Michigan basketball's run started long before plane crash

Surviving a plane that skids off a runway is more than a minor miracle. Such an ordeal can change perspective, among other things.

It also makes for a good narrative. Certainly, it has for this Michigan basketball team.

It’s just not the narrative. Or shouldn’t be.

That’s a disservice to the story of these Wolverines. Their transformation began long before the plane crash two weeks ago.

U-M coach John Beilein thinks his team began to change the night of the Super Bowl, when New England came back to stun Atlanta. Beilein texted every player that night about the improbable catch Patriots receiver Julian Edelman made during the comeback.

“And I said, ‘that’s what we’re talking about. There are outliers, and outlaying plays that can make a difference in a season,’” he told them. “You’ve got to reach for this thing (you) don’t think you can do … and do it.”

Those texts came the night after U-M lost to Ohio State at the Crisler Center. The Buckeyes punished the Wolverines that night. U-M had more skill; OSU had more grit. It was demoralizing. Because the Wolverines weren’t tough enough at that point, and they were wasting their talent.

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Not intentionally, of course. They just didn’t believe.

Here’s how sophomore forward, Moe Wagner, explained it:

“Before every practice we say we’re gonna be champions. At first, you think, ‘that might be a little ridiculous to say that every day.’ But now we’re starting to understand, man, this is a mentality. Coach wants us to embrace it.”

That took a while. It wasn’t that Wagner and his teammates didn’t trust Beilein. In fact, the opposite was true before the season started. The team thought a little too much of itself, then scuffled in the first half of the season.

“We came in thinking we were gonna be good,” said Beilein. “We lost that edge.”

The low-point, of course, was that loss to Ohio State.

The next game was against Michigan State, who had beaten U-M the week before. With two days between games, Beilein and his staff relied on psychology as much as routine game prep study. Focusing on the Edelman catch helped crystalize the message.

“We had to have an extra level of edge,” said the coach.

It helped playing a rival in the next game. U-M throttled the Spartans, giving Tom Izzo his worst loss at Crisler. The following weekend, the Wolverines traveled to Bloomington, Ind., and beat the Hoosiers.

“That was a good team,” said Beilein. “You could see (my team) had potential.”

That week is where the season started to pivot. It wasn’t just that U-M started winning, it was the difference in practice, the difference in huddles during games that told Beilein something might be brewing.

Before Ohio State, these Wolverines were mostly a quiet, deferential group. The only player who liked to chirp was Wagner. After Ohio State, point guard Derrick Walton Jr. started talking. D.J. Wilson did, too.

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Much has been made about the level of play – and leadership – of Walton the last six weeks. Rightly so. Yet Wilson finding his voice and engaging in a running commentary with Wagner has changed the dynamic, too.

Wagner and Wilson are U-M’s best NBA prospects. They are a nightmarish matchup duo for just about any opposing frontline to counter. Capable of attacking the rim, shooting from three and pulling up off the bounce.

Now they are talking like it. No matter where they are.

“They are constantly bickering, like brothers,” said Walton. “Any chance they get to laugh at each other, they take it. I laugh along with them.”

This spirit has energized the whole. Put that together with Walton’s oratorical emergence and fellow senior Zak Irvin’s resurgent bravado because of some timely shot-making, and you see the spark of personality that define winning teams.

That noise is everywhere, especially with Wilson and Wagner.

“We can talk to each other,” said Wagner. “Give each other (a hard time). The way he talks to me sometimes it’s like I’ve done something against his family. But he just wants me to box out. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

This is how it works when a team creates an identity. The accountability can’t just come from the coaches.

It’s why Wagner, and many of his teammates, were skeptical when Beilein made them say they were going to champions before every practice. They were just repeating what a coach told them. They weren’t hearing it from each other.

Well, that began to change in early February. Yes, surviving the plane crash is part of their story, but it’s only a part.

Beilein knew he had the talent to make a run this season. He just didn’t know if he had the personalities. He kept telling them to reach, to push themselves beyond what they believed they could do.

They did.

“We’re starting to understand: this is a mentality,” said Wagner. “This is actually a plan that’s working. This man really knows what he’s talking about.”

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.