Kornacki: 'Doyle Rules!' is Catching On for Wolverines
12/3/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2014
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The student wearing a Maize Rage T-shirt and standing near the fan in the polar bear costume behind the Michigan bench kept thrusting his sign upward every time freshman Ricky Doyle did something special.
The placard read: "Doyle Rules!"
And Doyle's head shot was pasted in the center of the O in his last name along with a few other places on the sign.
Now, he did not exactly "rule" in Tuesday night's 68-65 win over Syracuse. But he showed why he's becoming a fan favorite, scoring 12 points with six rebounds and one blocked shot in 25 minutes.
And he comes with a ready fan slogan, which is a takeoff on the "O'Doyle Rules!" line from the popular 1995 goofball comedy "Billy Madison" starring Adam Sandler.
"It's really funny," said Doyle.
That's some good shtick, but the reason Doyle is beginning to stick as a contributor is the better story. And that has everything to do with the insatiable desire Doyle has to be all he can be.
It's not uncommon to find Doyle in the weight room adjoining the locker room after a game, pumping iron alone. And he's a gym rat's gym rat.
"I've been working hard on my strength," said Doyle. "I lost a lot of weight when I came here, and so the speed of the game is starting to slow down. And learning the plays on offense really slows the game down, too."
That's the key for freshmen like Doyle -- adjusting to the much faster pace against superior players. Syracuse had one of those in senior Rakeem Christmas, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound low-post banger who came in averaging 17.5 points and 9.5 rebounds.
Christmas had 15 points, six rebounds and six turnovers against Michigan. And that wasn't totally due to Doyle, but he played a big part in holding down the Orangemen's leading scorer and rebounder. Doyle forced Christmas into losing a ball in the block with tight defense. Doyle said he tried to limit Christmas' "touches" by "three-quarter fronting him."
Doyle added that assistant coach Bacari Alexander has helped him significantly with his low-post game.
Beilein was asked if Doyle, at 6-9 and 245 pounds, had Mitch McGary-like qualities.
"I'm not ready to make that comparison," Beilein said. "But when you see his body, this is very different. Mitch came here at 20 years old. Ricky just turned 18 in May. That's why we see so much potential in him. And he competes.
"And when I finish here and go to my office, I'll be surprised if he's not in the gym shooting foul shots. He's driven, and we've got to harness that, too, so he's not wearing himself out. But he's driven to be a good player, and that's really refreshing. It's nice to see a big kid making that commitment."
The Wolverines have plenty of guards and wings who can win games. But they know what's needed to compete with any team in the country. It requires a quality post player, and Doyle is emerging as that while rotating at the position with starter Mark Donnal and Max Bielfeldt.
"This kid can play above the rim and do some things," said Beilein of Doyle. "Today, he really competed. For us to get 17 (offensive) rebounds against Syracuse, people would never believe that. And he battled and got (five) and gave us extra possessions."
Michigan matched its season high in offensive rebounds from 2013-14 largely because of Doyle.
"That's a testimony to his work habits and (strength coach) Jon Sanderson and what he's done with him since he arrived here in June," Beilein said.
He went from 18-percent body fat to 10 percent in five months. His maximum in the squat lift has gone from 245 to 350 pounds. Had Beilein ever had an incoming freshman approach those kinds of improvements?
"Yeah, we have," Beilein said. "But Ricky's gotten a lot more athletic in that time. We saw the same thing with Nik Stauskas and Zak Irvin. We saw that jump in their skill level and their quickness. He's really driven to be a good player."
Doyle does all the little things that win games. He sets formidable picks near the perimeter to free shooters, takes charges and moves without the ball.
"He's very committed to do those things," said Beilein, "and he comes from a great family that has really supported his passion for basketball."
His father, Richard, played professionally for 11 years in France -- where Ricky was born -- and had a tryout with the Detroit Pistons.
Doyle averaged 24.8 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks as a senior for Bishop Verot High in Fort Myers, Fla. But he had a big jump to make at the highest level of college basketball and began showing what he could do in the previous game with Nicholls State, getting 15 points and six rebounds.
But he did things at crunch time against a quality team for the first time on Tuesday night.
With 1:50 to play, he got his own rebound and scored.
"I scored on my own put-back," said Doyle. "I shot that lefty hook, and I assumed it was going in, but it missed. So I just jumped right up and put it up."
Another crowd-pleasing play was his dunk on a behind-the-back pass from Albrecht.
"Spike set me up for success on that one," said Doyle. "I was waiting in the gutter. I saw Spike go behind the back, and I had just one thought in my head. Rule No. 1, if it's down here, it means dunk when you can dunk. When he was driving, he kind of looked at me, and his eyes were wide open. So, I was ready for it."
The 12,707 at Crisler Center roared their approval.
"Our fans really energize us up," said Doyle. "I never had the experience in high school of a crowd chanting my name. It's real exciting for me."
Co-captain Albrecht is impressed.
"He's picking things up," said Albrecht. "He had a really good game -- catching the ball and finishing at the rim. You can tell his confidence is starting to skyrocket. He had a big game for us. He was the X-factor."
Perhaps, in time, Doyle truly will rule. But for now, watching him develop and seeing the signs and hearing the chants of "Doyle Rules!" is plenty fun.
