So Far, So Fast: How Beilein Took U-M from Obscurity to Title Game in Three Months
4/1/2018 8:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Features
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By Steve Kornacki
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- They have come so far, so fast.
The University of Michigan men's basketball team was unranked in the first week of January, not even receiving a single vote in the Associated Press poll.
On Monday night (April 2), the Wolverines (33-7) will play Villanova for the national championship here at the Alamodome. They have won an NCAA-leading 14 consecutive games -- defeating three top-10 teams along the way -- while winning the Big Ten Tournament, finishing the season ranked No. 7 and earning a No. 3 seed on the road to the Final Four.
I asked head coach John Beilein, who brings 799 coaching wins into this encounter, what has enabled his team to reach this mountain-top game?
"We got a lot of breaks," Beilein said. "We had no injuries. And we had kids that are persistent about the fundamentals of the game, and what's most important to winning, continuing to grow in what winning basketball looks like. They stayed on task with no distractions, and tried to get better every day, taking on each day with a growth mindset."
What's made him proudest of them?
"That they've avoided the distractions," Beilein said. "They've dealt with what's important in everything that we preach."
The Wolverines, to a man, talk about how much Beilein cares for them, how consistent he is, how he drives them, how he has molded them both on and off the court.
He was speaking with the media Saturday night (March 31) after beating Loyola Chicago, back literally to the wall outside the locker room, and engulfed by reporters holding tape recorders and microphones, and numerous TV cameramen.
Kathleen, his wife of 39 years and mother of their four children, stood down the hallway from that scene, observing it all.
"Sometimes I'm just in awe of what he does," she said of her husband, who has coached 40 seasons of college basketball. "I've always kidded him. Do you know the movie, 'A Beautiful Mind?' In a certain way, his mind is always racing. It's always thinking. There are different plays all over the house.
"He just loves the game, and is such a hard worker. For him to have done what he's done in such an incredible way all of these years, I have so much respect for him. You just don't see that. It's powerful. It's refreshing. I hope more coaches take note. They don't have to live in a gray area."
Everything is black-and-white for Beilein, 65, whose philosophy might be best described in the mantra he shares daily with his players: "Do the next right thing."
He also has learned to take more joy in coaching and life.
Last year, a couple weeks after surviving a runway plane crash with Kathleen and his team at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Michigan, he was attacking his players with a super soaker water gun while they doused him with water bottles to celebrate a victory. And last weekend in Los Angeles, he was dancing to a rap song with freshman guard Jordan Poole on the team bus back to the hotel after winning the West Regional.
Kathleen said none of that would have happened before the crash.
"I think the crash had a big impact," she said. "In the past, in a celebration, he would always be in the background. And now, I see him embracing the fun, and I love that. And it's not about him. He just wants to feel and hear what they're feeling in the trenches, and I love that."
They share their joy while laughing, and share their love while crying.
And through it all, there is an undeniable joy about these Wolverines.
"What makes this team so special is that it's not about any one player," said Kathleen. "Nobody pumps their chest for themselves. They pump it for the team. They have one chest. Nobody is better than anybody else, and they help each other."
They impact one another as surely as their leader and his coaching staff of Saddi Washington, Luke Yaklich and DeAndre Haynes have impacted them. They share his voice, his approach and his message.
Beilein also deserves credit for getting two highly respected seniors, Duncan Robinson and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, to become something they had never been before: vocal leaders. They joined the highly communicative Moritz Wagner as tri-captains, and helped get the Wolverines back on track in the halftime locker room against Chicago Loyola. Michigan turned a 10-point deficit into a 12-point victory.
Now, it has all come together for Michigan, and you can sense its certainty and connectivity in its comments. The players are clear on the mission and how to go about it. Â
I asked each of the Wolverines during this week of the Final Four the same question: How did Coach Beilein impact this team and its individuals to experience such growth in three short months?
"He's everything, quite frankly," said Robinson. "Everyone's out there making plays, but everything else you have to credit to him. He's always put us in those situations to be successful and encouraged us. But on top of that, he's always pushed us and asked us to go. He does so much for us, and it falls on us to reciprocate that effort."
"He definitely shows us how focused we have to be on things. Being a kid, you just want to have fun, and everything's so serious," said Poole. "But learning and knowing we have to lock in on the business aspect of the game has definitely had an impact on all of us."
Abdur-Rahkman: "He teaches us in a family environment, and is looking out for us. When you have that, you're willing to buy into anything. It just took time for us to grow this year. We had a lot of new faces, a lot of people in new roles, and so it just took time to jell and grow."
Freshman forward Isaiah Livers: "The biggest impact is probably how much we've watched film and that's something that really carries us, and it's why we've learned from our mistakes in practices and games. And he's made me understand how far I have to go to be a great player at this level.
"His persistence and really wanting his players to get better -- not just physically, but mentally. And he really wants you to grow as a person on and off the court. I hear some coaches only worry about their team, their wealth and their record. But he really cares about your health, your grades and how you are as a person. He makes you want to be better each day."
Sophomore point guard Zavier Simpson: "His ability to be able to adjust to different teams is what's impressed me most. He adjusts so well to every game. He has a gift that helps put us in the position we're in now."
Graduate-student point guard Jaaron Simmons: "It's our preparation. We lack no preparation at all, and he makes us confident and ready for each and every game we go into. That's really what's gotten us here."
Freshman point guard Eli Brooks: "It really is our preparation. Whether it's a preseason exhibition game, a scrimmage or one of our rivalry games like Michigan State, it's the same every time. We leave no stone unturned. He never stops coaching you, and is always looking to add more enrichment to your mind."
Sophomore swingman Ibi Watson: "It's how we go about business every day. He doesn't give you too much, and keeps things in perspective. He teaches us how to attack each day and become champions. We attack film sessions. We attack walkthroughs (practices). You'll see things happen in games and think, 'We just saw that on film or in a walkthrough.' So, it really prepares us for what we see on the court."
Junior guard Charles Matthews: "He just teaches us and really cares for us. He shows us he cares by staying committed to give us his all. A guy like that, you love to play for."
Wagner: "There is a certain dynamic between us, but there is a certain authority as well. So, don't get that wrong. He is constantly seeking to get better. It's non-stop, which I appreciate the heck out of. And the way he appreciates life, too."
Wagner says it is telling that, during preparation for the national championship game, Beilein continues emphasizing the basic fundamentals of catching and shooting a ball, right down to positioning fingers on the seams correctly.
No detail is too small if it leads to improvement, which leads to success.
When Beilein went before his team after beating Loyola Chicago, Simpson stood up and held his water bottle high, teasing his coach about the water dousing they give him after big wins. But there would be no water after this one, because nothing had been won yet.
"That was about all of our core values right there," Beilein told them. "We had unity, right? Our diligence and persistence was incredible. Nothing was going well. So, I have a great appreciation for where we were. We held each other accountable, right?
"And we played with passion, baby. We played with passion. So, I just loved the way you won it -- not just that you won it, but the way you won it."
Beilein concluded by pulling the team together for a group chant that touches on their goals and needs as a team.
He ended it by saying: "And if we play…."
His players shouted: "DEFENSE!"
Beilein picked it up: "On Monday night, you can be…"
The players roared: "NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!"
That title is something the Wolverines not only want for themselves, but for Beilein, who has never won one but did reach the 2013 title game.
"We do so much together and we really want to win this because he's been so close," said Wagner. "And that's something he hasn't accomplished yet. You really want to leave it all out there for him. It's definitely a big motivation."
Beilein was asked how differently he would look at his career if he did not have a national championship.
"I honestly say I wouldn't look at it any differently," he said. "I really would not. Others may. But I don't think Kathleen and I would look at it any different. You hang in there and you just do your absolute best every single day. And some day you're going to say, 'I gave it everything I had, and I'm falling into my grave.' And that's OK, too.
"But you just do everything you can to be the best coach, the best mentor, the best teacher, the best husband, the grandfather, father, every day, and you go do it again. And that's all I want to be."
It is a selfless approach that has gotten this team from obscurity to the championship game in three months.
So far, so fast.
So steady.
