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.