Despite being a team full of seniors, fifth-year seniors and veterans in general, the Michigan Wolverines’ basketball squad has a lot of key contributors who had never played in the NCAA Tournament prior to this season.
Fifth-year senior point guard Mike Smith, senior guard Chaundee Brown, sophomore guard Franz Wagner and freshman center Hunter Dickinson — four of the most important players on the team — had never been on a club that participated in the Big Dance before, and yet all of the aforementioned players (along with everyone else who has seen the court) have handled the immense pressure that comes along with it beautifully.
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Nerves have not been an issue whatsoever so far, with the Wolverines consistently displaying their mental toughness and overcoming adversity whenever it has hit (most notably in the second-round win over LSU when U-M punched back whenever the Tigers went on a run).
“We’ve all played in big games throughout our lives,” freshman center Hunter Dickinson explained this afternoon. “The NCAA Tournament is a different beast in itself — it’s crazy how important this tournament is.
“For us, it has been a great experience — especially for Mike and Chaundee, the elder statesmen on the team. They’ve been through battles a lot of guys don’t get to experience.
“Me and Franz have played in big games as well, so that prior experience helps. Guys like [senior guard] Eli [Brooks] and [injured senior forward] Zay [Isaiah Livers] are important for me and I look up to them, because they’re steady in key moments.
“I look to them for guidance and in what to do out there.”
The levelheadedness Michigan has displayed all season is also a reflection of Juwan Howard, its head coach. He has preached “The Team, The Team, The Team” mentality from day one, and it became evident from an early standpoint his players had bought in in every way imaginable.
The Wolverines are one of the best teams in the nation at sharing the basketball, with their 16 assists per game tying for 26th nationally (out of 353 Division 1 schools) and sixth among Power Conference teams.
“It [the selflessness] comes from him,” Dickinson exclaimed. “Coach Howard is a selfless individual and that’s something that stood out to me on my visit — how good of a person he is.
“That wears off on the team and it’s easy to embrace when you have guys who are willing to play for each other. Everyone has accepted their roles and that makes things so much easier — it doesn’t surprise me when you see someone shine, because everyone knows what their role is.
“I know I need to be an inside presence offensively and defensively, and do my best to open up the game for others. I kick it out to my open teammates when opponents double-team me, and my teammates would do the same for me.”
Michigan’s selfless attitude has gotten it to the Elite Eight with a 23-4 record, where the crew will next take on the UCLA Bruins tomorrow night. Mick Cronin’s team is an unexpected participant in the Elite Eight, having played in a first four play-in game before the actual NCAA Tournament even began just to get to this point.
“They’re a great team and there’s a reason they’re here,” Dickinson confirmed. “We’re treating them with a lot of respect because they deserve it. They’re well-coached and scrappy, and they play the right way.
“We’ve done a good job of staying locked in to every opponent all season. You can throw seedings out the window at this point because they don’t matter anymore. Every team deserves to be where they are and we don’t see them as an 11-seed.
“As long as we keep that mindset, we won’t be caught by surprise when they start making shots. They’ve earned the respect we’re giving them.”
Michigan is now suddenly viewed as a clear favorite after its past two games — LSU and Florida State — were seen more as tossups heading in. The Maize and Blue admittedly liked having that underdog mentality, but are now viewed as superior against a UCLA squad many feel are fortunate to be in this position.
“It’s funny how back when the Tournament was set, all I saw was how Michigan would get upset in the 8/9 [seed] game,” Dickinson recalled. “Now that we’ve won a few games, everyone is trying to jump on our bandwagon.
“We’ve been doubted the whole season and picked to finish middle of the pack in the Big Ten. We were barely ranked at the start of the season and now we’re a 1-seed and in the Elite Eight.
“We still want to carry that chip on our shoulder of being a team under the radar and grind it out for 40 minutes every time out.”
Notes
• Howard has had plenty of mantras and sayings his team has lived by this year, but one in particular has gained some traction amongst the fan base — “For Competitors Only.”
“’For competitors only’ is so true for him as a person, because he’s a competitor in everything he does,” the freshman center said. “As long as there’s time on the clock, he’ll coach as hard as he can and expects us to play as hard as we can.
“He’s preached ‘empty the tank’ lately too — it’s a good quote, because there’s only the possibility of three more games and 120 minutes of basketball. For a team who’s close like us, this will be the last time we all play as a unit.
“I love these guys and don’t want it to end, and want to do everything I can to get all 120 of those minutes. You have to give it your all because there’s nothing to save it for. In two weeks, the season will be over and you don’t want to look back and wonder if you could have played harder.”
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