Halfway into Big Ten play, Michigan basketball living up to Dusty May’s mentor’s words

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PISCATAWAY, N.J. — As legendary Michigan basketball coach John Beilein drove from Naples, Florida, to Miami on Tuesday, he recited a refrain the Wolverines’ current head coach heard many times himself throughout the years.

The Hall of Famer joined the Free Press’ ‘Hail Yes’ podcast to discuss the 2024-25 season and provide his insight ahead of the stretch run and already one of his many musings has proved rather prescient.

“The good teams find a way to be in position to be in position,” Beilein said, quoting Bob Knight, the Big Ten’s All-time winningest coach (for a few more days, at least) during his days at Indiana.

Michigan center Vladislav Goldin (50) celebrates a play against Northwestern during the second half at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025.

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Knight, of course, led the Hoosiers while current U-M coach Dusty May was a student manager (1996-2000).

While Beilein was specifically talking about what he called the “lucky” shots made by Trey Burke against Kansas and Jordan Poole against Houston in U-M’s 2013 and 2018 Final Four runs, he could also have been referring to the grind that results in hanging banners, be they Big Ten regular season, Big Ten tournament or NCAA tournament.

Knight, for his part, was always partial to the regular-season league title — he paced the Hoosiers’ sideline from 1971-2000, with only three seasons overlapping with the Big Ten tourney that began in 1998 — and having looked up to those philosophies for decades, May is too.

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That’s why he reiterated those same points postgame to his Wolverines (16-5, 8-2 Big Ten) in the locker room: Nobody should apologize for winning ugly, as they did against a young Rutgers team missing half its star power on Saturday afternoon.

All that matters is singing “The Victors” in the…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/halfway-big-ten-play-michigan-110839631.html

Author : Detroit Free Press

Publish date : 2025-02-03 11:08:00

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