Sometimes

Mister Fantastic tried his absolute best. (Dustin Johnson/UMHoops.com)

Dustin Johnson captured many amazing shots of the Regional Final, which I recommend checking out here before going forward.  But this one stands out, because it speaks to the hardest part about being a sports fan.

Sometimes, the other guy just makes a play.  Your team didn't do anything wrong, the other guy just does his job and it works.  Aaron Harrison was one of the most highly sought after recruits in the country last season and sometimes talent just overwhelms.

Look at what else is going on in that shot.  Look at all of that Kentucky Blue in the stands, punctuated by hints of adidas highlighter yellow.  Kentucky is actually a touch closer to Indianapolis than Michigan is, especially the heart of Michigan country relative to the heart of Big Blue Nation.  Big Blue Nation was out in force, they wanted to see the battle royale with their in-state rivals in Louisville, and now they were back here in the House that Peyton Built to see their prized class, the pre-season #1, their beloved Wildcats try to prove everyone wrong by advancing to the Final Four.  The only team younger than Michigan in the tournament, they had grown up quickly, or so we had been told.  Sometimes talent can find its way.

Sometimes statistics are defied.  Kentucky shot 7-11 on three pointers, or nearly double their season average, whereas conversely, Michigan shot just a shade under their usual 40% on threes.  (Side note: If they call LeVert's shot in the first half a three, which could have gone either way, then Michigan shoots 42% for the game, or just a shade above their season average.  It also puts Michigan up one after the putback, which may have changed any number of things, but that is speculation at best.)

Sometimes, your luck runs out.  Michigan had not lost a game by fewer than double digits since their two point loss to Arizona back in December.  When Michigan had lost, it had lost big, at Indiana, at Iowa, to Wisconsin, to Michigan State, it was rough outings.  Conversely, Michigan has won thirteen games by single digits, seven by three points or fewer.  Michigan had lived on the knife edge on Friday night against the Vols and survived.  This time, they lost their margin of error that they had had throughout the tournament was not there, and it was over.  It was gone.

Sometimes you don't appreciate you have until it's gone.  Which is why I am thankful we were able to send off Jordan Morgan on a high note.  Morgan is exactly what we want our players to be, tenacious, hard-working, always working to be better, and, oh yeah, a pretty damn good student to boot.  To see all of the #ThanksJMo tweets after the game is to know that we didn't lose sight of what was going to end when Stauskas's last shot fell short.  We know we're probably also losing some other players, and we'll deal with that when the time comes, but for now, we appreciate what we had, because it was fun.  It was just fun.

So a tip of a cap to Coach Beilein and his staff for making us care again.  A salute to the Wildcats for a well-earned victory.  But most of all, a thanks for the memories that this team created, ones not soon forgotten.

Precipice

From that magical fifteen minutes when we shared Spike with an incredulous nation.
Andy Lyons / Getty Images

If you have noticed, or maybe you have't, I haven't written anything about the Michigan basketball team this season.  This should not indicate a lack of interest in the sport, or some grudge against the team, because it is neither of those things.  The lack of comment comes from a knowledge that I personally lack a depth of understanding about basketball to write about it with what I feel is a competence with which I feel comfortable sharing with the world. A man's got to know his limitations, after all.

Basketball will always rank fourth with me of the four major North American sports, and really, its probably fifth behind soccer.  That's not saying I don't enjoy the tournament, because I do, it's just the nature of my particular model of sports fandom.  One of my friends has suggested that my issue with basketball is that I place a personal premium on scoring, wherein the more difficult to score, the more I enjoy the game.  I can see this.  Basketball, even when played well defensively, has something in the nature of 20 to 30 made field goals for each team.

But I do know what I like in basketball.  I like outside shooters.  I like smart.  I like hustle.  I like adaptable. But mostly I like humility and teamwork.  The small size of basketball teams makes it more likely that the players on the team will feel more like a family, a brotherhood, than other sports.  So when players talk about how much they care about each other, you can believe it, because it's a small band of brothers and you get to know them.  Michigan's game has so many of the things I like that it leads to Nick Hornby's Arsenal conundrum*, only a positive one.

(*--As stated in Fever Pitch: "See after awhile it all gets mixed up together in your head, and you can't remember whether life's sh*t because Arsenal are sh*t or the other way around.")

And so I came to know this team on a first name basis, because it was always about Trey, or Tim, or Mitch, or Glenn, or Nik, or Spike, or Jordan, or Jon, or Caris, or Matt, or Josh.  It because about Nik and "CTRL-V" when he hit a three.  It became about the Trey Burke layup where he goes up, puts everything on the line, hits the deck, and goes to the line for the and one.  It became about GRIII hovering in the air like a glitch in The Matrix.  It became about The Big Puppy playing with an Novakian enthusiasm for life and the game.    It became about missed free throws and what felt like missed opportunities.  But it also became about hope.  It was a basketball version of Team 133, restoring something that had been gone, but we knew could be again.  It became about a coach who would never make it about himself, who carried himself with dignity, grace, and class, who noted just how amazing the first half had been as he's being interviewed on his way to the locker room.

In the end, we can probably go back and pinpoint the small moments that made the difference.  We were trying to do it on Twitter last night and we were more wrong than we were right, because there's no penalty for being wrong about something like that on Twitter.  We can argue about strategies, coaching decisions, rotations, and the like, preferably with our facts straight, but it won't matter.  It doesn't change the outcome, it doesn't really numb the pain.  The heart aches a little, because the moment was there and it slipped away and if the last quarter century has taught us anything, it's that you never know when those moments will come again.  But for now, know that Michigan has been in six national championship games, a loss to a Wooden UCLA team in 1965, a loss to Bobby Knight's undefeated Indiana team in 1976, a classic victory over Seton Hall in 1989, a loss to Coach K's back to back Blue Devils in 1992, a loss to Dean Smith Tar Heels in 1993, and now a loss to Rick Pitino's Louisville team in 2013.  A combined 21 titles for opposing coaches, 4,066 victories among them, all in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.  Hopefully the next one will be better.  Hopefully it will be sooner than later.

My thanks to you 2012-13 Michigan basketball team.  You were fun, talented, and classy.  That may not be all that you can ask for, but that's a pretty darn good start.