FEEL - GOOD VILLAINS
Michigan cast in unusual role
SAN ANTONIO — In early February, Michigan was treading water in the lackluster Big Ten. It had few quality victories. An NCAA Tournament berth wasn’t a guarantee.
Nearly two months, 13 consecutive victories and a Big Ten Tournament title later, the third-seeded Wolverines aren’t just in the Final Four, they’re the heavy favorite to reach Monday’s title game. And in a rare role reversal, coach John Beilein’s team will be the enemy Saturday night, the villain most of the Alamodome crowd will be rooting against.
Eleventh-seeded Loyola, a five-point underdog, will be the people’s overwhelming choice. Unless you live in Ann Arbor or attended Michigan, you’re pulling for the Chicago school, and the Wolverines know it.
“At a certain point you have to embrace it because there’s a certain responsibility there and if you realize people don’t like you for whatever reason, you might as well just embrace it and have fun with it,” junior forward Mo Wagner said Friday. “The whole Cinderella story is cool, but we are not getting caught up in that kind of stuff.”
It will be hard to avoid. Loyola and its 98year-old chaplain, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, have been the story of the Final Four. The Ramblers pulled off four upsets to get here in their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1985, while Michigan has yet to face a seed lower than sixth. A double-digit seed has never reached the national championship game, and the Wolverines are hoping to continue that trend. They have handled their role as the favorite in the tournament pretty well so far.
“It’s not often that we’re not considered the underdog,” senior guard MuhammadAli Abdur-Rahkman said. “The roles are reversed, but we’re still sticking to the same plan. We still have the same chip on our shoulder.”
“This team has been really good at cutting out the noise and focusing on what’s [happening] in between the lines and playing basketball,” Wagner added. “That’s what made us so successful this year.”
Though Michigan had the overwhelming crowd advantage last weekend in the West Regional in Los Angeles, it may feel like a road game for the Wolverines on Saturday night. But they have played well in difficult atmospheres this year, winning at Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin.
“People weren’t cheering for us there,” Beilein said. “I don’t think that will bother us.”