The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, April 18, 2019 — 7
Z
avier Simpson started
with a cliché.
“It was tremendous,”
the junior
guard said.
“I’m blessed
to be a part of
the season. A
winning sea-
son. Definite-
ly extremely
glad I was
able to be in
the position
to help my
team. Next
year, hopefully we can make
more noise. Get more success
for the University, get more suc-
cess for next year, winning some
championships.”
A little more than two weeks
removed from a season-ending
63-44 loss to Texas Tech in
the Sweet Sixteen, that’s the
answer Simpson is supposed to
give. The season, of course, was
great. The Wolverines won over
30 games, set a program record
with a 17-0 start and made it to
the NCAA Tournament’s second
weekend. Simpson, though, isn’t
one to settle.
Do you feel like you guys hit
your expectation for what you
should’ve done?
He nearly cut off the question.
“No.”
What is that
expectation?
“To win
championships.”
There are few
things that paint
the picture of the
program John
Beilein has con-
structed better
than the scene
on Wednesday
afternoon. Ignas
Brazdeikis and
Jordan Poole sat at round tables,
dodging questions about their
NBA fates to which, if internet
rumors (and in the case of Braz-
deikis, his own words to ESPN)
are to be believed, they already
know the answers. Across
the room, Charles Matthews
laughed with his teammates,
having avoided this ritual by
announcing earlier in the day
that he would keep his name in
the draft.
Michigan didn’t meet expec-
tations this year, and it will like-
ly see a good amount of attrition
during the offseason. But when
30 wins and the Sweet Sixteen
is considered a disappointment,
when attrition comes with play-
ers leaving for the NBA, when
the NCAA Tournament is still
an expectation in a rebuilding
year — that means the program
is exactly where it wants to be.
Beilein remembers the first
time he made a Sweet Sixteen
here, back in 2013. One of the
Detroit papers, he’s not sure
which, ran a big, celebratory
headline. It had been 19 years
since the Wolverines made it
that far.
In the six years since, they’ve
done so four times. And made
the national title game twice.
During his tenure, Beilein has
gotten nine guys drafted. It’s
now a reason people come to
Michigan.
“Growing up, you want to play
in the NBA. That’s your entire
goal,” Poole said. “Being able to
see guys coming through Michi-
gan, make it into
the NBA and the
record that they
have, it’s just
— it’s a record
that’s just like,
it’s crazy. I don’t
know how you
wouldn’t be able
to look at it.”
Poole, age 19,
does not remem-
ber watching
Michigan bas-
ketball before it was anything
but this. He remembers Trey
Burke’s shot, when he was in
eighth grade. He doesn’t remem-
ber Tommy Amaker. He doesn’t
remember NCAA sanctions or
tournament droughts.
When Beilein got here, the
kindest thing you could say
about Michigan’s basketball
reputation was that it didn’t
have one, and really, you could
say a lot worse
than that.
“Growing
up in Indiana,
I knew the Fab
Five and, obvi-
ously, knew like
(Robert) Trac-
tor Traylor and
those guys,”
Zack Novak, a
Michigan guard
from 2008-12,
said in a phone
interview last week. “And then
there was kind of a big gap for a
while.”
Novak was part of Beilein’s
second recruiting class in Ann
Arbor. He came in after a 10-22
season in which the Wolverines
finished ninth in the Big Ten,
and Beilein recruited him to
play in a two-guard offense and
a 1-3-1 defense.
“You bring in me, Stu (Dou-
glass) and Ben
Cronin,” Novak
said. “So expec-
tations — I do not
believe that any-
body realistically
expected us to
get to the NCAA
Tournament that
year.”
Michigan did
break its tourna-
ment drought
that year, and
a decade later, outside a locker
room in Anaheim with disap-
pointment cascading, Novak was
standing there in maize and blue
gear, talking of just how much
things have changed, a walking
beacon of perspective.
Back then, nobody on the
Wolverines’ roster had been to
the Tournament. Now, freshmen
come in with the expectation of
not just playing in March, but
getting far. And in more than a
few cases, getting to the NBA
after that.
Beilein got Michigan back
there with a two-guard offense
and a zone defense. Now, under
a coach caricatured as stub-
born and unyielding, Michi-
gan competes for titles with a
ball-screen offense and a man-
to-man defense that KenPom
ranked second in the country
last season.
“There’s a whole bunch
of stuff that we’re not gonna
change, and that’s probably the
hardest thing,” Beilein said. “But
it’s the things that are basic to
winning basketball games. Hav-
ing high character kids. Having
kids that fit Michigan. Trying to
get skilled players who all can
shoot as much as you can. And
kids that just would fit right in
and want to be here. Right?
“That’s never gonna change.
But style of play and things like
that is always changing.”
When Beilein recruited a
decade ago, he talked of getting
back to the Tournament. But
there was another layer on top.
“He was very firm that
Michigan should be a premier
program,” Novak said, “and we
needed to build the foundation
to get back to where it should
be.”
When a season like this one
can be considered disappoint-
ing, that’s exactly where Michi-
gan is.
Sears can be reached at
searseth@umich.edu, or on
Twitter at @ethan_sears.
A disappointing season, and a plan fulfilled
ETHAN
SEARS
MAX KUANG/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein has created a culture of consistent winning, leading to high expectations every year regardless of player experience and talent.
But style of play
and things like
that is always
changing.
There’s a whole
bunch of stuff
that we’re not
gonna change.
It’s time for Jeter to make the leap
With
Donovan
Jeter,
it’s
never been a question of talent.
Jeter came to Michigan a
lauded
four-star
defensive
lineman recruit from Beaver
Falls, Pa. He had offers aplenty
— Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio
State, Penn State, you name
it. Like any other high-end
Division-I talent, he’d never sat
on the bench or had to wait his
turn, and maybe that was all
part of the problem.
“We’re going to be crazy when
we get there,” Jeter, smirking,
told a reporter from 247Sports
during his senior year of high
school. “We’re going to need
that first year to get settled in,
but that sophomore year, we’re
going to be crazy out there.”
Since then, hardly anything
has gone as planned. Jeter
promptly tore his meniscus in
the latter part of his freshman
fall camp. He missed the entire
season, and that sophomore
season
he
intended
to
be
“crazy” became, ostensibly, his
freshman season. The learning
curve was steep. Playing time
was minimal.
Now Jeter, with three career
tackles to his name, will enter
fall camp as one of the most
important
players
on
the
Wolverines’ defense — fairly or
otherwise — facing a season that
will make or break his trajectory,
on a team that desperately needs
the former.
“After not playing for a year
— coming out of high school, I
get injured and not playing for a
year — then I come and basically
just sat the bench,” Jeter said
after Saturday’s Spring Game.
“I’m not used to that, so I
couldn’t just sit there and be
OK with ‘Ah, I can be a backup.’
Nah, I got to try to be the best
player I can be.”
Jeter has spent this spring
doing his best to follow through
on
that
commitment.
He’s
focused on honing his technique,
trying to incrementally improve
each
day,
slowly
ascending
toward the player he wants
to be. Michigan coach Jim
Harbaugh said he “appears
hellbent on being the starting
defensive tackle.”
“Donovan
Jeter
is
really
special,” added senior defensive
end Josh Uche. “I’ve known it.
Me and him, we’ve gone through
stuff. We’ll talk to each other,
pick each other up and he’s just
special, man. He’s picked it up
so much this spring and I’m so
proud of him. I can’t wait til you
guys see what he’s
done this spring.”
For a team that
lost
Lawrence
Marshall,
Bryan
Mone and Aubrey
Solomon along the
interior,
there’s
little
alternative
at the moment.
Senior
Michael
Dwumfour
remains sidelined
for an undisclosed amount of
time with an injury. On the
razor-thin depth chart, Jeter
and senior Carlo Kemp pack
the bulk of experience, with
true freshman Mazi Smith and
converted fullback Ben Mason
being relied upon behind them.
Jeter will get his opportunity,
whether he’s ready or not.
When Jeter speaks, he does so
with firm conviction. It’s clear
he carries the bumps and bruises
of the last two years with him,
and that they’ve calloused into
determination. There’s a clear
understanding that he knows
this is the year for him.
“I think it’s a mindset. I just
changed my mindset,” he said.
“I told myself, ‘I’m going to be
dominant and I’m going to be
physical.’
“I’ve always had power, I’ve
always been strong. I’m still
working on a lot of things, every
day I’d tell myself, ‘I’ve got to get
better at something.’ Whether
it’s my hands, or my feet, or how
I play a certain block, or how I
read the back, there’s certain
things I had to do.”
Spring hype tends to generate
as a result of surprise, necessity
or
some
combination of
the two. Real
competition is
the only thing
that will unveil
where
Jeter
falls
along
that spectrum;
whether
his
hype
was
simply
borne
of a necessity
for interior defensive linemen
or whether this is truly his
breakthrough moment.
“Yeah, I’m ready to be a big-
time player,” Jeter said. “I’ve
been working like it. I have to
fine-tune some things still. Like
I said earlier, there are still so
many things I want to work in
my game. I think I have what I
need to. Now it’s about putting
the work in and really just
executing and really tweaking
those little things.”
Four
months
out,
he
is
controlling what he can —
mentally,
technically
and
intellectually.
The
rest,
he
believes, will take care of itself.
Because with Donovan Jeter,
it’s never been a question of
talent.
‘M’ defeats Bowling Green, 10-5
As the rain began to fall and the
weather grew colder, Michigan’s
bats got hotter.
Despite
some
fielding
difficulties which created an early
deficit, the Michigan baseball
team pulled itself together in
the second half of the game
Wednesday
evening
to
best
Bowling Green State, 10-5.
After a disappointing weekend
in Columbus which saw the
Wolverines lose two of their
three games against Ohio State,
Wednesday’s win kicked off a
seven-game
homestand
that
offers a chance to regroup while
there is still time left in the season.
In the early innings, Bowling
Green
leveraged
repeated
misses
from
the
Wolverines
in the outfield to get on base.
Base hit after base hit from the
Falcons sent Michigan’s outfield
scrambling and notched Bowling
Green an early lead.
A two-run homer from senior
infielder Jimmy Kerr in the second
inning put Michigan in front, 2-1.
A number of clutch plays ensured
Bowling Green couldn’t gain too
much of a foothold.
“They kept it a tight game
early,” said Michigan coach Erik
Bakich. “But I thought we at
least had some huge defensive
plays early in the game to prevent
additional runs from being scored
and falling further behind.”
The sixth inning finally brought
success and saw the Wolverines
start to pull away after they
suffered three scoreless innings,
during which Bowling Green took
a 3-2 lead. With the bases loaded
and still no outs, sophomore
shortstop Jack Blomgren started
the scoring with a double to left-
center field that sent seniors Blake
Nelson and Miles Lewis home
to regain the lead. A sacrifice fly
from senior infielder Matthew
Schmidt, who started Wednesday
for the first time, subsequently
sent Kerr home to bring the score
to 5-3.
The Falcons were stumped in
drawing many outs. Michigan
fully rotated through its lineup
and got only one out in the process.
Two more runs from Blomgren
and sophomore catcher Harrison
Salter came before the end of the
inning, making it 7-3.
“The sixth inning was the
difference tonight,” Bakich said
“With five of those at-bats going
to two strikes, the guys were
battling.”
Bowling
Green’s
difficulty
in stopping Michigan’s batters
became a theme as it eventually
cycled through
a total of nine
pitchers
by
the end of the
game.
But
its
offense
had
an
answer.
Redshirt junior
left-hander
Benjamin
Keizer
tried
to
pitch
the
Wolverines out of a jam after
Bowling Green loaded its bases in
the top of the seventh. Michigan
managed to preserve its lead but
conceded another two runs to
the Falcons. Another foreboding
inning was brought to an end by a
fielder’s choice to second.
Michigan seemed poised to
deliver another set of runs as
it stepped up to the plate, but
lightning was soon spotted over
the Big House and the game was
delayed for over an hour until the
storm passed.
An hour of sitting in the locker
room seemed to put no damper
on the Wolverines’ offensive
momentum, as they put up a three-
run seventh inning highlighted by
a soaring double
through the gap
from
sophomore
designated
hitter
Jordan Nwogu.
“To come out
after the delay and
put up a three-spot
was huge,” Bakich
said. “It was big
time
insurance
because
Bowling
Green
doesn’t
quit.”
The
pitching
and
defense
seemed reinvigorated after its
break as well and kept Bowling
Green scoreless through the end
of the game. Over five hours later,
the Wolverines walked away with
a 10-5 win.
MAX MARCOVITCH
Managing Sports Editor
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Redshirt sophomore Donovan Jeter is key for Michigan’s interior defensive line.
I’ve always
had power. I’ve
always been
strong.
AIDAN WOUTAS
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior Jimmy Kerr hit a two-run home run in Michigan’s win on Wednesday.
The sixth
inning was
the difference
tonight.