The Bartelstein Blog: The Final Entry

Let the slow clap begin. Just awesome and true.

It's the guys on the team like this that made this Final Four run possible. I truly believe this team, with as much talent as it has, would not have been able to accomplish and overcome everthing it did without the fantastic senior leadership from the guys that almost never get a chance to play. Thank you seniors!

So much fucking dust in my house these last few days.

Awesome and sad.

Love the ride these guys gave us. From our national player of the year to the last guy off the bench, this team truly appeared to care about each other. Go Blue!

" If everyone bought in and just did all the small things that make great teams elite, we could end our journey in Atlanta. There would be more bumps in the road for sure, but a vision on where our journey was going to end; a final destination was established on that day."

Much has been said about the senior leadership of the team, but here it is in a nutshell. Setting the expectations and the goal and then leading and talking the team through the tough spots along the way is what Bartelstein and others did masterfully, and they got to Atlanta and played like they belonged there. Leadership like this, on the court and off of it, goes a long way towards making talent like Michigan's that much better. 

Excellent entry by Josh Bartelstein. Thanks for sharing this. 

anyone didn't catch it, he wants us to email him at [email protected] with our favorite memories

chills

for a long time. My son just turned 18 and he participated in the last 11 Michigan BB Player Development Camps and this years Elite Camp. He got to know the players very well because most of them worked the camp. He especially became very close to Eso Akunne. But all the rest were very nice to him and my family. It was especially nice this year when the team scrimmaged for the camp participants. They were short one player and they asked my son to scrimmage with them for 20 minutes. At 6-7 and 190 he was as thrilled as the first camp we attended when he was 7 years old. The bottom line is the players on this team are great people. At games we attended they would always acknowledge us during warmups or afterward. They all took time to share a bit of themselves even though they were tired and wanted to get out of the arena. This team gave us lasting memories that go way beyond the Final Four. Thanks to all of them for being good citizens. Thanks to Eso for letting Chris beat him in one on one four years ago, then for taking a big ribbing from Tim Hardaway and Trey Burke when Chris really beat him this year. Lol. The memories will last forever for my family when it comes to this team. I can believe Josh when he says how close they are. They got close to a lot of people, if they knew it or not, by being themselves.

So cool, also so jealous. Basketball is much more fun than EECS

We'll all realize how much more this team really meant to the program

https://www.facebook.com/PleaseStayTrey

Great write-up. Gave me chills a couple times. A few times this week I have had to step back and think about how amazing this season really was and how proud I am of this team. An amazing group of players and an even better group of young men. Thank u boys, for being great representatives of the University of Michigan.

  Thank you for everything you and the team have done for us the fans this year .... It was one heck of a ride.

God damn onions.