ANN ARBOR, Mich. — No matter the sport, the best teams are the ones that assume the mentality of great leaders.

Once upon a time, Zack Novak helped change the culture of Michigan basketball as an undersized power forward (6-3 on a good day) who simply hated to lose, almost more than he liked to win.

He helped will the Wolverines to their first Big Ten title in nearly 30 years, and he didn’t do it by always stuffing stat sheets, though he did hit some timely shots and made some big plays.

No … he did it by doing all the little things on and off the court winners do.

Several years later, Zavier Simpson has picked up where Novak left off. There have been great teams and leaders in between, but the take-no-(crap), ‘you’re not beating us today’ attitude … nobody’s done it better since.