed

starting point guard, didn’t start all

season. He averaged just 1.6 points

per game. Less than a year ago,

Simmons’ name was in the NBA draft

pool. None of that mattered to him.

This was his first conference title. He

was just excited to earn an automatic

berth to the NCAA Tournament, an

adventure he’s never experienced.

“I can’t really explain it,” Simmons

said. “I’m happy as hell.”

This championship is because of

him.

Oh, and Moritz Wagner. The

German star who nearly turned

his NCAA Tournament showcase

a season ago into an NBA contract.

Instead, he came back to school to be

the face of this team, to dazzle some

more crowds with his array of skills,

then ride off into the NBA sunset

once and for all.

But it didn’t start as planned.

“I thought Moe, in that first

semester
was
really
pressing.

Trying to do too much. Finally

when we came to this second

semester, he got through that

injury, I think he understood

really how we have to do things, and

really became a better defender.”

Wagner rode a team-high 17

points in the final to snag the Most

Outstanding Player award.

This championship is because of

him.

Then there’s Beilein, the man at

the top pulling every string, getting

the most out of every player. Purdue

coach Matt Painter told reporters

after the game, “You learn something

every time you play them.”

Yet one of the most decorated

coaches in college basketball had

the audacity to loosen the reins and

figure out why his team had never

finished higher than 37th in adjusted

defensive efficiency.

This championship was because

of him.

And everyone else.

Derrick
Walton
carried
last

year’s team to glory, and that’s all

well and good. But this is a team

that found a new hero each night.

A team that played the first part of

the season with a revolving door at

point guard. A team that admitted it

wasn’t as offensively gifted as many

of Beilein’s best and didn’t make that

a barrier.

Instead it became one of the best

defensive teams in the country.

A
team
that
needed
serious

contributions from two transfers

after unexpectedly losing one of its

best to the draft and two others to

graduation. A team that begged for

big-time contributions from unripe

freshmen, and then got above and

beyond. A team that was told all

year it wasn’t tough, and didn’t say

otherwise. It showed otherwise.

As he stood on the podium at

midcourt, Beilein summoned his

best Bo Schembechler impression

to consider what made this team a

champion.

“A team, a team, a team.”

MAX MARCOVITCH

Daily Sports Editor

The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | March 5, 2018

Design by Jack Silberman
Photos by Katelyn Mulcahy

B

Michigan earns title with four wins in four days

SPORTSMONDAY

FOUR-WARD
MARCH

Thursday, March 1: Michigan 77, Iowa 71 (OT)
Friday, March 2: Michigan 77, Nebraska 58
Saturday, March 3: Michigan 75, Michigan State 64
Sunday, March 4: Michigan 75, Purdue 66

WOLVERINES WIN SECOND STRAIGHT BIG TEN TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP