Wolverines Give New Meaning to the Term 'Big Dance'
3/25/2018 6:10:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
LOS ANGELES -- What does it feel like to be on a bus with your team after winning a hard-fought game to reach the Final Four?
If you are the Wolverines, fresh off a 58-54 triumph over Florida State, it feels like you have gone to a dance party.
"Do More, Say Less" a song that salutes the University of Michigan men's basketball team by Ann Arbor rapper P.L., blared over the sound system of the charter bus as it pulled away from Staples Center late Saturday night (March 24).
The players began singing its words -- which has the motto the Wolverines wear on shirts as the song's title refrain -- and the bus began rocking. The players were loving it. What could be better than a team having its own rap song -- done by a performer who, according to his Twitter account, @plofficial, has been on MTV and BET -- and rolling through downtown L.A. with it pulsating off the windows?
Well, here's how it got better:
Michigan coach John Beilein, who was in high school when the Beatles were still together, got up from the front seat and raised his arms, and began dancing, swaying from side to side. Then Beilein turned to his right and took a few steps down the aisle.
"Hey, Jordan!" shouted Beilein, waving freshman guard Jordan Poole toward the center of the bus. "Let's dance!"
Honest, I'm not making this up.
Poole, in shock, made his way toward Beilein, laughing all the way. Then they did the Beilein Dance together for a brief performance, and Beilein reached out to slap Poole a high-five and hug him.
Everyone on the bus was laughing, and half of them seemed to be recording it on their phones. So, there is proof that it happened.
When the team arrived at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel after the 10-minute party on wheels, tri-captain Moritz Wagner stepped off the bus holding the NCAA West Regional trophy with the net they cut down draped over it.
FINAL FOUR BOUND!!!
— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) March 25, 2018
????????????#GoBlue | #FinalFour pic.twitter.com/6eqQN21uTL
"Champions of the West," said Wagner. "That's a line from our fight song."
Hail to "The Victors," indeed. As Wagner walked through the massive glass front doors, his team right behind, a group of Michigan fans had gathered in two long lines to have their heroes pass through them en route to the elevators. The players slapped hands with them and even posed briefly for photos. The fans sang and roared approval.
Hey, it was almost as loud as during the game. Michigan fans took over the arena from a group of Seminole fans who usually drown out opposing fans with their chanting and tomahawk chopping.
"LET'S GO BLUE!" was repeated over and over, echoing off the high-wall confines of Staples.
Three players seemed to spark that reaction the most: Charles Matthews, Moritz Wagner and late-game hero Duncan Robinson.
Matthews scored the first points of the game on a two-handed thunder dunk off a nifty pass from Wagner, and that got everybody going. Matthews dunked again on a fast-break pass from Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman. And later in the first half, when he scored 10 of his game-high 17 points, Matthews drained a mid-range rainbow shot and was fouled. He hit the free throw and smiled wide as he made eye contact all the way down the bench.
In the second half, he swished a three-pointer and scored on a drive through the trees on the Seminole front line that had 7-foot-4 Christ Koumadje playing the redwood position.
Matthews, averaging 16.5 points in four NCAA games, showed why he was "an elite defender," according to Beilein, by holding down Florida State's formidable Terance Mann to four points with four turnovers. He was named the Most Outstanding Player on the All-West Regional team that included Abdur-Rahkman and Wagner.
Wagner had 12 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots. He missed all seven treys attempted, but when he scored down low after grabbing a rebound and added the free throw after being fouled, that three-point play made it 45-38. It was a critical play where cushion was concerned, and Wagner stuck out his chest and extended both arms before shaking them with his fists clinched.
"People go crazy after that," said Wagner. "This Michigan brand travels so well, and it's huge for us."Â
Robinson didn't score in 15 minutes of first-half playing time, and took only one shot. But he scored 7 memorable points in the second half.
He scored on a fast-break layup triggered by a Jon Teske defensive rebound before Simpson lofted an accurate, 50-foot pass to him. That put Michigan up, 38-28, and the roar of the Michigan fans was deafening.
Robinson hit a three-pointer from the corner with 2:15 remaining that got the lead back to 10 points, 54-44, and again Staples was rocking with joy. That appeared to be the dagger shot, but then the Wolverines missed free throws down the stretch. The outcome was in doubt when Robinson toed the free throw line with a two-point lead and 20.9 seconds remaining. He calmly sank both shots, making it a two-possession game.
And here's something eerie: Michigan is now 28-0 when Robinson scores at least six points, and might have lost had he not scored those crucial sixth and seventh points.
"I pride myself in being able to step into those moments," said Robinson, "and it was pretty cool to be able to do that for this team."
Florida State was down by four points, and when Robinson snared the rebound from the final shot the Seminoles would take with 11 seconds left, he dribbled and waited to be fouled. But Mann walked away from him and Robinson dribbled out the final seconds, heading to the Michigan side of the court to toss the ball high into the air near the free throw line where he'd clinched the outcome seconds earlier.
"I was expecting to get fouled," said Robinson, "but it was pretty cool to solidify the win that way. It was awesome."
The Wolverines continue doing it on defense by forcing 15 turnovers, holding the Seminoles scoreless for a stretch of 7:53 late in the second half, and limiting FSU to a season-low .314 shooting percentage.
"It was great, just phenomenal," said Simpson, who had three steals. "They made some tough plays, but we executed. That's what it's all about."
Matthews said: "That's where you win games at, and we understand that. We're going to lock in there."
Abdur-Rahkman added: "We each had to weather the storm and get stops when we needed it. And I think that's what we did. We got the stops."
And when it was over, they took the stage together. They took photos, posed with the trophy and bathed in maize and blue confetti falling onto them and their Final Four hats.
I asked the Wolverines what that moment was like.
"It was unbelievable -- just great," said Beilein, who was drenched by his players moments later and required a shirt change. "It's icing on the cake, and someday I'll probably look back at that moment.
"But it was a great win, wasn't it? We've been playing well for a long time now."
Michigan (32-7) set the school single-season victory record in this one, and has won 13 consecutive games, dating back to Feb. 11.
"This is something you can get used to," Wagner said of the trophy presentation celebration. "That was a lot of fun. This stuff doesn't happen too much, you know. But our coach is a Hall of Famer and was just there five years ago. I was watching that from our home in (Berlin) Germany, and now I'm playing for him in another Final Four.
"This is a dream come true, it really is, but we're not done yet."
Wagner received a text from his mother, Beate, saying that her and his father, Axel, had just purchased plane tickets to be in San Antonio.
"Being up on stage with my teammates," said Matthews, "that was the best feeling. That's what it's all about."
Freshman forward Isaiah Livers added: "That was crazy -- seeing all of our personalities coming out up there on that stage. But we've got to keep working. San Antonio, here we come."
Livers had blood on his jersey after taking a shot in the nose while boxing out. But now he also had confetti in his hair.
Backup point guard Jaaron Simmons spotted starting point guard Zavier Simpson, Wagner and Abdur-Rahkman sitting on the front of the stage, posing with the trophy for photos. Simmons took two heaping handfuls of confetti and tossed it into the air above them.
"I threw it on them," said Simmons. "They deserved it. They are our leaders, and the reason we got to this point. So, a shout-out to them.
"I don't even know what to say. I'm on cloud nine, baby. The Final Four is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and my last opportunity, and it happened. I've got a big smile on my face, but we're not finished yet. I think we can do more. We've got more in us."
Robinson said: "It was incredible. What we've done this year is hard to put into words."
Abdur-Rahkman added: "It was just surreal up there, a dream come true."
They are headed to the Final Four in San Antonio for a game next Saturday (March 31) with No. 11 seed Loyola Chicago, making Michigan's eighth appearance in the showcase, and it's first since 2013. The Wolverines have one national championship in 1989.
"It feels great going to the Final Four," said Simpson. "We worked hard for this win both individually and as a team."
All that was left was to cut down the net. When Poole climbed the ladder, the Michigan fans gave him a roaring ovation. He'd played only two minutes in this game, but his 32-foot shot as time expired last Saturday (March 17) was the difference between elimination and reaching the Sweet 16.
"Yeah, that was quite an ovation," said Poole. "I didn't do much in this game, but it shows how much love I get from the fan base, and how important it was that we got to L.A."
Were they saying thank you for beating Houston in Wichita, Kansas?
"For sure," said Poole. "I'm just through the roof right now."
They call this tourney "The Big Dance," and what Poole and Beilein did on the bus to that rap song -- which is rumored to soon be released for the public -- could very well go down as the Wolverine version of just that.
