NEW YORK _ He took a pass in the left corner with his back to the basket midway through the second half. And when Moritz Wagner turned and rose up to shoot it looked like he was playing a game of horse. The shot was that absurd.
And that true.
It splashed through with just over 12 minutes left in the Big Ten tournament title game Sunday against Purdue, giving Michigan a 14-point lead and control of a game the Wolverines would win, 75-66.
More than that, it unleashed Wagner's irrepressible spirit. The junior forward ran back down the court after his improbable 3 with his tongue wagging halfway to the Hudson River.
It was that kind of afternoon for these Wolverines. And that kind of week, full of smiling and tongue-wagging and woofing and, most of all, defending.
For that is why they are here, why they climbed the championship stage for the second year in a row, why they should be considered a Final Four contender.
A serious one. Because this team doesn't just make 3s, it keeps other teams from making them. Like Sunday, when they hounded the Boilermakers, a day after they shut down the Spartans.
"We got better and better as the year went on," coach John Beilein told CBS' Jim Nantz as they stood on the stage at midcourt, confetti falling everywhere. "You know, the team, the team, the team."
It's not an accident that the offensive-minded coach is borrowing Bo Schembechler's most famous phrase. These Wolverines, after all, are playing a gridiron style of hoops on the basketball court.
How does Beilein explain it?
LIke Beilein, of course.
"It takes a while for everyone to catch on (to the) nuances," he said. "But all the reps and reps ... to hold them to 66 points is really hard to do."
In theory, sure. But not for these Wolverines, who are changing the way we think about them by the day.
"We wanted this so bad," Wagner said. "I can't stop smiling."
With the way he is playing, and the way his team is defending, this squad might be smiling for a while.
