Kornacki: Wagner Explains Decision to Remain at U-M
5/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Moritz Wagner's decision to stay at the University of Michigan for his much-anticipated junior season took what amounted to three months to formulate.
Still, he began settling into his choice about five weeks ago because he couldn't answer a simple, basic question Wolverines coach John Beilein posed to him during their end-of-season exit interview conducted days before Wagner departed April 19 for a short visit back home in Germany.
Wagner said, "Coach Beilein asked me two questions that still affect me."
The first question: "Moe, why would you go to the NBA?"
Wagner told Beilein: "It's a huge dream of mine. I want to be a professional, and I've been working my tail off to get there. When you see a dream, you want to grab it. You don't want to put it away for another year."
The second question: "Moe, why would you leave the University of Michigan and our program?"
Wagner said, "And I didn't have an answer for that question. Many leave because they are impatient or they don't like school. I like this school and I love this place. I feel very comfortable here. Not everybody likes college as much as I do.
"There was no particular reason why I should leave."
Then, last weekend, Wagner made up his mind, several days before the 11:59 p.m. Wednesday (May 24) deadline to stay in the NBA Draft pool or stay at Michigan.
Wagner met with his coach, who had a prepared list of reasons why he should stay.
"I said, 'Coach Beilein, I already made up my mind. You don't have to tell me why I should stay here. I'm staying here.' There was some awkward silence as we sat there in his office. But he looked me in my eye, and said, 'Oh, OK, that's great news!' He shook my hand and hugged me.
"It was pretty cool. He was relieved and happy. He wants to win games and I want to win games, and I told him that I want to be his guy. Coach Beilein changed a lot this year because of the (airplane takeoff) crash, because of a lot of things. He got a lot more relaxed and I feel like he trusted his players so much. We have a deep trust between us."
Wagner, a 6-foot-11, 240-pound bundle of talent and energy who also made 40-percent of his three-point shots to confound defensive strategists, was coming back.
Wagner said: " 'Testing the waters,' you know how everyone says that? I don't like that analogy at all because it implies you're not serious and you're just dipping your toe in. I went into the NBA Combine competing and knowing I could play on that level and I still do.
"But I didn't want this to be an either-or situation. I wanted this to be safe."
Wagner added, "And it was just too risky this year. The draft is very deep and the top 20 picks are almost set. You could only play yourself up to a certain stock."
What feedback did he receive from the NBA?
"I could've gone undrafted," said Wagner, "which I don't believe. There was definitely enough interest that I would've been drafted. I could've gone early second round or I could've gone between 20 and 30 (overall). But I wasn't in the top 20 for sure. So, it was very, very risky."
Wagner said he'd have been disappointed had he dropped to the second round.
"The second round doesn't guarantee you anything," he said. "I'd rather play another two years here at the University of Michigan, take another step toward my bachelor degree and have a good time here.
"I would've hated myself if I'd found myself in the D (NBA Development) League next year. I would rather play in college."
So, Wagner isn't looking at leaving after his junior year as a certainty?
"I think that would be a mistake to do," he said.
Wagner averaged 12.1 points and 4.2 rebounds last season, and wants more for himself and his team.
"The mission is to lead this team and to win," said Wagner, who emphasized that last word to underscore his conviction. "I want to win the Big Ten again. Winning the Big Ten Tournament whetted my appetite; I wanted more. It's a little early to talk about a national championship, but we go into every game with the mentality of being able to win it. We have so many players who can step up this year, and I want to step up my game and be more consistent and lead by example the way (captains) Caris LeVert, Derrick Walton Jr. and Zak Irvin did for me.
"You've got to shoot for the moon if you want to be successful."
School also has a strong pull for Wagner, a sports management major who has been accepted into the School of Kinesiology. He won the Morgan/Bodnar Award for academic achievement after last season, in addition to All-Big Ten honorable mention.
"My mom and dad were very happy that I decided to come back because studying and learning are huge in my family," said Wagner.
His father, Axel, is a psychiatrist and his mother, Beate, is a medical journalist.
"But they just wanted me to be happy," said Wagner. "They wanted me to sleep at night and feel free and comfortable in my environment. They would've supported me either way, but there was more security for them in me staying here. They have significantly less to worry about.
"I've dealt with the NBA for the last couple months, and now it's over with. I'm very relieved about that. I can sleep again. I don't have to worry about anything. Everybody told me, 'You have two very good options.' But those are the hardest decisions to make, which one do you take? You have the feeling of losing something if you take one over the other."
Wagner had come a long, long way during his sophomore season to become an NBA possibility.
He'd averaged 2.9 points and 1.6 rebounds as a freshman reserve, but improved so much during 2016-17 that he became a media sensation in helping lead the Wolverines to the conference tourney championship and a Sweet 16 berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Wagner said he began getting asked about leaving school for the NBA Draft after his 22-point first half against conference regular season champion Purdue. He finished with 24 points in that Feb. 25 game against the formidable Boilermaker front line.
"The NBA wasn't even on my radar until that game," said Wagner. "Then it became unavoidable. Everybody wanted to talk to me about it."
That question kept getting asked more and more leading up to his scoring a career-high 26 to lead an upset of No. 2-seed Louisville in the team's second NCAA win in Indianapolis.
"After the Louisville game," said Wagner, "it became an international story. It was different for me because I'm from (Berlin) Germany and people there go crazy about this kind of stuff. I'm not saying that's why I played terribly in the Oregon game, but there definitely was a lot more pressure on my shoulders in the Oregon game.
"Now, I had a whole different level of interest coming to me and coming at me that I had to learn to deal with, and it wasn't easy."
That made for an interesting yet perplexing two-month decision-making process. He declared for the NBA Draft, but didn't hire an agent in order to maintain his amateur standing with the NCAA. Beilein and assistant coach Saddi Washington served as his go-betweens with the pros.
"Coach Beilein was in a hard position, a funny position," said Wagner. "He's the head coach and wants to win games here, but he was calling teams for me, and that was not an easy job. He told me he was going to make me run if I came back because of all the work he had to put into this. That was actually pretty funny. Him and Coach Washington put a lot into this by organizing this for me and getting every opinion about me and D.J. (Wilson).
"But I trusted Coach (Beilein) 100 percent in this process."
Wilson, who also had a breakout year and a big postseason, is in the same position as Wagner, his roommate and close friend, but has yet to announce his decision.
Wagner credited everyone connected to the program -- particularly strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson and the entire coaching staff -- for his development.
Despite those "sleepless nights," Wagner is glad to have gone through the process and attended the combine.
"I played in front of Larry Bird," he said. "I got to meet the (NBA) logo, Jerry West. All of a sudden, Magic Johnson said 'hi' to me, and Luke Walton, too. Those are things that are really cool."
Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, a fellow countryman whom he met after a game against the Detroit Pistons late last season, offered Wagner the opportunity to work out with him, and Wagner said he intended to do that at some point before the fall semester begins. Wagner will finish his spring semester class, join the German national 20-and-under team next month, and then return to Ann Arbor.
When we ended our conversation on Tuesday (May 23), I turned off the digital recorder and we talked about some other things. But before we departed the Ross Academic Center, Wagner looked me in the eyes and said, "I've got a lot more to prove."
He nodded and we walked out the front door to his scooter. Wagner, wearing an NBA Combine black fleece under his backpack, lifted his left leg over the scooter seat, got comfortable and hit the ignition. Then he pulled away toward State Street, a smile on his face.
• Wagner Decides to Return to U-M after Testing NBA Waters
