The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/970722
MAY 2018 THE WOLVERINE 31 Whatever Robinson might have felt about the shift privately, he demon- strated no hint of public discontent. Sometimes seasons turn on more than a key shot or stop in the waning mo- ments of a game. Robinson, obviously, took his role as a captain and leader as seriously as a sandbag tosser amid rising waters. "At this point, I'm pretty comfort- able with both," Robinson in- sisted. "I've embraced both roles at different times in my career. Whatever Coach Beilein and the team asks me to do, I'm willing to do." He also, at the time, dem- onstrated the sort of urgency and unselfishness that can turn into a title run. "You're looking at it like it's now or never," he said. "You see the time ticking down in your career. You've got to have a heightened sense of urgency about want- ing to leave a mark. It's not me individually, it's about the team. "If we want to do some- thing this year and leave a mark, it falls on us, the cap- tains and the older guys, to shoulder that responsibility." They left a mark, and Rob- inson's three-point shooting, free throw expertise (best on the team, at 89.1 percent) and vastly improved defense marked the captain's play. Shooting will never be the issue with Robinson, of course. "When you make one or two, at least in my head, I have a green light for the next one, even though it might be a little questionable," Robin- son noted. "Coach B instills a lot of confidence in me, and so do my teammates. I try to be aggressive. "He's always in the back of my mind. He's always been that voice of assurance and confidence. I'm incred- ibly thankful for that, because I know a lot of coaches aren't like that. He really believes in me, and so do my teammates. "They yell at me when I don't shoot an open one, so it's everybody. It's not just myself being aggressive. They're helping me do that." Defensively, Robinson not only built up a somewhat frail form to 215 pounds under the watchful eye of strength and conditioning guru Jon Sanderson, he toughened his mind- set. Robinson credits assistant coach Luke Yaklich for bolstering the Wol- verines' overall defensive effort, but Beilein noted Robinson took on men- tal aspects of the task himself. "He's challenged himself and we've challenged him to say, 'You can do this,'" Beilein said. "It's not a matter of, 'They're picking on me' type of attitude, which they do. You look at him out there and you watch his athleticism and you say, 'We're going to attack this guy.' "That was the M.O. on him for three years — attack him. He sort of took that challenge on this year." For his part, Robinson forwards no regrets. "It's flown by," he admitted. "Four years here, a ton of memories and I'm thankful for them all, the good and the bad." TRIUMPHS AND TEAMMATES The good certainly involves the dichotomy of achievement and re- lationships. Robinson leaves with a pair of Big Ten Tournament titles and three straight NCAA Tournament ap- pearances, including a Sweet 16 and this year's march to the na- tional championship game. He exits as one of Michi- gan's most prolific three- point bombers ever, and the only player to have per- formed in both the Division III and Division I title con- tests. But there's so much more. The friendships, the camara- derie and the shared memo- ries can't be quantified. They range from life-and-death re- lief over an averted tragedy on an Ypsilanti runway to hilarious banter with sopho- more guard and roommate Zavier Simpson, caught on camera in the tournament run. "He wants to turn the TV off at 10:30," Simpson complained with a grin. "He wants me to turn my phone off at 10:30. He wants the room silent, where it's so quiet, I can hear myself breathing. "It's like, 'Bro! Why do all the lights and the TV have to be turned off at 10:30?'" "He doesn't like it when I get to go to sleep before him," Robinson shot back. "He thinks that's unfair. So he needs to keep me up un- til he's ready to go to sleep, which makes no sense. Why do you need me to go to sleep when you go to sleep?" They turned off the lights on this particular team, and on Robinson's college career, April 2. He'll take plenty of memories along, but knows how he wants to be recalled. "I'd like to be remembered as a tal- ented overachiever, somebody who worked their butt off and did every- thing the right way and put his team- mates first," he said. Given his finish, and Michigan's, that sounds more than reasonable. ❏ Robinson is the only player in NCAA history to play in both the Division III and Division I Final Fours. PHOTO BY SAMUEL MOUSIGIAN