John Beilein: Michigan Can Use Late-Season Losses As 'Education'
Michigan basketball, the undisputed Big Ten champions, lost two of its last three games to close out the regular season and appears to be limping into postseason play — literally — with senior guard Eli Brooks having gone down with an ankle injury in the finale Sunday at Michigan State.
Despite the struggles over the last week, which have included losing by 23 to Illinois at home and by six to MSU in East Lansing, don't count the Wolverines out — and don't think that a limp to the finish line in the regular season means a whole lot going into the most important time of year in the sport.
Just ask former Michigan head coach and current Big Ten Network analyst John Beilein, the winningest coach in the program's history, who made two national title game appearances during his time in Ann Arbor. His 2013 squad made it to the season's final Monday night, despite going 6-6 in its final 12 games heading into the Big Dance, including a quarterfinal exit in the Big Ten Tournament.
Part of Beilein's coaching philosophy is that, 'You don't lose, you learn.' And that's exactly what he's expecting the Maize and Blue to do as they turn the page to the Big Ten Tournament this weekend and an eventual No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament next week.
"I think, yes, it’s motivation, but I always believed more about ‘education’ on that," Beilein said in an appearance on 1050AM WTKA's The M Zone with Jamie Morris, after being asked about late-season losses and how to approach them. "It teaches everyone the little things that matter, because I don’t think they went into any games where they weren’t motivated.
"Somebody picked another style to play you. This is the way they did it — you watch it on film, and next time we’ll be more prepared. And that’s the education everyone gets when you lose."
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That mentality ties right in with Beilein's 'growth mindset,' something his successor, second-year head man Juwan Howard, has also stressed as a key ingredient to he and his team's success.
Beilein explained and emphasized how losing can actually be a positive going forward, since it brings a team's flaws to the forefront so corrections can be made.
"That adversity — you ask my players — you’re getting pruned," Beilein said. "At the beginning of the year you get pruned, at the end of the year you get pruned.
"It’s hard to figure out what you’re doing right when you start out 10-0, and it’s hard to be at your best going into the NCAA Tournament when you win 10 in a row, because there’s just this false sense of security, and it’s really fool’s gold.
"There’s a lot of good teams, you’re going to lose games, and you’ve gotta grow from them."
Beilein has been extremely supportive of Howard and the program since he's taken over, and he has belief in Howard and Co. to get the Wolverines back on track.
"I have no doubt that Juwan and his staff and all those veteran players — they’ve got a very veteran team — are going to learn from these experiences, [know] what to do next time when people play them certain ways," Beilein said. "Like, Illinois took away some of their offense by denying certain passes. Michigan State was very physical and, just, they’ve always done that. When you get hit in the face by it, you’ve gotta react by it.
"It’s good for you in the long run to get pruned. You grow back stronger — without question — you grow back stronger. Remember, we lost to an 0-13 Penn State team before we made the run to the national championship game [in 2013]. There’s certain turning points in your season that, many times, come from a loss — not necessarily a win."
Michigan is hoping that a rough final week to the regular season will prove to be a turning point in a season that ends with tournament success.
The Maize and Blue are all but a lock to be a No. 1 seed come Selection Sunday, after posting a 19-3 mark on the year so far. Beilein believes, after watching them have such a successful campaign so far, the Wolverines have everything it takes to win it all.
"I think that all the teams, including Michigan, that have had the type of seasons where they’ve gone on the road, beat good teams — we went to Wisconsin, we went to Purdue to win — can win a national championship."
Howard has never been the head coach in a tournament game, considering last year's postseason was canceled due to COVID-19. While many have soured on the Wolverines over the last week and may have questions about their head coach's ability to lead his group to the promised land, Beilein knows making a deep run is about much more than that.
"It’s not about, does he have tournament experience as a coach or whatever. You think of our best runs, one of them took a 30-footer by Trey Burke to get to the national championship, and the other one took a 30-footer from Jordan Poole to go to the national championship game. And you look back at the games we lost — the Elite Eight, it was a 30-footer that the [Kentucky guard Aaron] Harrison kid hit against us. There was another situation, I’m thinking of Texas beating us with a half court shot in the Sweet 16 at West Virginia.
"There’s a certain amount of coaching, but luck is really important right now, too. Injuries, or just the bounce of the ball, the madness of March, or magic, that come into it. Sometimes you’ll have that good fortune, and sometimes you won’t. I wouldn’t judge a team too much by that, because things just happen that you can’t always control."
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