The process Wilson and Wagner will be going through the next couple months is just as new to Beilein as it is to his two players.
A year ago, DJ Wilson and Moritz Wagner were just a couple of bench players on a Michigan team that barely squeezed into the NCAA Tournament field of 68, barely known to anyone paying little attention to the Wolverines.
Now, fresh off leading Michigan to a Big Ten Tournament championship and Sweet 16 appearance, the pair of forwards have blossomed and now have admirers at basketball’s highest level.
Monday afternoon, Wilson and Wagner both announced their intentions to enter the NBA Draft, but will each do so without hiring an agent.
As the Wolverines and the Ducks exchanged the lead five times in the final five minutes, all it could take for either team to emerge with the win was one of something.
Now in the Sweet 16, Wagner finally has a stage big enough to fit his bursting personality in America.
For this new John Beilein, there’s nothing else to focus on but a title.
Rick Pitino has always had John Beilein's number. On Sunday, there's a chance that could change.
All together, Dakich, Matthews, Watson, Lonergan and the rest of the scout team have helped give Michigan’s starters and role players an accurate simulation of a team they had no knowledge of before this week,
The combination of policy, apathy and price created the perfect storm for an incredibly underwhelming number of ticket requests.
The Wolverines have done what looked impossible over a month ago and improbable just four days ago. They’ve won a Big Ten championship.
If it’s the Wolverines who walk off the Verizon Center floor with the trophy, just remember: it’s more than a coincidence that Beilein had the chance to make sure history didn’t repeat itself twice.