From Berlin to San Antonio: Wagner Reflects on His Journey, Soaks in Final Four
3/29/2018 5:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Features
• Photo Gallery: Wolverines' Practice, Media at Final Four (March 29)
By Steve Kornacki
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Moritz Wagner has gained greater notoriety with each win the University of Michigan has claimed on its march to the Final Four. And now he has arrived at college basketball's zenith, soaking it all in like a sponge.
Wagner practiced hard Thursday (March 29) with his teammates at the Alamodome and enjoyed the few minutes at the end that coach John Beilein works in for fun. Jon Teske was dunking, and Wagner smiled and marveled at the power and ease his backup displayed.
Then he began the long walk to the locker room with forward Isaiah Livers and guard Charles Matthews, joshing and sharing the moments they'll remember the rest of their lives. This was the first time any of them except Beilein had experienced coming to the game's showcase event.
"This is awesome," said Wagner, shaking his head and gazing all the way up to the nose-bleed seats. "I always wanted to play in a football stadium like this, the big stage, and now we're here.
"Awesome."
His parents, Beate and Axel, arrived here Tuesday night from Berlin, Germany, to share this time and Saturday's (March 31) semifinal game against Loyola Chicago. This is the event that all of them used to cram into their living room to watch back when their oldest son was growing up and dreaming.
"It's just so great they can experience this with me," said Wagner. "This is fun. You've got to take it in because you'll most likely never again have the opportunity to play in front of 70,000 people and do all of this stuff with the people around you.
"So, you've got to enjoy it, man."
Wagner also savors the chance to play in the "Big Dance" he's always dreamed about, and he will be one of the focal players in the game with the Ramblers.
He's a dynamic, 6-foot-11 matchup nightmare for opponents, who must defend his explosiveness on the block and cover him beyond the three-point arc. Moe, as he's known on the team, plays with passion and fire. As a tri-captain, he is also an exemplary leader.
Wagner has long been hugely popular with Michigan fans and has become a downright phenomenon back home in Germany, which he represented last summer in international competition.
Jurgen Schmieder, who ironically attended Michigan and was a high-scoring soccer forward for the Wolverines 16 years ago, is the U.S. West Coast correspondent for Suddeutsche Zeitung, which he described as "the New York Times of Germany" as we spoke during the Wolverines' NCAA West Regional championship celebration last Saturday (March 24) in Los Angeles.
"I heard they had the bars open all night back home in Germany to watch this one," said Schmieder. "It's 3 a.m. back there now, but the people stayed awake. This is crazy. And now, to have the opportunity to go to the Final Four is almost unheard of for a German player.
"It's not quite as big as Dirk Nowitzki playing in the NBA Finals. The NBA is the NBA, but if you get Germans to stay up until 3 a.m. to watch an amateur basketball tournament, you realize how big this is in our country. Germans just love this guy. His intensity -- he's an emotional guy, but in Germany that's not a bad thing. He might be a 'bad boy' here, but in Germany that's a good thing. If you do everything you can to win, in Germany we appreciate that. So, that's a great thing. That's why we love him. I was the first German student-athlete at Michigan, and I believe he is the second."
The enthusiasm his fellow countrymen have for Wagner touches him deeply.
"It's incredible," he said. "When I say this, I don't mean to be cocky, but there are so many people in Germany that watch college basketball now, care about their (tournament) brackets and actually watch Michigan basketball. My neighbors all have Michigan (in their brackets). And my family and friends are really into it. It just makes me really proud -- whether we win or lose -- to reach people. That's very cool."
Beate and Axel watch the Michigan games with his 16-year-old brother, Franz, in Berlin.
"My mom is right here," said Moe, mimicking her putting her face inches from the TV screen. "My dad is yelling. So, we live in an apartment building in the city, right? So, it might be 5 o'clock in the morning there and my dad is yelling. He also very emotional, just like me. So, he's loud. I hope he doesn't get in trouble with the neighbors."
Moe texted with his parents immediately after nestling into his locker room chair following the win over Florida State, even before the team's water-dousing celebration for winning the West Regional began. A smile crossed his face. "My parents just bought their plane tickets," he said. "They're coming to San Antonio."
Serendipitat.
That's the German word for serendipity, and it certainly applies to Wagner, who is headed to the Final Four with the Wolverines after so many things came together to make Ann Arbor his college destination.
Beilein received an email about Wagner (VOG-ner), who was playing for the Alba Berlin German club team, from international talent scout Yenal Kahraman. Beilein took a few weeks to reply because the message didn't seem urgent and he receives so much correspondence that it takes considerable time to get to everything.
Once Beilein got back to Kahraman -- who years earlier had connected Beilein with Niels Giffey, another Alba Berlin player who ended up playing at Connecticut -- the feel-out process began. Beilein sent Wagner an email that landed in his spam folder. It might never have been read had Wagner not checked his spam before it was deleted.
Beilein also just so happened to have coached Johannes Herber, another German who also played for Alba, while at West Virginia.
Michigan was of interest to Moe because he'd watched the team on TV with his father during the 2013 Final Four and 2014 Elite Eight. The energy of the Wolverines, their band and their fans attracted his expressive nature. Michigan basketball seemed loud and fun to him, and so when Beilein called him to express interest, he had Wagner's complete and undivided attention.
Serendipitat, indeed.
However, Wagner didn't seem like all that great a find during his freshman season. He averaged just 2.9 points and 1.6 rebounds per game. But people behind the scenes knew just how motivated Moe was to be great.
I remember returning from press conferences to the locker room with Beilein that season and passing through the weight room. There was Moe, working out feverishly all alone. Hunger with size and athletic potential is a great combination. Going into Wagner's sophomore season, Michigan strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson told me he would be the team's third-best player behind Zak Irvin and Derrick Walton Jr., and that in his junior season he would be the best player.
That all played out.
Wagner leads the Wolverines with 14.3 points and 6.9 rebounds. He made All-Big Ten second team before being named the Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Tournament. Last weekend he made the All-West Regional team.
Still, Wagner is far from a finished product. He improved dramatically defensively -- particularly in rebounding, where he chokes off possessions when it seems Michigan needs it most -- and has cut down on getting into foul trouble.
Although, he still frustrates Beilein in that area.
He asked Moe: "How do you say 'No more stupid fouls.' in German?"
Wagner laughed and told him, calling himself a "dummkopf."
When told that he could've really set up his coach by fudging the German "translation" to his advantage, Wagner chuckled and said, "I could totally put the words in his mouth, totally. I could make him say, 'You're a beautiful young guy. You should get the ball more. Don't yell at me as much.'"
They have a deep and loving relationship that allows them to banter that way, as well as plenty of respect for one another.
After the Wolverines had beaten the Seminoles to advance to the Final Four, Wagner was the last player to climb the ladder to snip the net. He realized there wouldn't be anything left for Beilein to cut, and it's customary for the head coach to do those honors. So, Moe motioned to Beilein to get him to do just that. Beilein smiled and waved him off, letting him know that he wanted him to have that joy.
"The trust he puts in me is incredible," said Wagner.
Coach and player bonded immediately once their email limbo was lifted.
"I watched this video and then I called him," said Beilein. "And on the phone, the energy on the phone was incredible. ... He was an incredible communicator. So, I just said, 'You know what? We can't sit on this. I think this is going to be pretty good, but nobody's been over to see him.' Because there is no high school basketball in Europe, the NCAA doesn't allow us to go watch him play. So, I had to do it off film."
Beilein saw great potential but knew he had to look Wagner in the eye and get to know him and his family. So, the coach took a trip to Berlin on a team off-day in October 2014, adding that he traveled "in disguise." But that didn't involve a fake moustache or even a beret. It just meant he "wore no Michigan gear." The Wolverines had Wagner to themselves at that point, and the coach wanted to keep it that way.
He was greeted by Moe at the elevator on the ground floor of the family's apartment building.
"When I met him," said Beilein, "you see that kid, you see that smile. He's so easy with his conversation. ... When I got in the elevator with the young man, a small elevator, and went up, by the time I got out of the elevator, I said, 'If this kid's good at all, I'm going to give him a scholarship because he was so engaging.'"
He found the whole family to be that way.
"I asked for a big German dinner and a beer," Beilein said. "I got both of them."
Their time together couldn't have gone any better.
"His senior year was over," said Beilein. "We brought him over and gave him a tryout. We decided to give him a scholarship, and the rest is history."
Moe said, "I kind of felt at home on my visit. They presented a great opportunity for me. ... It was an easy decision at the end of the day, and I'm very glad I made it."
He turned down a professional contract with Alba to accept the scholarship.
The whirlwind courtship of Moritz Wagner resulted in the Wolverines getting a difference-maker on a team that has repeated as Big Ten Tournament champion and now chases a national championship.
The Final Four experience has come 360 degrees for Wagner, all the way from those games he watched with Dad as Michigan reached the championship game five years ago to the Alamodome, where No. 13 will be introduced before a packed stadium with his team one win away from the championship game.
Wagner reflected on it all: "It's pretty crazy that Coach Beilein was in my living room all of a sudden because I only knew him from the Final Four (on TV). That's kind of ironic. Now we're here together."
Serendipitat.
Serendipity.
In any language, Wagner and Michigan found one another to be everything they hoped they could be.
