Dick Weiss on NCAA Tournament
SAN ANTONIO—Before destiny brought Jay Wright of Villanova and John Beilein of Michigan together for Monday night’s NCAA Tournament championship game here at the Alamo Dome, they had a long friendship that went back to the start of their college coaching careers.
Wright’s first coaching job was at the University of Rochester, a Division III school, under Mike Neer in 1984. At the same time, Beilein was a young head coach at Lemoyne College in nearby Syracuse.
“Being a Division III assistant coach is about as low as you can be in the college basketball business,’’ Wright recalled. “John was a Division II head coach. And just like he is now, just the nicest guy in the world. He was always very friendly. But we would recruit guys all year long in upstate New York, then John would until the end of the year, because he had scholarships and we didn’t.
“You’d be on a guy and you’d just hope you wouldn’t see John in the gym. And like, in April, he’d pop in and he’s see you. I’d say, ‘Are you going to take him, John?’ And he’d be ‘Yeah, I’m sorry, but we’re going to take him.’
“Then we came to the Big East together, me at Villanova and him at West Virginia. Our wives played tennis together at the Big East meetings. When John left for Michigan in 2007, Patty said to me, ‘Oh my God. I’m going to lose my tennis partner. Kathy is leaving.’ And I said, ‘We’re losing a great coach and a great team. It’s a little bigger than that. It’s a little scary. But what you see in John is what you get. Greatest guy in the world, man, great coach.’’
Wright eventually won a national championship at Villanova in 2016, defeating North Carolina, 77-74, on a last second three-point jump shot by Kris Jenkins. Beilein has been coaching for 40 years and is considered a coaches’ coach. He has taken under the radar players at both West Virginia and Michigan and developed them into NBA prospects while turning both programs into national contenders. He is arguably the best coach out there without a national championship on his resume.
Beilein coached his 2013 Michigan team to the national championship game against Louisville. The Cardinals won, 82-76, but the NCAA has since vacated the title because they used ineligible players. Most Michigan fans and alums feel the Wolverines should have been awarded the title.
“No,’’ he said, “we didn’t win that one. It was fair and square. They didn’t have six guys on the court. They didn’t have Rick’s brother-in-law refereeing or something like that. We lost the game. They won it. I’m going to leave it like that and that’s the way it should be.
“We had our chance and we couldn’t quite get it done. And we didn’t get the breaks in that game. Maybe it all said, ‘Coach, you’re not going to get any breaks in this game, but in five years, Jordan Poole is going to hit an incredible shot in a second-round game against Houston to give you another opportunity.
“So, 2013 was a great game. When you think about Luke Hancock of Louisville, who was virtually unrecruited in high school and our guard Spike Albrecht, who was unrecruited out of high school, that’s all anybody talked about at halftime. The rumor is Spikes Twitter account grew from 5,000 to 20,000 in the space of 20 minutes. But we did not win. And we won’t say we’re national champions.’’
Beilein has been blessed with another opportunity after defeating Loyola of Chicago, 69-57, in one semifinal when 6-11 junior Moe Wagner overwhelmed the Ramblers with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Villanova is here after blistering Kansas, 95-79, making an NCAA semi-final record 18 three-point goals in 40 attempts in the other semifinal.
Michigan, which won just 7 for 28 in its win over Loyola, will have to drain threes at a higher rate and then limit the Wildcats’ three-point attempts if it wants to have a chance to become the Big Ten’s first national champion since Michigan State in 2000.
“I’ve heard those thoughts before,’’ Beilein said. “I think every team gets to this point, it’s not always the best team that wins this game. It’s the team that had a few breaks along the way. And the Big Ten has had some tough breaks along the way between our game with Louisville and Wisconsin’s game against Duke in 2015. Both games could have gone either way.
“We could have two more.
“The Big Ten would love to win another one. But it’s not like any of us are saying the Big Ten isn’t very good. It’s as strong as any league out there, it’s just the breaks haven’t gone our way. Maybe things will change. If they don’t, it doesn’t change. The Big Ten is good—14 deep good with incredible coaches. And I’m not carrying that weight on our back or on Michigan’s back.’’
