Michigan Basketball: John Beilein is what Jim Harbaugh should be

Michigan basketball put together an impressive win over North Carolina last night, reminding us that John Beilein is what we wish Jim Harbaugh could be.

While a lot of Michigan football fans are still devastated about the loss to Ohio State last weekend, it was hard not to feel better about life after Michigan basketball absolutely torched North Carolina.

The non-conference win obviously doesn’t make up for yet another loss by Michigan football to Ohio State, however, it does serve as a reminder of how far John Beilein has brought the Michigan basketball program and how the heights could reach even higher.

You see, Michigan didn’t just beat North Carolina, the Wolverines dominated them. After spotting the Tar Heels a 10-point lead, Michigan outscored them 60-30, grabbing a 20-point lead. Eventually, they won by 17. And like the football team, UM did it with defense, holding the Tar Heels 11 points below their previous low in single-game scoring this season.

It was a truly awesome performance. It’s also something that is starting to become more routine under Beilein. That was already the second win over a top-15 team this season for Michigan basketball, which beat Villanova, the defending national champion, on the road by 26.

And over the past few years, beating highly ranked teams has become a regularity. Last season, the Wolverines beat four teams in the top 10 and in the previous season, Michigan basketball also beat four teams ranked 15th or better, including 10th-ranked Louisville in the NCAA tournament to get to the Sweet 16.

To his credit, Jim Harbaugh has started to turn things around against ranked teams, beating three of them this season. However, has also lost twice to top-12 teams on the road and lost to Ohio State by 23.

Overall, in his four-year tenure as the Michigan football coach, Harbaugh is 8-9 against ranked teams, which is a respectable mark. However, against teams ranked in the top 10, he is just 1-8. If you expand that teams in the top 12, Harbaugh is 1-9.

Making matters worse is that the Michigan football program hasn’t beaten a top-10 team away from home since 2006. And since Harbaugh came on, his only top-10 win was over Wisconsin at home.

Of course, John Beilein has had some lean years at Michigan too, but dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season, he is 7-7 against teams ranked in the top 10. What’s even more impressive is that six of those sevens wins have come away from home. Four (Indiana 2016, Louisville 2017, Michigan State and Purdue) were at tournaments and two others (Michigan State 2018 and Louisville 2018) were true road games.

Oh, and for good measure, Beilein has won four of his last five games against Michigan State and Ohio State. Harbaugh, on the other hand, is 1-3 in the last two seasons against those schools.

While Harbaugh does have eight wins over ranked teams, he has just one win over a team ranked higher than 13th and his ranked wins have been over BYU, Northwestern, Wisconsin (2), Florida (2), Michigan State and Penn State. Making things seem even worse is that half of those teams (BYU 2015, WISC 2018, Florida 2017 and MSU 2018) didn’t even end their respective season ranked.

Beyond winning big games, Beilein has also delivered championships. He hasn’t won the Big Ten regular-season title since Harbaugh arrived, but he has won the Big Ten Tournament Championship twice. He also reached the Final Four last season and the National Championship game.

In the case of Beilein, it did take him five years or so before he really got the Wolverines into high gear and after a slight dip for a couple years after that, he has them back and better than ever.

Right now, he is everything that Michigan football fans wish Harbaugh could be. But it wasn’t always that way and it won’t always be that way with Harbaugh either.

The Wolverines took a step in the right direction on the football field this season, there is no question about that and as far as Beilein is concerned, we should all remember some were calling for his head just a few seasons ago.

So we should all give Harbaugh more time, because he deserves it, however, that doesn’t change the fact that as of right now, Beilein is doing everything we thought Harbaugh would do.