WE BEAT DUKE!!!

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WE BEAT DUKE!!!!!

We beat Duke. Yes...well...that is not the full story. It all began last year when we hired Beilein. Ok, that will take too long. Zoom forward a lot of months approximately. We have the worst year in school history last year with 22 losses. Zoom this year. We beat UCLA. Then we play hard with Duke all the way to the end and then loose by 15. 2 weeks later, we are up and running again. Rematch. Head to head. Mike Krzyzewski vs. John Beilein. 35 years experience vs. 31 years experience. #4 vs. Unranked. That was what it was all about. And here we come. We had a good dew days of practice in anticipation of the game. We said, how hard would Duke play? Lets match that...no, lets beat that. Lets take them down.

The band new set of addidas maize uniforms. They look amazing

Coach Krzyzewski behind Nocvak warming up

Me pumped before the game!

90`s Miami Heat AllStar Tim Hardaway with his son Jr. who was checking out the school

Then the game began. I was so excited. I could not wait. During the whole warm up I was excited, from seeing the DUKE on the opponent´s jerseys to seeing the blue D logo to seeing Kyle Singler to seeing Coach K himself, the man who lead out national team to the gold medal this year int he Beijing Olympics. And then it stareted...and we went all out. Jevohn Sheperd started this game, the only differece in the starting lineup, and he did well, as did the rest, in using are athleticism to try to match their talent. We were hustleing and playing very hard. They almost took off in stretch in the first half, but we were able to catch up, take the lead, they caught up, but we were able to go into the half up by 2. This sent the fans crazy.

The second half was nuts. We played so hard, earning each point. At one moment in the game, it seemed like Duke was pulling off, because they were finally making a few buckets. They were up by 3. And they kept pushing us around. Just then Zack Novak, our freshman guard shot a gutsy 3 pointer from the corner and sank it to tie the game. The crowd went nuts, but that was pale in comparison when we got the ball back, pushed the ball up the floor quickly and Manny pushed it to him for another 3 pointer! It was nuts! And at that moment we had control of the game. They could not stop us. DeShawn and Zack could not be stopped in their shooting. Manny kept driving at will. And even our small guard, Kelvin Gradey, showed his stuff as Duke could not even get close to guard his quickness. We havent seen that yet from Kelvin the past 2 years, but he really used his speed, and it was obvious they couldnt guar anyone of us. But they had talent. And that was evitdent in the last 3 minutes when they just started draining shots, including 4 3pointers in a row to make the lead only to 4...yes, we were up by that much.

There is me watching the shot. Pretty cool, eh?

Can I say anything more? Everyone believes in Beilein now

Then when hit some clutch free throws, from Manny, DeShawn, Kelvin, and C.J. Lee, to finish the game...but that is not the important part. With 1:90 left in the game, Will, teh head manager, turns to us and says "Ok, guys, no IF we win, we got to make sure we have all the towels, clipboards, pens, stats, and everything else because these people are gonna storm the court..." Just then the dude standing in the front row with the body paint said "We are gonna run over and kill you guys!"

Then it all happened.We had the ball, a few seconds left...Will ran onto the court towards the block M in the middle with like 6 seconds before the game was over...I hurdled the chair in front of me...and then it was all over. I was engulfed into the huge wave of...people, as the tempurature sky rocketed from 76 degres to a cool 120 degrees as people where just all over me. I was sucked tot he middle as people were just going nuts! We sand hail to the victors and its grea tto be a Michigan Wolverine and tons of other stuff. People were jsut going nuts! I could see some of the players struggling to get out. Will, when he ran out of the court, ran strait face to face with Coach Krzyzewski and actually helped him get out of the stadiu to the tunnel. I was having a bomb. And yes, I held on to all them towls, them sweety and nasty towels, that were pressed hard to me the whole time. It was amazing. We just beat the #4 team in the country...again...within 2 weeks! At home! And our sold out crowd who has been starving for good basketball for over a decade and was suffering from the worst football season in school history were just eating it up! It was so cool to see! And the students! The students were all over it! They are the ones that will bring this program to life. As the "In Beilein we trust" Poster was rocking and everyone was watching Beilein talk tot eh interviewers on the megatron, everyone new this was for real. We beat Duke. We beat them with a legitimate 8-point win. We are the only team in the country that has beaten 2 top-5 teams! And we did it in 2 weeks! And we are unranked! And we just came off of the worst season in school history! Yes, we did it. It was for real. No hoox. And I was a part of it. I helped it. I made this team better, every day, comming to practice, working hours on teh hardwood and in the office, with players individually during non-practice hours, doing all I could to help our team improve. So many of those palyers I have helped, even before the game! Manny with his free throws, DeShawn with his jump shot, and Zack Novak with his 3s, all the day before did I go over individually. I heped this team. I was appart of the team. And we just won...and I was all over it...



Us managers hung out afterwards at the basketball office to get the stats done and then talka bout the game. We realized this was the biggest win of our careers. Yes, this is big for our resumé. We were a part of it. Wow. So nuts. We were calling people and savoring the moment along with our snadwitches from Pizza House. It was glorious. All night, nothing to think about but that great win. I had so much fun during the game and then after it, that it was so so SO good! Michigan Basketball is Back! And its here to stay! Go Blue!

Missed the action? Check out ESPN highlights. Sport Illustrated article. Michigan Daily section. Its time to start paying attention to the Wolverines.

Dont forget to comment! If you just read this, say hi! Did you see the game? Did you hear about it? Anything! Let us know! Comment on the bottom of the post...look for the pencil image. Ok! Thanks!

Check out these great vids on the storm of the court. Yes, I know, I blew it, I should ahve filmed it...but hey, I was trying to stay alive, ok!! Haha, check these out. It was load, and AWESOME!