Even though Michigan wound up with a No. 2 seed and a very favorable draw (in most people’s opinion) in the NCAA Tournament, the sting of Sunday’s loss to MSU in the Big Ten Tournament championship still hasn’t worn off.
The Wolverines had a chance to make history by taking home the annual event’s crown for a third year in a row, but instead fell to their arch enemy for the third time this season.
Despite that, head coach John Beilein was incredibly upbeat on his weekly Inside Michigan Basketball radio show, reiterating how incredible a position U-M is still in, thanks to the phenomenal year it has had so far.
He reminisced about not only last weekend’s Big Ten Tournament, but also the run his club has been on this season despite losing three of its most key players from last year’s squad.
“We played two NCAA Tournament teams [Iowa and Minnesota] in the first two rounds last weekend and won handily,” he exclaimed.
“We’ve had such an incredible year, and I told my team that after the game. We weren’t able to beat our arch rival for a lot of reasons, but it doesn’t take away from the season we’ve had.
“We’ve been in the top-10 of the AP poll for 18 straight weeks. MSU is always going to be good, and my hope is that Michigan will always be too — stuff like that just happens sometimes.
“It’s a tough matchup for us, but what we did to Iowa and Minnesota — especially coming off the MSU loss — was tremendous. We lost not only scoring from last year’s team, but also maturity and experience.
“Muhammad[-Ali Abdur-Rahkman] was terrific for us, and Moe [Wagner] would have helped us this year too because he hit some daggers at times, along with Duncan Robinson.
“In our losses this season, we’ve needed some of those buckets to stop a rally here and there. For us to only have six losses after what we lost shows how great of a year we’ve had.
“This is such a young team and there are no four-year players on it. I’m just starting to look at Montana now, and they’re filled with fifth-year seniors, juniors and redshirt juniors. They’re so experienced, but we need to relish what we have and what our future looks like.”
To Beilein’s last point, Michigan’s future is incredibly bright.
The Wolverines don’t have a single senior or fifth-year senior on their roster, though redshirt junior guard Charles Matthews is heavily expected to go pro.
Assuming he leaves early, Michigan could potentially return every other player next season, including key veterans in junior point guard Zavier Simpson and junior center Jon Teske.
Beilein has always been quick to praise his players, but went in-depth on how special several specific athletes on this year’s club are, and how much he has seen them grow over the past year or so.
He began with Simpson.
“Just look of the people he was guarding this weekend — [Iowa junior guard Jordan] Bohannon, [Minnesota senior guard Dupree] McBrayer and then [MSU junior guard Cassius] Winston on Sunday,” Beilein recalled.
“He did it on both ends the whole tournament, and it’s as good as any point guard has performed. He was absolutely sensational, even though his head is down right now. I’ve never seen a kid have a 30-to-2 [assist-to-turnover] ratio like he did.
“As for Teske, we’re asking him to play too many minutes right now, but he’s responded well with it. We’ll have someone next year who can back him up and get him more rest. He and [MSU sophomore big man Xavier] Tillman were locked in a great battle on Sunday, and having Jon grow and get better has been everything for us.
“Every time us coaches talk with [sophomore forward] Isaiah [Livers], he’s looking back at us in the eye and saying, ‘yes sir.’ His positivity rubs off on the other guys.
“That show he put on against Minnesota was incredible [when he scored a career-high 21 points], and he has worked on getting his elbow up high on his jump shot. He used to shoot from his chest, but now he’s developed more of a pro jump shot.
“He has a great career ahead of him not only at Michigan, but perhaps afterward as well. When you can shoot it from deep like he can, there are a lot of places you can play. Isaiah loves guarding anybody on the court too, and that defensive attitude has really grown on him.
“One of the most satisfying things in coaching is watching guys grow, and one downside is when they don’t grow fast enough. It’s the same for parents — you just have to stay with it and they’ll eventually get there.
“Finally, a guy like [sophomore guard] Eli [Brooks] was a star in high school, but now that he’s coming off the bench, it’s hard for him. He just needs to make a couple shots to get comfortable.
“Eli makes very few mistakes defensively both on and off the ball, and we’ll need him against Montana.”
Thursday night's first round NCAA Tournament showdown against Montana is scheduled for a 9:20 ET tip, and will be played in Des Moines, Iowa.
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