Off to the NBA
Wild news to wake up to this morning in the college basketball world. John Beilein is out at Michigan and is about to be the head coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He made it pretty clear he wanted a NBA job when he interviewed with the Detroit Pistons around this time last year. It was only a matter of time.
This is a massive hit to Michigan and the Big Ten as Beilein proved himself as a top-five coach in the entire sport. Coming up as an offense guy, Beilein turned Michigan into one of the best defensive teams in the country in recent years.
This might be a solid time to leave Ann Arbor, as the Wolverines might have to replace their top three scorers from last season. Jordan Poole, Charles Matthews and Ignas Brazdeikis declared for the draft and will be participating in the NBA Combine this week.
Poole and Matthews are definitely gone, and we’ll see about Brazdeikis. Michigan should still be good next season regardless with the return of Jon Teske and Zavier Simpson, and Isaiah Livers is going to be a star.
Would things have been different if everybody stayed? It’s tough to say because Michigan would have been a surefire national title contender. Would Beilein have walked away from that? On the other hand, the NBA is clearly something he wants to do, and he is 66 years old. I think he would have left no matter what.
Despite all his success and being known as one of the clean guys in a dirty sport, Beilein never won a national title. Just think how many championships Michigan would have won over the years if its recruits had more of a cash incentive to become Wolverines. The lesson for all the kids out there: cheat.
Beilein will certainly be missed in college basketball. An ultimate grit guy who moved up the ranks from high school to junior college to Division 3 to Division 2 to Division 1. Now he’s headed to the NBA. I’m not a huge proponent of working hard, but apparently he is and was rewarded for it every step of the way.
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