TheWolverine.com - Beilein: Michigan just getting started

October 30, 2009

Chris Balas
TheWolverine.com Senior Editor

Michigan head coach John Beilein was pleased with what his team accomplished last year, but he's nowhere near satisfied with where the program is. Like many U-M basketball fans, he's looking forward to the day when competing for championships is the norm.

But consider this: the Wolverines haven't finished in the top three in the conference since 1994-95 (though they tied once, in 2002-03) and haven't won a Big Ten title since the mid-1980s.

"Until we can get Michigan to point where they're in the NCAA tournament and this is normal to be in the NCAA tournament, we haven't turned anything around yet," he said at Big Ten media day Oct. 29. "I think that's where Michigan belongs. If you're in the tournament every year, dang it, you've got a chance of winning it.

"That's where we want to go -- sustain the program. So this is the second year with a very aggressive schedule, and that's what we have to do. I don't think we've lost that hunger or anybody's thinking about last year as much as saying, 'hey, hopefully we have a good team and we're going to be playing with the big boys all year long. Let's see what we can do.'"

The schedule is ambitious to say the least, with games at Kansas and Utah and a home game with UConn stiff, non-conference tests. But team chemistry is as strong as it was a year ago, players say, with all having bought in to the program and its direction.

Both Harris and Sims reported in a recent article that they have great respect for Beilein's leadership on and off the court, and the rest have followed.

"I think it's the way we've tried to coach for a long time that if you have really strong relationships with your players, that adds a lot of credibility," said Beilein. "You use those old adages. I hate to use the cliches, but they don't care how much they know until they know how much you care. Rules without relationships equals rebellion. Those are two that we use all the time. But you have to build those relationships and then you have that trust.

"It's just the thing that we've always done as coaches. Hopefully it's one of the things that can make our program special, and I don't think we're alone in this. I think a lot of coaches -- successful coaches -- do the same thing."

Notes

? Beilein announced that Zack Novak has been admitted to the Michigan Business school, a great accomplishment for the sophomore. Novak's emergence continues to impress.

"He is a wonderful kid whose body has really changed from probably being a 225-pound probably just slightly overweight, small forward, whatever position is, he's sort of a hybrid of doing a lot of things," said Beilein. "He played the two-man and four-man for us last year. Not too many people get to do those two tasks.

"He's done a great job of being a leader. As a sophomore I would say he's one of our leaders, and it gives us a great combination of a kid who can shoot and a kid who can really do a lot of the glue-type of things to keep a team going. He dives on the floor probably more than anybody, takes charges as much as anybody. Those are winning plays that win games. Everybody looks at the scores and the rebounds and all those type of things, but sometimes there are a lot of winning plays in there that separate us from the other team."

? Beilein isn't apologetic for his team's tough schedule, noting there's great value in it "when you have the right team."

"When you don't have the right team, it can really ruin the confidence of your team. I think teams have to be very careful about when they do schedule like this," he said. "It usually comes down to the last couple of games who you're going to play. Are you going to bring in a guaranteed game or are you going to take on another difficult team?

"We've had UCLA at Crisler, Duke at Crisler, now it's UCONN and the following year it will be Kansas. That's the back end of things. And in the meantime you have to go to Allen Fieldhouse and try to get a 'W.' But I think we have enough of those games that it gives our kids a great taste."

Some felt Michigan's trip to UConn last year left the Wolverines ill prepared for a quick turnaround game with Michigan State, one of U-M's poorest games of the year. Beilein admitted the Big Ten portion of the schedule made it tough, but not undoable.

"It's been difficult for us, because the opportunity to be on CBS TV with a big [non-conference] game in the second semester has really cramped ours together. I particularly am not in favor of the times where you play on a Sunday and then it's a Wednesday, then it's a Saturday, and then it's a Tuesday," he said. "There are like five games in a row. And it's very difficult to go through those stretches with the amount of travel that we have to do.

"At the same time, everybody's doing it. Sometimes when you're playing somebody, it's not who you're playing, it's where you're playing them and when you're playing them that really will make a difference in some games ? it's part of this league with the footprint that we have that there's a lot of travel involved. We're very fortunate to be able to do it mostly with charter planes and quick bus trips."

? Junior wing Manny Harris said during Media Day he wasn't thinking about his NBA prospects, noting it could affect the season if he did. Beilein said he'd continue to use it as a teaching tool.

"I think if you frame that correctly it could be a great motivator for them," he said. "We want our guys, if they're going to be going to the NBA, to have careers in the NBA. In order to have careers in the NBA there are a lot of things that you need to be able to do, whether it's getting all your assignments in on time and doing all the tests that you have to do off the court. Handling your personal business is a big thing.

"You use that as part of this. This is going to help you if you're fortunate enough to have that opportunity, so we try to use it as a positive there. And some days you want them to practice like there are NBA scouts all over your practice, but, then again, in games you may want them to play like there is no NBA.

"This is your only opportunity to play basketball, so make the most of it because it's right here and right now is really what's most important."

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