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John Beilein and I have the same taste in movies

spt-120220-beilein

Mike Miller

On Saturday night, Michigan knocked off Ohio State to remain a game out of first place in the Big Ten, giving them a puncher’s chance at winning the league’s regular season title and vaulting them to No. 11 in the country when the latest rankings came out on Monday.

Michigan is a lock for the NCAA Tournament, so this wasn’t exactly a must-win game for them. But a loss not only would have dropped them two games off of the Big Ten pace, it would have meant that Ohio State -- one of their biggest rivals -- would have swept the regular season series. So yeah, there was a lot riding on this game.

As such, John Beilein asked him team before the game to give everything they had. After all, the nation’s eye would be focused on the Crisler Center; that’s what happens when ESPN Gameday comes to town. Its just that the way he brought this up to his team was, well, unique:

Hours before one of his team’s biggest games in his tenure, with a chance to stay in the Big Ten race at stake, he brought up golf.

“Coach said, ‘Just go for it. Tin Cup it. Eighteenth hole, hit it in the drink three times, go for it, rip it,’” Michigan senior guard Zack Novak said. “‘Tin Cup.’ He’s got random thoughts.”


Random indeed.

That said, Tin Cup is one of my favorite movies of all times. Any reference to Roy McAvoy is a good one in my book.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @ballinisahabit.