Under head coach Tom Izzo, the Spartans have been to 17 straight NCAA tournaments, made it to 6 final fours and won it all in 2000 – while graduating 81 percent of his players.  Not too shabby.

Thanks partly to the tough schedule Izzo puts together, his teams tend to start slowly and then build up steam as March Madness approaches.  Despite losing Gary Harris and Adreian Payne to the NBA, and Javon Bess to injury — this year’s team seems to be no exception, winning nine of its last 12 Big Ten games.   That’s coaching.

But you’d never know it from watching Izzo during games. His frantic expressions of disbelief and exasperation make you think he’s screaming at some local ne’er do wells who just egged his house.  But hey, it works, so there’s no point changing now.

A few years ago, in 2010, the Spartans lost their star, Kalin Lucas, in the middle of the tournament – and proceeded to get to the Final Four anyway.  At the time, I said that might be Izzo’s best coaching job.

Well, Michigan coach John Beilein has already won two Big Ten titles and gotten his team to the NCAA finals, and he’s done it all the right way.  But this year might be the best test of his coaching ability.

Whatever problems Izzo’s got, Beilein’s got more.  He recruits overlooked players and turns them into stars.  His reward?  Watching them jump early to the NBA, five of them in the past two years alone.  (Tim Hardaway, Jr., left after his junior year, two years ago, so even if he’d stayed, he’d already graduate a year ago.)  But this year’s team still looked decent, until injuries cost them three starters.

If all Beilein’s players had stayed, and stayed healthy, he would be leading a juggernaut right now, and the current starters would likely be on the bench.

But that’s who Beilein has, so that’s who he plays.  Against three quality Big Ten teams, Beilein’s rag-tag reserves pushed much better squads to overtime – though they fell short, each time.

On Tuesday night, you could see the long season catching up with them. The Wolverines fell behind the Spartans early, and could never catch up.

This will likely be considered one of Beilein’s worst seasons – but I think it should go down as one of his best.   Contrary to popular belief, it’s not that hard to lead when you’re winning.  Everybody’s excited to go to practice, and nobody wants to see the trainer, even if they’re injured.  No, it’s when you’re losing that good coaches really earn their keep.

Bo Schembechler always said the best coaching job he’d ever seen was from Ara Parseghian, at Northwestern, in 1957.  Were the Wildcats national champs?  No.  Big Ten champs?  No.  Northwestern that season lost every single game.

But in the process, Parseghian’s steady leadership kept the players from giving up, or pointing fingers.  They worked hard, and they stuck together – all year.

The next season, the Wildcats went 5-4, beating both Michigan and Ohio State.  Parseghian would later earn lasting fame when he led Notre Dame to two national titles.  But Schembechler always maintained that was nothing compared to what Parseghian did at Northwestern.

Michigan fans have been pretty patient and understanding, and rightly so.  But there are always a few who tweet that Beilein can’t recruit, can’t develop, and can’t coach.  But you’ll never hear one of Beilein’s peers say that, including Izzo.  They know better.

Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins once told me, “Even in a bad year, a good program is a good program.”   And that is exactly what John Beilein has built at Michigan: a program good enough to endure a disappointing season, and not lose its bearings.

The easy prediction is this: The Wolverines will be back next year, with a vengeance.  If fans are lucky, the Spartans will be riding high, too, and this rivalry will finally showcase the two teams at their best.

But time is running out.  Izzo is 60 years old, and Beilein is 62.    This isn’t going to last forever.

My advice: Quit yer whinin’, and enjoy it while you can.

This is as good as it gets.

 

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Radio stuff: On Friday mornings, these commentaries run at 8:50 on Michigan Radio (91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit and Flint, and 104.1 Grand Rapids), and a few minutes later,  I join Sam Webb and Ira Weintraub LIVE from 9:05 to 9:25 on WTKA.com, 1050 AM.

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