3/30/2021 basketball Edit

John Beilein: Without Any Five-Stars, Michigan Has Built A 'Five-Star Team'

Clayton Sayfie • Maize&BlueReview

Staff Writer

John Beilein knows a good team when he sees one.

The future Hall-Of-Famer built more than a few at Michigan, West Virginia, Richmond, Canisius and elsewhere.

As a Big Ten Network analyst this season, the former Michigan basketball head coach has closely observed second-year head coach Juwan Howard's Big Ten championship-winning club, and he's been impressed with the success they've had, advancing to the Elite Eight — the program's fourth in the last eight NCAA Tournaments.

Michigan is down senior forward Isaiah Livers, who is out indefinitely with a foot injury, but is getting contributions from elsewhere. Junior forward Brandon Johns has stepped into the starting lineup and performed admirably. His 14 points against Florida State in the Sweet 16 proved to be crucial. While many wrote Johns off in the past, and he has struggled with confidence issues himself, Beilein knew he had it in him.

Michigan Wolverines basketball's former head coach, John Beilein, is the winningest head coach in program history. (USA TODAY Sports Images)

"Some guys just have a learning curve that takes them a while to get there," Beilein explained while appearing on The Huge Show across the state of Michigan with host Bill Simonson. "And plus, he had Isaiah Livers and Iggy Brazdeikis in front of him — two really good players. So now he’s getting his opportunity, and all that extra work he did as a freshman and a sophomore in practice with [assistant coach] Saddi Washington, with the coaching staff there, with my coaching staff, it’s all paying off.

"And you know what I like best about him? He didn’t run for the bus when things didn’t work out as a freshman and sophomore — he had to earn his time and frankly wasn’t as ready as the other guys. And now he has the opportunity to make the most of it. So happy for him because he’s really a heck of a young man."

The Wolverines have three players — Livers, senior guard Eli Brooks and fifth-year senior forward Austin Davis — who have played in the national championship game and have been on multiple deep runs in March. They know how to prevail in the NCAA Tournament.

Beilein likes Michigan's experience and the way it is mixed in with hungry players who are trying to get places that Livers, Davis and Brooks have been and want to get back to. Fifth-year senior guard Mike Smith, for example, had a losing record during his four years at Columbia before transferring to Michigan, and never played in a postseason game until 18 days ago. Senior guard Chaundee Brown was in a similar boat at Wake Forest, having played (and lost) three ACC Tournament games in three years there.

Now, after beating Texas Southern, LSU and FSU, they're one win away from taking the Wolverines back to the Final Four for the second time in three tournaments and third time over the last eight events. Michigan takes on UCLA Tuesday night in the East Regional Final.

"Smith and Brown, these are guys who have never won," Beilein pointed out. "They’ve never been to an NCAA Tournament, I don’t know if they’ve won a conference tournament game. And now they’re into this culture, and they’re like not letting it slip away, and that’s great experience.

"That’s a big difference tonight, is that for Michigan — except for those two guys who have just bought in — playing at this time of the year is not unusual for them. And so they know what they’re doing. Isaiah’s there in the background — the dude started in a national championship game — Eli Brooks played in a national championship game. They have been there, and now everybody’s bought in."

The culture Beilein mentioned is a testament to what he built in his 12 years and what Howard and Co. have continued. Michigan has the most NCAA Tournament wins out of any team in the nation over the last nine seasons, and that's hasn't come as an accident. Beilein couldn't be happier to see the formula continue to work even two years – 'a long, long time,' is how he put it — after he departed.

"I’d say the plan does work," Beilein said. "That if you get good people that are into skill development and are not in a rush to go to the NBA and they embrace the whole Michigan idea of, it’s a championship university, you’re going to get an outstanding education ... And don’t come here if you’re not going to be a great teammate. It’s okay, there’s a lot of places you can go to, but you’ve got to buy into that culture that took us so long to establish.

"Juwan knows that culture when he played for [former Michigan head coach Steve] Fish[er] and then with the Miami Heat — nobody does it better in the NBA than the Miami Heat, of the team first – and that’s what makes me the most proud is that this stuff does work.

"We’ve still been able to put guys in the NBA and we’ve got more NBA players on this team without being this, alright, we only recruit five-stars. No, we recruit good players that are going to be good teammates, and you’re going to be a five-star team, and you still have the chance to go to the NBA! That’s the whole idea of Michigan basketball that we tried to create, and man, they’re doing a great job of continuing that right now."

A five-star team with a shot at the national title ... without a single former five-star recruit on the entire roster. Consider Beilein impressed.

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