One Last 'Victors' from Emotion-Filled Postgame Locker Room
4/3/2018 6:55:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Features
• Watch: Coach Beilein Postgame Interview
• Photo Gallery: U-M's NCAA Tournament Run
By Steve Kornacki
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The University of Michigan locker room hadn't been this quiet after a game in a long time. It had been a place of celebration and joyous noise ever since the Wolverines last lost nearly two months ago on Feb. 6 at Northwestern.
But after Coach John Beilein addressed them, an assistant coach and several players spoke from their hearts. The silence was broken by the singing of "The Victors."
"We never have done that before," said Beilein, in his 11th season at Michigan, "But I just thought that this team represented this university so well that it was the right thing to do, to finish it off that way. It was the saddest, but then it was a good one."
The winningest basketball team in school history had taken 14 straight games before losing Monday night's (April 2) national championship game to Villanova, 79-62. The Wolverines had beaten three top-10 teams, including Michigan State and Purdue in winning the Big Ten Tournament, and marched through March Madness with five memorable NCAA Tournament victories.
There was Jordan Poole's 32-footer that turned defeat into victory against Houston as time expired. Then came the total domination of Texas A&M, which had just dominated North Carolina, and a hard-fought win over Florida State sparked by Duncan Robinson's clutch performance down the stretch to punch the team's ticket for the Final Four.
Moritz Wagner took over the national semifinal game with 24 points and 15 rebounds to end Loyola Chicago's run. And while Monday night's (April 2) championship game started out good, with Wagner on the rampage again and Michigan leading by 7 points midway through the first half, it ended in defeat. Wagner apparently sprained the thumb on his right shooting hand early in the second half, but didn't offer that as an excuse.
Villanova claimed the prize before 67,831 at the Alamodome behind a commanding performance by Donte DiVincenzo, who scored 31 points off the bench while National Player of the Year Jalen Brunson didn't even reach double-figures.
Beilein reminded his players that they had set the school record for wins in going 33-8, and assistant coach Saddi Washington added: "You guys had an unbelievable season, and your record ... you won't know the impact right now. But 10, 15, 20 years down the line, people are going to talk about this team. So, be proud of that."
Still, several players were sobbing into their March Madness towels through much of the talk.
None of them wanted the magical ride to end anywhere but the victory stage, but No. 3 seed Michigan didn't have enough to counter No. 1 seed Villanova, which had beaten another No. 1 seed, Kansas, by 16 points in the other national semifinal.
Beilein pointed out that they lost to a team that "had more firepower," plain and simple, but didn't dwell much on the game.
"We had a hell of a year and went to the national championship game," said Beilein, who had been here once before with the Wolverines in 2013 and lost to Louisville. "We had incredible moments in this season to get to this point.
"After the win at Michigan State, I said that this isn't the highlight, it's one of the highlights. And we can stack those up from here to kingdom come. They can never take away the experiences that you had in making it to the championship game."
He noted that Michigan has played in eight NCAA championship games and won only once, in 1989.
"So," Beilein said, "you're not alone. Life goes on, you grow from it, and you get better. We won the Big Ten championship. We battled through adversity and won 33 games. This team just grew, and grew, and grew."
The Wolverines were unranked in the first week of January, but were one of the last two teams standing.
"I'm as proud of this team as any team I've coached in all these years," said Beilein, who has won 799 games in 40 seasons. "I appreciate how you bought into what we're doing. We weren't perfect, but we were pretty close to perfect. I thank all of you for being great representatives of the greatest university in the world, and how people love you.
"They love you for what you accomplished, but they love you more for who you are ... And I loved every moment of this."
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Duncan Robinson embrace at the conclusion of the Wolverines' magical postseason run
Beilein said he couldn't ask for "two better people to exhibit what this program is all about" than senior captains Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Robinson, noting that "they didn't come in with any hype" and became 1,000-point scorers who led them to the NCAA championship game.
"Substance got it done (for them)," said Beilein.
Then he credited the other tri-captain, junior Wagner.
"Moe, as a captain, you were absolutely tremendous," said Beilein. "So much energy you gave us. It's incredible."
Beilein fought back tears before asking his captains to speak.
Abdur-Rahkman said: "I just love you all. You're like my brothers. I always say, 'Don't be sad it's over. Be happy that it happened.' I love you guys."
Robinson said: "It's not about the big games. It's about the day to day. I love you guys, and I'm just so thankful. I so wanted to win this game for everybody in this room because everyone in this room deserved it, especially Coach B. But I'm just so thankful for everybody. Thank you."
Players and coaches applauded both of them.
Beilein then asked Wagner to speak if he wanted. He was sitting down, towel over his head, and tears in his eyes.
"I just love you guys," said Wagner, who then became inaudible because of the emotion he felt. Beilein asked the few camera crews in the locker room to shut off at that point, and they complied.
Wagner continued, "I love you brothers forever."
Beilein noted that "our hearts are heavy" but then he asked his players, coaches and staff to sing the school fight song "with so much love," adding, "We're 33-8 and nobody's ever going to take that away from us."
"And in my heart forever," he said, "you will always be champions."
They clapped rhythmically before singing "The Victors" one last time.
"At first, it didn't feel quite right," said Robinson. "But then, when we were singing it, it did feel right. We accomplished a lot and put a lot into it, and it felt right to end it on that note."
After that, Austin Hatch, the student assistant who survived two plane crashes that claimed his father, mother, stepmother, brother and sister, asked for time to thank everyone in the program. He graduates in April, and in July will marry Abby Cole, a Wolverine volleyball All-American.
"I don't think it's an accident that I came to a place like Michigan a week before all that changed," Hatch said of the second crash that nearly killed him days after committing to the Wolverines. "Michigan changed my life forever."
Beilein added, "And you changed our lives, too. You gave these guys an appreciation of what's really important."
I later spoke with the captains one-on-one about what Beilein's words and the words of others meant to them in an emotional postgame locker room.
"It means a lot," said Robinson, who four years earlier had played and lost the Division III national championship game with Williams College. "There was a lot of emotion after an incredible season, an incredible career.
"I love these guys because they're genuinely good people, people who show up every day and work, and go to school, and are part of this program. It's just as special as it is. All the wins and points and whatever. It's just about the people and the relationships. We were brought together by a common goal and a common love, and we'll be friends forever."
Abdur-Rahkman said: "Our team talk meant a lot. This was a special team to be a part of, and the brotherhood we have on the team is just tremendous. We ran out of games, but the relationships will always be remembered.
"But, you know, you always want to leave a legacy. At Michigan, you are remembered by winning championships and making a big run in the NCAA Tournament. And we just wanted to leave our mark on school history, and I think we did that."
Wagner said: "You do this for the other guys on the team, and to see them disappointed and sad, that's the stuff that hurts. It makes you sad. Winning or losing, that's part of it, but too see your brothers cry and be sad, and the way Duncan talked, it's just tough, man. It's his last game.
"The relationships I take from that room is something I'll never forget, and will always carry around with me. I just wish we could've won the game, but they were so good."
The Wolverines had three starters exceed their scoring averages.
Abdur-Rahkman led them with 23 points, and was brilliant in his 144th and final game, having played two more than any other Michigan player.
Sophomore point guard Zavier Simpson drove well to the basket in the second half, when he scored 8 of his 10 points.
Junior forward Wagner came out strong with 11 points in the first nine minutes, and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds to make the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship All-Tournament team with 40 points and 22 rebounds in two games.
"Look at my thumb," said Wagner, holding up his right thumb that was purple and had swollen significantly. "I mean it hurt a bit in the game, but it didn't look like that."
He believed it was sprained and said he injured the thumb "in that little scuffle" with Villanova's Omari Spellman with 15:24 to play. Both players were assessed technical fouls for their confrontation.
Michigan never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way, but Beilein chose to focus more on his team's body of work in a record-setting season than losing the championship game. He was especially proud of the love that permeated his emotional locker room.
"Families get through things like this," said Beilein, "and we're a family in there. We were just so connected to doing things the right way. They were so connected to the goal and the mission that it allowed them to just get better every day.
"You do that, and great things happen."
At the end of the night, it was ironic the golf cart transporting Beilein and his wife, Kathleen, down the Alamodome concourse was met by the golf cart carrying Villanova coach Jay Wright and his wife, Patty. The couples had become friends when the husbands coached against one another in the Big East, where Beilein coached West Virginia.
They smiled and waved, and as they went in opposite directions, Wright shouted, "I love you guys!"
There was a lot of love expressed here after the final college basketball game of what some consider one of the finest NCAA tourneys ever. None of it will change the outcome and bring Michigan its first national title in 29 years, but it will go a long way toward validating these Wolverines as a special team beyond being one that accomplished everything it could've hoped for except for one final win.
