After Moe Wagner announced his intentions to enter the NBA Draft, John Beilein issued the following statement:
Here is John Beilein's statement on Moe Wagner. pic.twitter.com/qkFIQtPLjf
— Dylan Burkhardt (@umhoops) April 14, 2018
Here’s what Wagner wrote of Beilein in his Players Tribune note:
“And then you know I’ll miss the heck out of Coach Beilein, one of the best coaches in the country and also an incredible teacher. What makes Coach Beilein so great? O.K., so, the short answer is: an insane focus on preparation. The slightly longer answer is: our second-round game against Houston. There’s four seconds left and Houston’s at the line, up two. Not great. And at first, to be honest, I’m thinking, Oh no, this might be over. But then all of a sudden, it’s like — it hits me. I realize, Wait … I’ve been here before. I’ve already done this play, this EXACT SAME play, countless times. Every single one of us had. We’d all practiced it so much that it felt like habit. And when I say “this play,” I’m not even just talking about the final inbounds sequence where Jordan hit the buzzer beater. I’m also talking about everything before that — everything else that Coach Beilein had prepared us for. Coach B would have us practice our body language. He’d have us practice walking into and out of the huddle. He’d even have managers practice acting like fans who would be heckling us — to test our focus during timeouts. It’s wild, right? The highest-stakes moment of any of our lives … and the truth is, I think we mostly all just felt super calm and prepared. Jordan will be the hero forever for that shot against Houston, and he deserves it. But I’m telling you: Without the little things that Coach B had prepared us for all year, the season is over. That play never happens.”
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