Just yesterday, on the best source for Michigan basketball news umhoops.com, the site's main contributor Dylan wrote his semi annual post asking readers for donations to help the keep the site up and running (a very, very worthwhile thing to do).
Nancy Douglass, the mother of Michigan senior Stu Douglass, posted a comment, thanking Dylan for maintaining such an informative site exclusively dedicated to Michigan basketball.
And immediately, the comment thread turned into a Stu Douglass lovefest, with Nancy thanking each poster for their kind words about the soon-to-graduate guard.
"Thanks to you, your family, and Stu for the investment of your lives. It's been fun to follow Stu and company these four years, even from across the Atlantic. I watched a livestream online of the big Duke game Stu's freshman year from my buddy's apartment in Berlin. That's when i knew we had something special in the making. Four years later, my 2.5 year old son dribbles his basketball around saying, "Number One, Stu Douglass has the ball." Thanks for the hope, the inspiration, the fun! All future success is built on the four-year foundation of Stu Douglass and Zach Novak." — Scott GoBlue
"It's hard for us fans as well knowing Stu will never wear the maize and blue...however it will always be w him in all lifes endeavors...Stu-thx for having such class and helping to turn this program around the rite way...with respect and integrity and for the love of pure basketball!! GOD BLESS & GO BLUE!!" — Scott1222
"huge fan of stu. my favorite player since the fab five." — q-sac
Those were just a few of the comments about Stu and fellow senior Zach Novak. And they highlight just what an indelible impact the pair of seniors had on the program.
And to think, this was a pair of kids from Indiana with no scholarship offers. Novak had one from Valparaiso, but it was pulled. Yes, Valpo pulled his scholarship.
John Beilein was coming off a 10-22 opening season in Ann Arbor that didn't exactly create a lot of hope for the program, and needed to fill his first recruiting class. No one had heard about Douglass and Novak when they came in — just a pair of role players, everyone, myself included, thought.
Well, four years and three NCAA Tournament appearances later — three more than Michigan had during the previous decade — Douglass and Novak are leaving a legacy that will never be forgotten even as the four- and five-star recruits continue rolling in and Michigan is a perennial Big Ten power.
No follower of the program will ever forget the timeout during the game at the Breslin Center in 2011, when Novak, then a junior, got in the face of his teammates, yelling and inspiring them to a victory that would turn around what appeared to be a lost season. Since that game, the Wolverines program has been on an upward trajectory.
I could go on and on about the tangibles and intangibles they provided, but by now they've been well-documented. Novak's vocal leadership, grittiness and knack for coming up with loose balls against bigger defenders. Douglass' unheralded defense against the best perimeter players Michigan faced, vastly improved playmaking ability, and clutch shooting (even after complete off nights).
It will all be missed.
And, more than anything, the stability Douglass and Novak brought to a program that had been the epitome of unstable for a decade needs to be remembered as the Wolverines thrive with big-name recruits such as Mitch McGary and Glen Robinson Jr.
Three appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Two tournament wins. And, of course, that first Big Ten title since 1986.
Needless to say, all impossible without the building blocks of John Beilein's success at Michigan.
Hey Nancy, tell Stu his contributions to the program will never be forgotten. Even if I occasionally cringed at his shot selection as an underclassman!
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