John Beilein

Discounting (a) the obvious complaints about the officiating in the NCAA championship game (even though that likely had a significant impact on the outcome), and (b) the fact that Michigan was the youngest team in the NCAA tournament field, IF Michigan had beaten Louisville, the head coaches of the last five teams that Michigan would have beaten in the NCAA Tournament were:

VCU’s Shaka Smart; overall record of 111-36 (.753); in the NCAA tournament in three of his four seasons as a head coach and won the post-season CBI tournament in his first season as a head coach; made the Final Four in 2011, his second season as a head coach; considered one of the nation’s top young college coaches.

Kansas’s Bill Self; overall record of 507-164 (.756); 2008 NCAA champ; in the NCAA tournament every year since 1999; twice in the Final Four and seven times in the Elite Eight.

Florida’s Billy Donovan; overall record of 450-186 (.707); 2006 and 2007 NCAA champ; except for 2008 and 2009, in the NCAA tournament every year since 1999; in the Final Four three times and six times in the Elite Eight.

Syracuse’s Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim; overall record of 920-314 (.746); 2003 NCAA champ; except for 2002, 2007 and 2008, in the NCAA tournament every year since 1999; four times in the Final Four, runner-up twice and in the Elite Eight six times; two-time assistant coach of USA Olympics gold-medal team.

Louisville’s Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino; overall record of 664-230 (.735); 1996 champ with Kentucky and 2013 NCAA champ with Louisville; except for 2002 and 2006, in the NCAA tournament every year since 1999; in the Final Four seven times; in the Elite Eight eleven times.

By comparison, the coaches of the last five teams Louisville beat on its way to the championship were:

Colorado State’s Larry Eustachy; overall record of 428-267 (.615); in 22 seasons as college head coach, in the NCAA tournament five times and only twice past his opening game.

Oregon’s Dana Altman; overall record of 483-279 (.634); in 24 seasons as college head coach, in the NCAA tournament nine times and only three times past his opening game; post-season CBI champ in 2011.

Duke’s Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski; winningest men’s Division One head coach in NCAA history; overall record of 957-297 (.763); NCAA champ in 1991, 1992 and 2010 with Duke; in the NCAA tournament every year since 1999; in the Final Four ten times; in the Elite Eight 13 times; two-time head coach of USA Olympics gold-medal team.

Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall; overall record of 333-153 (.685); in 24 seasons as college head coach, in the NCAA tournament nine times and only three times past his opening game; post-season CBI champ in 2011.

Michigan’s John Beilein; overall record of 598-360 (.624); in 21 seasons as Division One head coach, in the NCAA tournament eight times, six since 1999, and only once in the Final Four and twice in the Elite Eight. 

The outcome was disappointing, but the run to the championship game was magical.  Well done, Coach Beilein and the Men of the 2012-13 Michigan Basketball Team.

To those who watched this press conference live those 5 years ago, it's refreshing to look back and read what Coach Beilein said and then just think about where the program now stands.

http://www.asapsports.com/show_conference.php?id=42298

I'll warn you, it's long. There are some pretty funny parts to it looking back. He was unable to contact the committed recruit Alex Legion or his mother. (Hmm, wonder why?) He makes a shoutout to the alumni that reside in Indonesia. He sets the record straight on the use of the P-word. He even makes an extremely ironic reference to a quote on values from Rick Pitino's book. Ironic because we are playing his team tonight and of course we all know how much Coach Pitino values family and marriage. They must have had subs before the conference.

Also, I found a Michigan Daily article by Mark Giannatto. I didn't realize Bill Martin and John Beilein verbally agreed on a deal to come to Michigan at the 2007 Final Four in.....Atlanta. Insert sentence with a "full circle" comment here.

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/how-blue-brought-beilein

*Could not find the video anywhere, MGoBlue.com has been through several updates since his hiring and the press release is not even available.

Really good write up on Beilein's philosophy about reducing the number of plays he has to call,  looking for what he calls "flow".  Also discusses the emphasis that has been placed on outside shooting in practice and using Horford, Morgan and McLimans on the outside defending to mimic Syracuse's length.  

“I would prefer to be all flow if we can. I still think that we call too many plays, but it’s within the action,” Beilein said after Tuesday’s open practice. “You’ll see the same set, but we’re going with a different action. If we can get to a point with a very veteran team, they can run it all themselves. Now with three freshmen out there, we still have to assist a lot of them in what to run and why to run it.

And something else to file in Brian's John Beilein is first season Walter White theory:

 

“It’s tough to do the Harlem Shake sitting down,” Beilein said, laughing. “We had some other people trying to hog the camera, in case you didn’t notice that.

“We had some really great music on the bus. The bus driver had a CD that was very good. I had to cover my ears a couple times because he said he didn’t have an edited version. We had some dancing on the bus, it was wonderful.”

The whole article is worth reading. LINK

For maximum effect, play the below while the image plays.

Nice piece over on ESPN.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9014486/michigan-w...

Edit: Also some good Burke fluff. They are loving us this week:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9013972/michigan-w...

An excellent article on Grantland today:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8959324/college-basketball-scoring-problem-west-liberty-university-coach-jim-crutchfield

I don't know if others think this about basketball as well, but I know I love Michigan's offense under Coach Beilein than many other coaches in the area.

I would love to see the West Liberty Team and would love to see offenses like Bo Ryan's disappear. However there is an advantage to slowing things down, and with the officials allowing the increase physicality on the perimeter there is a distinct advantage in mauling the better players.

Jay Bilas himself noted that Trey Burke will do well in the NBA where the kind of physicality practiced by Aaron Craft for OSU and the other guards in the Big 10 will not be allowed.

Ah well one can dream.