8801140584
DETROIT FREE PRESS
880327
Sunday, March 27, 1988
METRO FINAL
1E
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1988, Detroit Free Press
BLAME . . . NO ONE
SAD FINISH, STRONG SEASON FOR U-M
SEATTLE -- Bill Frieder lay on the couch of his hotel suite, his eyes red,
his head propped up on a pillow. On the table was a bottle of penicillin
tablets, a glass of orange juice, and a half-used tab of Sucrets.
"You know what I saw on TV last night?" he croaked, fighting the flu.
"Villanova upsets Kentucky. The CBS guys say: 'Hey, let's congratulate
Kentucky on an excellent season. They have nothing to be ashamed of.' "
He shook his head and laughed.
"I'm still taking flak for losing to Villanova in 1985 when they went on to
win the national championship!"
Ah, well. Can't win for losing. This was a few hours before Michigan's
game against North Carolina Friday night, a close affair in which U-M would be
outplayed in the final minutes, outmuscled, outlucked, and finally defeated
-- not by much, but defeated, 78-69 -- to end its season in third round of the
NCAA tournament. Frieder would plop into a chair in the locker room afterward,
hair frazzled, eyes blurry, and accept the hushed words of well-wishers:
"Nice going . . . good try . . . you did your best."
He could have told you what happens next.
"One game and you're either a genius or a lousy coach," he predicted back
in the hotel room. "That's the way it is in this tournament. People form
opinions and that's that. I don't agree with it. But I don't get upset
anymore. It's just so ridiculous."
Can't win for losing.
Let's be honest here. The problem with running a top-notch program is that
people expect a top-notch finish. They remember your last game, and inevitably
in the NCAA tournament -- unless you win the national championship -- that
last game is a defeat. Had Michigan won Friday night, fans would be tingling
now with excitement, marveling at this U-M team, and how the Final Four was so
close, oh boy!
Instead, people are talking about how North Carolina -- the first "really
tough" team U-M faced in this tournament -- outcooled the Wolverines, beat
them down the stretch, and if it wasn't going to be North Carolina it would
have been Arizona, and if not the Wildcats, somebody else. People don't
really believe you can win it all until you do.
"You know, I talked to this team about winning the national championship
right from the beginning," Frieder admitted, despite having denied any such
aspirations throughout the year. Was he realistic? How good was Michigan? How
good were Grant, Mills, Robinson, Rice, Vaught, Hughes -- this beefy
collection of shaved heads and unbridled athleticism?
This good: Good enough to win 26 games. Good enough to overcome the loss
of Sean Higgins (academic ineligibility) in mid-stride. Good enough to beat
Indiana by 20 points, Iowa by 17, Illinois by 12 -- and last week, Florida by
23.
And not good enough to beat Syracuse, or Purdue, or Arizona, or, finally,
North Carolina.
In other words, a very successful Big Ten team that was unlikely to upset
any superpowers. Frieder did an excellent job bringing all that young talent
together so fast. And true, they were in that game Friday night, scratching
and clawing in a maddeningly slow affair laden with time-outs, foul shots and
substitutions. Until the final minute, they were alive -- despite the sinking
of their star player, Gary Grant, who had the worst game at the worst time,
fouling out with only seven points.
And yet they did not pull it out. The Wolverines missed a few boxing-out
assignments, they got a couple of bad bounces, and it was over. What can we
deduce from that? They weren't as good as North Carolina? They weren't as
lucky as North Carolina? They wouldn't have as much success as North Carolina
in the next round?
The answer is: You can't deduce anything. Except that the Tar Heels won,
and the Wolverines lost.
A moment here for Grant. He is a marvelous basketball player, deserving of
his All-America honors, but he skidded in the post- season and sadly, that
will hurt his reputation. In two of the three tournament games (North Carolina
and Boise State) the senior guard was subpar. "Every player has a night like
I had now and then," Grant said in the locker room after Friday's defeat, in
which he shot just 3-for-10 from the floor. "This was my night for it. I could
feel it from the start. I never got into my game."
Too bad. Michigan fans know his game. Frieder knows his game.
Unfortunately, most of the country gets its only look at the teams during the
post-season tournament: What they will remember about U-M is a team leader who
was not there when his team needed him most.
Unfair? Sure, it's unfair. But such is the nature of the college
basketball post-season. Sixty-four teams. Quick glances. Quick judgments.
Which is why it should be celebrated, enjoyed, but not taken too seriously.
The NCAA tournament, after all, is usually won by a team that peaks at the
right time, gets a decent draw, and tears into the national spotlight. There
are often teams eliminated in the first round that could defeat the ultimate
champions two out of three games.
So why focus on the bowed heads that left the floor Friday night? One game
is not a season. Like the CBS guys said, congratulations. Here, better, was
Michigan, 1987-88: Grant dishing off the ball, bouncing, flicking, whipping
passes, becoming U-M's all-time assist leader; Glen Rice, bombs away, scoring
39 points in the inspirational victory over Florida last weekend; Rumeal
Robinson and Terry Mills, forced to sit out last season, maturing as players
and as people all season long, with Robinson hitting a personal best Friday
night, 29 points, suggesting that the backcourt torch passed from Grant will
be in very good hands; and Frieder, finally, passing his haunted second round
of the tournament, hugging Grant, with whom he shared 100 victories in four
years. "We did it," they said to each other. That's a nice moment in college
basketball. It really is.
You have your choice. You can focus on a season's worth of high notes, 26
wins, or on the final chorus, in which North Carolina proved too strong.
Either way, the NCAA tournament rolls on. It is an unforgiving way to end a
season, either glory or elimination, live or die. No one has time for
sympathy.
"You going home?" a man wearing an Arizona sweatsuit asked me in the
elevator as I was leaving the hotel. Arizona had won Friday night and will
play in the West Regional final this afternoon.
"Yes," I answered. "I'm going home."
"Michigan?"
"Uh-huh."
"Too bad about them. I can see why you wouldn't want to stay around for
Sunday's game."
I shook my head. The elevator continued its descent. The man paused, then
raised an eyebrow as he leaned toward me.
"Wanna sell me your seat?" he said.
U-M;BASKETBALL;COLLEGE;TOURNAMENT;NCAA