I want to tell you a story of one of my favorite non-Duke college basketball seasons.
The year was 2011. Ann Arbor was still a college football town, and Michigan fans were still unsold on whether John Beilein could bring the basketball program back to relevance, let alone prominence. After a 1-6 start in conference play, there were rumblings that Beilein’s seat might even be a bit warm.
Those Wolverines were young, with no seniors on the roster. The only two juniors were Stu Douglass and Zack Novak, Beilein’s first real recruits at Michigan. Both were arguably not even 3* caliber players, but Beilein wanted shooters for his system.