How far Michigan basketball has come under John Beilein. Saturday night his team will play for a third banner in three years and fifth in the last seven when the Wolverines travel to Michigan State with a Big Ten title on the line.
For a good decade following the Ed Martin booster scandal basketball was an afterthought in Ann Arbor. That helped Tom Izzo take over the state and dominate the rivalry.
That’s changed with Beilein at the helm. U-M’s head coach is 9-8 since year three, had won three in a row since losing at home this year and now has a chance to atone for that loss.
“Every day, twice a day we go through some of our core values and talk for our love for our love of the University of Michigan and end up by saying, ‘one day we’ll be champions.’ Start of practice end of practice every day," Beilein said. "Here we are and it’s March 8, and tomorrow we’re playing to be champions. It doesn't get much better than that, and that’s all it is.
“We’re excited. It’s a good time to retool a little bit, also to get some rest for what’s hopefully going to be a great basketball game. They can put it on people and blow people out, and we can do the same thing. Hopefully it’s a really good basketball game and we have just enough in us to beat one of the best basketball programs in last two or three decades anywhere in the United States.”
The Spartans will be playing without forward Josh Langford and possibly big man Nick Ward. Forward Kyle Ahrens has also been struggling with back issues.
Michigan could be without Charles Matthews, who has been out with a sprained ankle suffered in the first game with the Spartans.
“Charles was able to practice a little today, practiced a little yesterday and he’ll be out there, go through warm-ups and let us know how he feels,” Beilein said. “We have to change [if he can’t go]. Just like anything we do, we do not coach a system. That’s way overblown. We move our program to what fits our players.
“There are some other things we can do, which I won’t tell you, that we’ll do when Isaiah Livers is in the lineup. You’ll have to figure that out by yourself. We’re not going to sit there and run the same plays for Charles we run for Isaiah, or the same action. That wouldn’t necessarily be the right idea. Whatever he can handle that Charles did before, we’ll do. Whatever we think he’s ready to handle, we’ll do.”
Reports that said Matthews was resting for the postseason were inaccurate, Beilein added.
"We’ll see what level he can go at. Maybe if give us a rest or even go full go, that would be the expectation,” Beilein said. “We’re being very careful with him.
“But [people] read way too much into what I say. When I said we’ve got to get him ready for the postseason, I didn’t say it’s because he’s not playing against Michigan State.”
The hope is that he will, but the Wolverines should be able to compete, regardless.
Beilein stopped short of calling it the biggest game of his career.
“There are a lot of big regular season games. You know when the big regular season games are?” he said. “When you don’t go to the NCAA Tournament if you don’t win that last game. Those are big regular season games.
“This is great. Whoever wins is going to be champions. We’re going after that championship. We’re not going to look back and say we have a chance for two other championships. This is the championship we want to win. But I’m not going to put it as greatest game of all time.”
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