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

