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Michigan outgunned by Villanova in title game, finishes as runner-up MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Jordan Poole sat with a towel over his head, eyes red with tears. Duncan Robinson stood next to him, his voice barely audible. Isaiah Livers was down a ways, isolated from the rest of his team. Charles Matthews and Zavier Simpson sat deep in their lockers. All of the Michigan men’s basketball players answered questions about the 79-62 drubbing they’d just taken from Villanova in the NCAA Championship game. The Wolverines’ answers varied from regret to pride for the tournament run to love for their teammates. But one thing that was consistent was the struggle for an explanation of
what just happened. Villanova made all the right plays all night long, and Michigan was rendered completely helpless. “We lost to a team that was better than us tonight,” said Wolverines coach John Beilein. “And we were telling our kids, ‘We’ve just gotta be better than them one night.’ Because they are talented and have incredible experience. But we didn’t have it, and they did.” Every time Michigan did start a semblance of a run, it was answered immediately. With just under seven minutes left and the Wolverines trailing by 14, Poole forced a turnover and sprinted into the frontcourt. He slipped into the lane and rose up through traffic but missed the contested layup wildly off the backboard.
Moments later, the Wildcats’ Mikal Bridges came the other way and drilled a three with a hand in his face. It was a play that made Beilein shake his head in disbelief when he talked about it after the game. And the play started a run that crushed Michigan’s hope once and for all. “We talk big about chopping the tree down,” Livers said, referencing the metaphor the Wolverines use to talk about making a comeback. “You can’t chop a tree down when you chop it one time and then on the next time down they hit a big shot. Especially, I think there was a spurt when (Villanova guard Donte DiVincenzo) hit two or three of them in a row, and one was a lay-up or something like that. And when a guy’s going like that, it’s just tough on
a team.” Livers was right. DiVincenzo hit everything he looked at for the Wildcats. He hit and-one layups and pull-up threes and two-handed dunks en route to an 18-point first half and a 31-point game. “(It’s) frustrating as heck, because you play good defense on the guy,” Livers said. “… So you’ve gotta do your best to alter his shot and get in his way, but every time we tried to do that he just adjusted.” Entering the game, it seemed like Michigan would need a perfect storm to win anyway. Villanova had to have an off night shooting, Jalen Brunson would have to have an off night all around, and the Wolverines would need to be clicking offensively. In the beginning of the first half, that seemed to be taking shape. After
making his first two shots of the game, Brunson missed his next four. The Wildcats missed their first four threes. Wagner had 11 points and Michigan sprung out to a seven-point lead with just under 11 minutes left. That’s when DiVincenzo, the Big East Sixth Man of the Year, went off. After leading for most of the first half, the Wolverines were caught in a whirlwind. They missed 14 of their 18 shots after taking that seven-point lead. That, combined with DiVincenzo’s explosion, erased Michigan’s promising start. The Wildcats led, 37-28, at the break. The run to end the half was a precursor of what was to come. “They’re really talented top to bottom and experienced, and they’ve played on this stage before,” Robinson said. “Not that that’s any
sort of excuse, because we feel like we could have played better, but tonight they were just a lot better than us clearly.” The Wolverines exited the court at the Alamodome with confetti cascading around them, like they had in Los Angeles and New York. But it wasn’t for them this time. The Big Ten Tournament Championship and the NCAA West Regional Championship didn’t mean anything in that moment. Because on Monday night, Michigan ran into a buzzsaw that it had no hope of stopping. The Wolverines were outgunned and outmanned in the final game of the season, and now it was all over. Villanova won its second NCAA Championship in three years, and Michigan was helpless in stopping it.
New census question draws controversy Religious LGBTQ+ from University immigrant community figures, students talk 2020 Census will include question asking respondents if they are U.S. citizens RILEY LANGEFELD Daily Staff Reporter
The U.S. Commerce Department announced on March 26 the 2020 census will include a question asking respondents whether they are U.S. citizens. Made during a heated national debate on immigration policy, the decision has raised significant questions about potential effects of the change at the University of Michigan. According to a statement released by the department, the decision will help gain more accurate information about eligible voter demographics and will assist the Department of Justice and the judiciary with enforcing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which protects minority rights. However, opponents of the decision argue the question will disincentivize undocumented immigrants from filing census data. According to the Pew Research Center, there were
11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States in 2015, making up 3.4 percent of the total population. If a significant portion of these people choose not to respond to the census, the survey would deliver an inaccurate population count and distort the demographic makeup of the U.S. Numerous government agencies and outside groups rely on the information gathered in the census, which is carried out every 10 years, for accurate population data. Changes that could impact its accuracy are subject to scrutiny. In this case, immigration advocacy groups are concerned the addition of the question will lead to inadequate attention to ethnic minorities and immigrants in government work. New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, one of President Donald Trump’s most active opponents among state attorneys general, plans to file a multi-state lawsuit challenging the decision.
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California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a separate lawsuit on March 26. William Lopez, a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Social Work working with immigration research, said he believes the question will have a significant impact on the results of the census and the nature of government immigration policy could contribute to this effect. “Having a citizenship question on the census is going to disincentivize anyone from taking the census who is not a citizen,” Lopez said. “The reason for this largely is we take the census — we are counted by our government — in order to receive the resources which should be equitably directed to us. The issue for undocumented folks is that they are well aware of the government resources that are directed to them. And that is Immigration and Customs Enforcement, border patrol and targeting their removal. So there’s no incentive to categorize yourself in a group
the government is currently pursuing.” The question does not inquire about the legality of a respondent’s residence, and many legal residents are not U.S. citizens. However, Lopez claims the presence of the question would likely impact responses. Lopez also said Trump’s generalized immigration rhetoric could discourage even legal residents from responding, including immigrants protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which grants legal status to minors brought into the country illegally. “On a larger political scale, Trump is not differentiating people who are undocumented versus DACA versus permanent resident versus in the process of getting documented,” Lopez said. “He’s just throwing all immigrants in the same category, legally or otherwise … If you’re not identifying yourself as a citizen, you’re identifying yourself as someone See CENSUS, Page 2
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dual identity struggles Intersectional identities, difficulties outlined in panel of queer leaders, students of various faiths ELIZABETH LAWRENCE Daily Staff Reporter
Talking on their experiences as queer, practicing members of their respective religions, a panel of speakers Monday night covered discussions about what it means to be an LGBTQ+ person and a person of faith, and considered the harm or ignorance people may face in either community. Though the speakers at the event — hosted by the Spectrum Center at the University of Michigan — came from an array of religious backgrounds, a shared sentiment many of them expressed was the reconciliation of their different identities. Reverend Matthew Lukens, a chaplain at Canterbury House, recalled being raised in a fairly conservative environment as a Southern Baptist in Alabama. He talked of the difficulty he had in bringing together his appreciation of the church and
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his gay identity. “I was really involved in my church and I loved it,” Lukens said. “It was a great community for me. It was just a way that really defined how I moved through the world. Realizing that I was gay completely pulled the rug out from me as a person. I had to spend a lot of time putting back together how I fit myself into the world.” Merton Spencer, a member of the Lord of Light Lutheran ministry on campus, echoed Lukens’s sentiment, saying sometimes one identity would take precedence over the other. “At times, my gay identity would be more evident in the way I was living my life, and my thoughts, and my feelings and how I handle that as a person of integrity also,” Spencer said. “And sometimes my identity as a Christian would become more prominent and impactful on my life. Those would sometimes go See LGBTQ+, Page 3
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CSG EXECS ENDORSE LECTURERS’ CALLS FOR SALARY AMARA SHAIKH Daily Staff Reporter
On Monday evening, current and incoming University of Michigan Central Student Government leadership released a statement of support for the Lecturers’ Employee Organization. The statement encourages students to engage in LEO bargaining efforts and support lecturers at the University. Since last October, LEO has been bargaining with the
University for increased wages and benefits. According to the statement, LEO is comprised of 1,700 non-tenure track faculty across all three campuses, and in the 2016-2017 school year generated $462 million for the University. Lecturers’ contracts are set to expire on April 20, and while the administration had initially responded to LEO’s requests with a proposition, LEO referred to their proposal as “insulting.” If the University does not properly comply with LEO’s demands, they have authorized a possible vote for a
strike. The joint CSG statement, signed by current CSG President Anushka Sarker, an LSA senior and CSG Vice President Nadine Jawad, a Public Policy senior, and incoming CSG President Daniel Greene, a Public Policy junior, and CSG Vice President Izzy Baer, an LSA sophomore, called for students to stand in solidarity with LEO. The CSG leadership also acknowledged the hardships lecturers at the University face due to low salaries. “When our lecturers are forced to work multiple jobs,
face food insecurity, and struggle to make ends meet in Ann Arbor, we as students feel the repercussions through the quality of teaching in our classrooms,” the statement read. “Lecturers’ working conditions are our learning conditions.” CSG leadership also encouraged students to participate in the LEO Weekend of Action, which will take place from April 6 through April 10, and will include open bargaining sessions and a potential strike if LEO demands are not properly acknowledged.
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CENSUS From Page 1 that our president in power has targeted for, at the very least,
GO BLUE X 2.
anti-immigrant rhetoric but also for deportation and removal.” Student advocacy groups have responded negatively to the decision. Engineering senior Javier Contreras has
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been involved in immigration advocacy for five years at three different schools. He began his work in a mentorship program in his senior year of high school, helping students find colleges with resources for undocumented students. Contreras is a DACA recipient and has focused his recent advocacy on protecting undocumented University students. “Generally, we’re not going to have a proper portrayal of our presence,” Contreras said. “The numbers would lie and be skewed to say that we have a smaller presence (than we do).” Contreras noted DACA applicants are required to provide a large amount of personal information, including past addresses and fingerprints, but usually find the benefits outweigh concerns about the use of that information. He claims the same would not be true for the census. Contreras also said information and language barriers could stoke more fear and lead to an even lower amount of responses from immigrants. LSA senior Alejandro
Navarrete works at the Student Community of Progressive Empowerment, which supports and serves undocumented students. Like Contreras, he has been working in immigration advocacy for his entire undergraduate career. “The usability of the census for any type of empirical research would also be impacted, which would pretty much make the census useless, especially given the high proportion of undocumented immigrants that live in the country,” Navarrete said. Navarrete said undocumented University students will not be in immediate trouble, and other issues are far more pressing for undocumented immigrants. However, he expressed concerns about the long-term effects of an inaccurate population count, which could potentially hurt the immigrant population as a whole. “When drafting policy — thinking about who constituents are — representatives will underestimate the number of immigrants and also underestimate the effect of immigrants,” Navarrete said. “In the long term, it will just be a negative for any progress related to the estimate of immigration’s impact on the country.”
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City Council amends Greek house ordinances New rules revoke zoning for chapters who lose University recognition, $4.2 million purchase also discussed GRACE KAY
Daily Staff Reporter
In Monday night’s meeting, Ann Arbor City Council amended housing ordinances for fraternities and sororities in Ann Arbor and a $4.2 million empty lot repurchase. The council passed an ordinance on the Ann Arbor housing code to modify the definition of fraternity or sorority housing in Ann Arbor and to amend special exception use standards. The ordinance will not allow any fraternities or sororities that are not sanctioned by a university — namely the University of Michigan. As
a result, if a fraternity loses its recognition, that property would have to be replaced by a recognized group or the zoning will be revoked. The council’s ordinance comes after the Interfraternity Council imposed a ban on social activities due to several incidents of hazing and sexual assault. The ban was lifted at the beginning of the winter semester, but even after the ban was lifted, one fraternity, Zeta Beta Tau, had their charter revoked due to sexual assault allegations. Councilmember Zachary Ackerman, D-Ward 3, said the ordinance is another step in discouraging rape culture on campus. “It’s another tool to curb the
culture of sexual assault and hazing,” Ackerman said. Furthermore, with new “special exception use” standards the ordinance will further control the density and population of the houses. Under this new ordinance, the initial special exception use standard would define how many individuals could live in the house. In order to increase the maximum population allowed in the house, the fraternity or sorority would be forced to apply for another special exception use standard. Capitalizing on the theme of zoning, the council also focused on a $4.2 million repurchase. During an hour-long closed session, the council discussed
the repurchase of the former YMCA lot on 350 S. Fifth Ave. Amid controversy over the repurchase and due to a stalemate in the voting process, the council was forced to table the discussion and moved the decision to the next council meeting. The repurchase was part of an agreement created four years ago. Under this agreement the council was given the right to repurchase the site after four years if the agreed upon development didn’t come to fruition by April 2018, the city could buy back the lot for either the appraised value or $4.2 million — whichever would be lower. As a result of the council’s
consideration of repurchasing the site, the property’s current owner, Dennis Dahlmann, is currently in the process of suing the city over the property in hopes of getting four more years to bring the project to fruition within the specifications of the council for affordable housing development. Many members, including Mayor Christopher Taylor, Councilmember Ackerman and Councilmember Chuck Warpehoski, D-Ward 5, argued the purchase would be a simple decision. “There is a lot of public good for affordable housing, for street lights, even for road repair we could do with that money,” Warpehoski said.
While Councilmembers Jack Eaton, D-Ward 4, and Sumi Kailasapathy, D-Ward 1, argued against the purchase. “It’s a huge risk,” Eaton said. “We’ve known for quite some time that this building would not be done today, yet here we are discussing what we are going to do. I don’t think it’s responsible for us to use that reserve account for this purpose.” The resolution needed eight votes to pass. With Eaton, Kailasapathy and Councilmember Annie Bannister, D-Ward 1, voting against the resolution, the council was forced to table the discussion until the next council meeting.
Human rights lecture Startup app allows local students to highlights global view mix party playlists with upvote system
Academics from around the country convene to endorse data-driven policies in int’l conflicts MOLLY NORRIS Daily Staff Reporter
Claims of fake news have pervaded American news media in the year and a half since the 2016 presidential election. Yet as the LSA Donia Human Rights Center at the University of Michigan aimed to illustrate Monday, the accuracy of facts and data is under question abroad, too. A human rights conference Monday titled “Frontiers of Human Rights Research: Methodological Innovations and New Rights Issues,” organized by Center Director Kiyoteru Tsutsui, associate professor of sociology, gave audiences a broad picture of human rights in the world today. “The idea behind the conference is looking at what’s going on in the world today,” Tsutsui said. “Fact-based policymaking is under threat — there’s a lot of fake news, alternative facts and all that, so reports on human rights violations are often questioned in a way that really undermines the legitimacy of claims by the victims. So we wanted to present some methodological innovations that have been taking place in the field of human rights research to showcase that there are ways to collect data that produce good, solid empirical research that is very strong in terms of its evidentiary basis.” The talk featured four different panels discussing developments in human rights research and human rights issues in general. Discussions revolved around new ways to collect data on human rights, as well as new human rights challenges that we have to face now such as drones. Tsutsui said he hoped people in attendance would be able to learn about techniques in the field they didn’t know about before. “I want people who attend to take away from the conference that there are all kinds of exciting research that is being conducted by scholars who study these things,” Tsutsui said. Author Beth Simmons, professor of law and political science at the University of Pennsylvania, gave the keynote speech. Simmons talked about the future of human rights, and said she was impressed by the papers and theories presented by the panel members. “I think the future of international rights is going to be a good one based on what I’ve heard today,” Simmons said. Simmons said the world is at a juncture in the area of international human rights, and discussed some theories as to why this was the case. Her talk focused on the economic effects of human rights, as
well as the fragility of many of the democracies in the world that are meant to ensure these human rights. She also discussed the effects the media and reports of human rights issues have on public opinion of these issues. “So much of what passes for research on human rights is headline changing,” Simmons said. “Human rights researchers will often just start off by talking about everything that is wrong in the world and tell you that the world is on an irretrievable decline and that human rights are at the end of times.” She also mentioned human rights activists as unintentionally contributing to this issue of perception. “Human rights activists need to keep us aware of the negative developments in the world, and because it’s their job, and because they’re so good at it, we get such a negative sense of the world,” Simmons said. To counter this, Simmons showed some major improvements that have occurred within the realm of human rights. She brought up the decline in infant mortality rates, the decrease in the disparity between men and women’s wages, the percentage of countries that are under
We seem to be killing each other less than we have done in the past. democratic governments and the evident decline of human deaths in international conf licts in the past 50 years. “We seem to be killing each other less than we have done in the past,” Simmons said. However, Simmons also acknowledged while progress was happening, it was certainly no easy feat, and it also isn’t permanent. “International human rights progress has been real, and slow, it has been selective, and it is also fragile,” Simmons said. “There is absolutely nothing inevitable about what I showed you.” LSA junior Jonathan Aue attended the talk, and though he said it was not as interesting as others he has attended, he was still interested in the topic. “Right now we’ve got problems with Cuba, China and Iran taking away their women’s rights, and that is against our Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Aue said. “It’s a global problem so everyone should be stepping in to figure out why exactly they’re getting away with it.”
UpNext platform created by students across schools debuts on mobile app stores NATASHA PIETRUSCHKA Daily Staff Reporter
Less than six months ago, Business sophomores Raymond Sukanto and Victor Mahdavi bonded over a frustration many University of Michigan students have at parties — feeling helpless over a bad music playlist. In a matter of a few weeks, they partnered with LSA sophomore Dan Kaper to create a music queuing app called UpNext to assist fellow music-minded students on their nights out. The app is run by a team of devoted University students, across LSA, the Ross School of Business and the College of Engineering, whose mission is to unite students at social gatherings over the aux cord. UpNext serves as a platform for creating a collaborative playlist, where users are given the power to suggest songs and “upvote” or “downvote” tracks on the queue. Though the app primarily functions as a playlist generator, the team’s vision is to consolidate party planning by transforming UpNext into a social app, where users can locate nearby events. “The main thing now is us focusing on being a musicsharing app, but the end goal
LGBTQ+ From Page 1 back and forth, and sometimes they would be almost equal.” Reverend Lindasusan Ulrich, an assistant minister at First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, acknowledged this struggle, but also said she was able to find ways to join her religious and queer identities. “For me, I see definitive connections having a nonmonosexual identity and being a Unitarian Universalist in that there’s an openness to different possibilities and a curiosity about different possibilities,” Ulrich said. “I realized how much that openness has influenced me in my ministry. For me, they are very intertwined.” Panelists also described the issues they had in being open about their queer identities in religious settings, or vice versa. These two communities have a history of negative interactions — a recent one being accusations against a church in Detroit of planning conversion therapy workshops. Incidents of discrimination like the church in Detroit cause animosity in both communities. A Public Health graduate student, who requested to be anonymous due to her sensitive identity, said many
is to be something more, like a social media platform where we could essentially help a user decide and plan out their entire night, from where they go, who they go with, and then eventually what music they listen to,” Kaper said. “The idea is to become a more of an all-inclusive way to connect and experience parties together.” Since its launch on the Apple App Store in January, UpNext has been downloaded by over 500 users, including Business freshman Alana Gartenberg. “Before, you could have been fighting over the aux or fighting over the music and it took away from the time you could have been spending talking about other things,” Gartenberg said. “This app makes it so much easier to just put in what you want.” UpNext’s current users have accumulated organically through word-of-mouth and small publicity stunts, like sponsored Snapchat filters. The team paid for Snapchat filters in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico over Spring Break, as well as multiple party spaces over St. Patrick’s Day weekend. However, Mahdavi said the team has strayed away from depending on marketing strategies to promote the app and instead are focusing on letting the product sell itself.
“We didn’t put enough emphasis on the actual design,” Mahdavi said. “I think most successful companies that make social media products really focus on the product. Then it speaks for itself. People will use it if they like it.” Kaper, who worked on developing the app, said the team recognizes app design is vital in attracting users. In recent weeks, the app’s developing team has concentrated on cleaning the user interface design by minimizing screens users must swipe through and introducing a “home” screen, which is widely used in popular apps like Snapchat and Tinder. “The main idea is to create simplicity,” Kaper said. “It’s easier to retain the user if the appearance on the app is pretty easy and straightforward.” One of UpNext’s selling points is that it was created for college students, by college students. The team spends every week updating the app based on students’ reactions to it with a hearty goal of 1,500 to 2,000 downloads by the end of the semester. The hardest part of the process, according to Sukanto, is getting those users. “You never know, at this stage, what people
really want,” Sukanto said. “Everything is still a guessing game. That’s why every week we push to test and see if it improves. It’s a cycle.” According to Sukanto, UpNext is putting Ann Arbor first this semester, focusing on reaching out to students in the area, but next semester’s plans foresee a push to other college towns. “Our goal this semester is truly about learning what product features work and what marketing strategies work,” Sukanto said. “Right now, our only focus is Ann Arbor.” Members of the team have gotten support from CHISL Design, a student-run branding group, as well as from Entrepreneurship 412, a University course modeled on real-world startup incubators and accelerator programs. However, Mahdavi said what helps drive the app’s development the most is the support they get from each other. “School is super important, that’s why we’re here and learning so much, and that’s how we met each other,” Mahdavi said. “But there’s something very exciting about having your own app and having something to your own name and seeing people have fun with it.”
may believe the stereotype of Muslims being homophobic, which can make it hard for her to interact in queer spaces. She also said while her Muslim group of friends is very open, conversations about gender and sexuality are more closedoff in mosques. “Most of my Muslim friends never really had to say, ‘It’s cool to be gay’ within our friend circles, but if we went to mosques or we went to Sunday school, there was a kind of hesitation with being so open and expressive about it,” she said. An undergraduate student who also requested anonymity felt similarly about her queer and orthodox Jewish communities. She highlighted the unwillingness to discuss sexuality within the Jewish community, as well as the lack of awareness surrounding Judaism in LGBTQ+ spaces. “It’s hard to find ritual spaces that are meaningful for me because when you go in and your identity isn’t there, or it’s erased, or it’s invisible,” she said. “In the wider LGBTQ spaces, I encounter a lot of ignorance about Judaism, what it is, what its rituals are like. This can be hard when you want to start to talk to people about things, and have them understand where you come from.” Both Jewish and Muslim students talked
about the genderedness of their respective religions, particularly in their rituals and traditions. The Muslim student discussed the gender divide between men and women in mosques, and how this has a harmful effect on members of the LGBTQ+ community. The Jewish student expressed her pain in acknowledging because of her sexuality, she won’t be able to partake in certain traditions. “It’s hard, the knowledge that in some ways I won’t really be able to participate in the milestones and rituals that are important to me because of my sexuality, because of the possible gender of my future spouse, and because of inherent gender separation in the rituals,” she said. To work through these struggles, the religious leaders among the panelists emphasized education. Ulrich said she uses her position as a minister to her advantage in terms of teaching her congregation about LGBTQ+ issues. “Sometimes the teaching is really vital because I have the privilege of a pulpit from which I can say things like, ‘How can this open our minds?’” Ulrich said. “‘How about we think about this?’” The Jewish student offered up a different viewpoint, questioning whether she has an obligation to educate her peers on these issues.
“On the one hand, we shouldn’t have to, but on the other hand, if you don’t advocate for yourself, who’s going to?” she asked. In response to a question posed by an audience member on how to approach coming out, the panelists had differing perspectives. The Muslim and Jewish students expressed how it’s unnecessary to come out to everyone while Spencer emphasized the importance of doing what feels comfortable. “If I may give you a bit of advice: Do it at your pace, at what feels right for you,” Spencer said. “Don’t let other people tell you how fast you have to go.” Alyssa Cozad, an academic advisor at the Stamps School of Art and Design, felt enlightened by the perspectives and opinions of the panelists. The difficulties the panelists expressed in trying to live authentically and exist in either spiritual or LGBTQ+ spaces resonated with her. She expressed her hopes for events of a similar nature. “There’s room certainly for more of this on campus and in the Ann Arbor community,” Cozad said. “We’re an open community, I hope, for a lot of people and a resource for people. So I like to come to these sorts of events so that I can let them inform my work and how I relate with students.”
Opinion
4 — Tuesday, April 3, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
IAN LEACH | COLUMN
The revival of Facebook group culture Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com
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Managing Editor
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Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
RISHABH KEWALRAMANI | COLUMN
Trump to meet Kim, why not?
E
verybody who went to a stereotypical American high school or has even just seen “Gossip Girl” knows that high schools have cliques. If you walk into the cafeteria, a quick scan of seating arrangements reveals these exclusive groups: The jocks sit in the corner booth, the theater kids sit with each other, as do the nerds and the band kids take their food to go eat in the band room. Nevertheless, every year there is one kid who shocks the world and moves from the nerd table to the jock table by either hitting the g ym all summer or somehow getting a girl who sits at that table (Hey Dan). The state of world politics is not entirely different — there are small exclusive tables where decisions are made that impact the whole world, such as the U.N. Security Council, the Group of Seven and Group of 20 summits. However, how do countries get spots in these exclusive groups? How can the nerd (North Korea) get at the same table as the jocks (the U.S. and China)? In the past, nations have developed their geopolitical prestige in one of two ways: the economy or the military. Some nations, such as China, became international powers by rapidly developing their economy and becoming trade partners with other superpowers, such as the United States. In fact, it was not until recently that China started to really build up its military. Similarly, Germany became one of the most important, if not the most important, players in Europe by becoming an economic powerhouse. At the same time, Germany became extremely demilitarized after World War II, and its new constitution held that Germany’s military would only be a defense mechanism. On the other hand, Kim Jongun and North Korea have made
another bet altogether. They believe that the path to the cool kids’ table goes through a nuclear weapons program. On numerous occasions in the past, Kim has made public statements that basically make the arg ument that if North Korea does not have nuclear weapons, it will never be taken seriously as a geopolitical actor. In fact, a member of then-President Barack Obama’s National Security Council said as much: “If you were the head of a small, isolated, poor country surrounded by potentially hostile military powers, you’d be looking for some way to ensure your own destiny, too.” Basically, if you were a nerd that didn’t want to be picked on any longer, you would hit the g ym too.
Basically, if you were a nerd that didn’t want to be picked on any longer, you would hit the gym too. This past week Kim began his foray into the jock’s ground by meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Kim has already used the meeting as propaganda for the usefulness of his nuclear weapons program. North Korean state media showed images of its leader looking charismatic with a large motorcade. In another image, it appeared that Xi was making a toast to Kim. Whether the narrative is true or not, Kim can now claim that he was on even footing with the leader of one of the world’s most powerful nations. Now, to the question at hand: Why shouldn’t President Donald Trump
meet with Kim? At face value, this meeting seems to be an unmitigated success — Trump has managed to do what his predecessors couldn’t. He got Kim to come to the negotiating table. However, by doing so, Trump would effectively be validating everything Kim has done up until this point. Let’s start from the beginning. Kim started developing nuclear weapons under the premise that he would not be taken seriously by the superpowers if he did not have these weapons of mass destruction. Time and time again, these superpowers tried to stop him from getting the nuclear weapons without giving him a seat at the table. Eventually, he was able to advance his nuclear capabilities to the point where, in his eyes, he is now a credible threat. Consequently, Kim was able to visit Beijing and meet with one of the most powerful men in the world. Now, he has a chance to meet with the leader of the free world. If you were Kim or the leader of another smaller nation, what would you conclude from this series of events? If you do not have the capability to become an economic powerhouse, the only way to become a player at the big boys’ table is to become a military power through the acquisition of nuclear weapons. So, President Trump, I’d urge you to carry on with caution and pay attention to the kinds of signals you are sending. It’s easy to get distracted by porn stars and special counsels. Especially with what seems like an endless stream of news that comes out of this White House, there’s only so much we can keep track of, but this one decision, no matter how dry, could have implications for the security of the world.
O
ver the past year, I’ve decided to join a variety of Facebook groups. In a way, it’s the return of the Facebook likes of the past. When I was a kid, I’d like some interesting or funny one-liner that was, as the kids say, “#relatable” and then I would immediately forget about it for something more important, like the number of likes my last Facebook photo received. These liked pages would show up on my feed for a few days, my friends would like these pages and then they’d be gone forever. Now, though, these Facebook pages have taken a different form: groups that have specific interests or topics in which individuals can post in and talk about related issues. This is fun, but it might not sound as great when you realize that this is just another way to silo oneself into an information system. At first glance, Facebook groups might appear to be a good thing. It goes without saying that there are serious benefits from marginalized or niche groups coming together to talk about common interests. And as I’m sure your tour g uide let you know, the University of Michigan has tons of those on campus: Whether you’re interested in political activism or squirrels, finding individuals here on campus that you share interests with provides social benefits for the person, including those aforementioned Facebook likes. These organizations can help people acclimate to campus and discuss common issues and interests. One could say Facebook groups are doing the same thing: People interested in public transit or advocacy surrounding public transit use can find many groups on Facebook, but I don’t believe these groups have the same impact as organizations on campus. One of the largest benefits is also one of the biggest downsides to Facebook groups. Because of the huge reach of Facebook, you can get a variety
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of individuals to be a part of a group. This means people from all over the country and globe can join a meme page. This connectedness is wonderful, and provides a meaningful community for some, but it also has a key problem: information silos. Like Reddit, we can see how these communities draw people further into their own issues and beliefs. Reddit allows individuals to pick their communities and only see information inside them. I worry Facebook is doing the same thing. My participation in Facebook group culture, which incorporates a variety of my political beliefs as well as my passionate love of memes, has likely made it where I see fewer opinions different than my own on my feed. I consider myself someone who tries to engage in politics from all sides — I am “that g uy” who will comment on a post I disagree with — and I can say that the changes and rise of Facebook group culture give none of the benefits of a student organization on campus while giving all of the features of groupthink. A Facebook group discussing public transit gives all of the benefits without, say, the arg uments one might want to hear regarding American hesitancy of raising taxes and how we might have to give up or cut back on social programs that might be hurting the exact group of people we’re interested in helping. In the meantime, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that he is doubling-down on Facebook group culture and has stated his interest in continuing and growing Facebook groups. Facebook launched its first “Communities Summit,” noting that the goal of the event is to “streng then people’s online and off line connections.” Zuckerberg is right that group participation off line has been declining, and, for over 40 years, the social science body of literature has suggested that
we are losing some of those ties that help bond us together and make us feel rooted in a community. And there’s good reason for Zuckerberg to create this event. The divisive nature of politics right now is near an all-time high. In constructing a website that has an algorithm to determine what you see, you can imagine that it is in a company’s best interest to keep you on the website for as long as possible. Since Facebook is free, it has to sell you, the user, to advertisers. Reasonably, this can lead a company to show you things you agree with and have you avoid things you don’t. But, unfortunately, that won’t help people avoid confirming existing beliefs and won’t allow for their ideas to be challenged. An article from The Atlantic talks about how, from an evolutionary perspective, having social support far outweighs knowing the truth. Having people on board with an idea had far larger benefits in a society where social support meant life or death. Now? I’d like to imagine my Facebook likes are, perhaps, not as important as having well-founded opinions and an interest in political advocacy. But what do I know? Information silos from Facebook are not new, but groups are a new iteration of this same problem. When Facebook announced they were going to put groups and your personal contacts as a priority on your feed instead of news articles, Facebook chose confirmation bias over a diversity of information. I hope to see a world where Facebook is a democratic platform where one can engage in substantive debate. Groups might be able to increase our Facebook likes, but they’re certainly not going to mend the divisive rhetoric in this country.
Ian Leach can be reached at ileach@umich.edu.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
Ours is the worst bed and breakfast ever. We don’t serve breakfast and we don’t even have beds. Please have fun tonight, but celebrate responsibly. Spend the night at your place. Not ours. #GoBlue
Rishabh Kewalramani can be reached at lbdean@umich.edu.
— The City of Ann Arbor’s Police Department Facebook post preparing students before the National Championship.
SARAH NEFF | CONTACT SARAH AT SANE@UMICH.EDU
ANDREW WHITE | LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I
am a dual French and Cellular and Molecular Biolog y major at the University of Michigan, and I am responding to The Daily article titled, “An Open Letter to the French Department.” My perspective is different insofar as I had not spoken a word of French until my arrival at the University of Michigan. I still remember the first day of French 100 during winter semester of my freshman year, when my instructor conducted two hours of class in French and I understood only two words: “oui” and “non.” Critiques of the program with regard to a heav y workload and tough grading are unfair. As a science major, I have taken many courses in which allnighters’worth of studying is merely an expectation of the class. The grading is
tough, the workload is heav y and students are expected to take responsibility for their own learning, both in the Romance Lang uages and Literatures Department and in the Program in Biolog y. I am proud to have completed
Critiques of the program with regard to a heavy workload and tough grading are unfair. the introductory sequence in the French program because I know the work that I put into this rigorous program was accurately ref lected in my grade and in my performance
”
in the lang uage. Resources are available to ensure that success is within reach to all students. To learn a language as a young adult is a challenge that is unique for both those teaching and those learning. In my experience in the RLL, all the lecturers and professors are rooting for your success in the language, in their courses and in life. Assigned homework, the workshop-style “flipped classroom,”office hours and the Language Resource Center are all examples of resources implemented by the French program for its students’success. The resources are here for success in the introductory French sequence, and it is up to students to take advantage of them.
Andrew White is an LSA Senior.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Tuesday, April 3, 2018 — 5
DAILY FOOD COLUMN
FILM REVIEW
Sunny Side Up: A tour of Ann Arbor brunches ELI RALLO
Daily Food Columnist
WARNER BROS.
Spielberg finds humanity behind ‘Ready Player One’ JEREMIAH VANDERHELM Daily Arts Writer
I’m well aware of the position I’m putting myself in when I tell you that I didn’t like Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One,” but I hope that my opening by saying this means you take me seriously when I also tell you that Steven Spielberg’s (“The Post”) adaptation of that novel is the most fun you’re liable to have at the movies this side of “Infinity War.” Where the original work drowns out what could
“Ready Player One” Warner Bros. Ann Arbor 20 + IMAX, Goodrich Quality 16 have been a unique adventure under a f lood of soulless ’80s references and thinly-written characters, Spielberg uses his talents at combining spectacle with humanity to actually craft a compelling story and take Cline’s work to places of genuine greatness. The combination of their talents doesn’t always work — the opening act is so packed with exposition, jargon and a rushed romance that it recalls any number of YA dystopian f licks — but when it clicks, it exceeds its source material more than any of us could have wished. In no place is this more clear-cut than in the film’s message. Where the book paid mostly empty lip-service to the idea of life beyond pop culture, Spielberg actively practices what he preaches here. Film, television, video games — these things can provide an escape, but it’s the relationships that are built through them that
are most important. The stronger characterization adds further credence to this idea, as do the scene-stealing performances from Olivia Cooke (“Thoroughbreds”) and a stupendously cast Mark Rylance (“Dunkirk”) But the message will almost be beside the point for those who, unlike me, enjoyed Cline’s novel, so let me reassure you once again that “Ready Player One” is the very definition of “fun” from beginning to end. The action is as marvelously directed as fans of Spielberg would expect, with ludicrously complex tracking shots galore; a wildly over-the-top racing scene close to the beginning works as a showcase for the film’s gorgeous special effects as well as an introduction for the film’s characters and the limitless nature of their world. It’s deeply funny, and there’s an almost childish tone that works given how much the story deals with nostalgia. Even the references, when they occur, work much better here than, say, dedicating an entire page to every ’80s-inspired modification you made to your DeLorean to prove how cool you are. That’s part of the benefit of film; adapted as visuals, there’s a quickness to them that allows you to appreciate the reference without halting the story. Even when the story is centered around a particular homage — an entire sequence is sculpted around an extended send-up to Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” — there’s still a novelty to them. A similar sequence in the book has the main character recite linefor-line the entirety of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” reducing the lead of the book to a passive player in a much better story, so when in the adaptation, Spielberg actually allows his characters to interact with iconic set pieces
of the Overlook Hotel and play a part, it works much better. There’s even what seems to be a kind of self-aware commentary on the references themselves, as several of the antagonists, including Ben Mendelsohn’s (“Darkest Hour”) Nolan Sorrento, reduce themselves to regurgitating meaningless references in an attempt at pandering to their
Spielberg uses his talents at combining spectacle with humanity to actually craft a compelling story
enemies. It’s played for laughs when taken at face value, but given the criticisms that Cline’s novel does much of the same thing, it’s an interesting dissection of “Ready Player One”’s lifeblood. Given the insane talent of the man behind the camera and the popularity of the book, there probably wasn’t much reason to worry about “Ready Player One,” and yet the degree to which it works is still surprising. The best parts of Ernest Cline’s book are preserved; the fun tone and scifi adventure are the foundation the movie is built upon. But Spielberg’s f lourishes — his self-aware direction, smarter references and improved characterization — are what takes it to the next level.
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
Fresh Check Day raises mental health awareness SAMMY SUSSMAN Daily Arts Writer
On most cold Friday mornings in Mar., the Diag is empty. Yet this year, on a windy, 30-degree day only weeks away from the end of the term, the Diag was full of activity. This was Fresh Check Day, a gathering of student organizations and University programs aimed at raising awareness of mental health issues on campus. It was lead by Call for Humanity, a newly created student organization aimed at promoting dialogue and awareness of mental health around campus. Students had the opportunity to visit different tables and learn about the mental health resources available to students. The Health Science Scholars
Program, SAPAC, the Depression Center, Club Sports, Redefine, Body Peace Corps, Out of the Dark and CAPS in Action were all represented. At the corner of the Diag, the LSA Student Government had set up a nine out of 10 booth. “One in ten college students contemplates suicide,” they explained in one of their pamphlets. “That leaves nine out of 10 to reach out and help someone.” Students visiting the booth were asked to sign a pledge of support as a member of the nine out of 10. Students were also provided information about the warning signs and the steps that one can take to help those in need. “We started ‘Call for Humanity’ last year during the election period,” said LSA junior Samir Harake in an interview with The Daily. “We wanted to
address issues that affect a lot of the students.” The event, he explained, was meant to “bring people together to say ‘we hear this problem’” and to “create some change in how it’s addressed.” “We wanted to focus on creating collaborative events,” said Rafik Issa, an LSA junior. “Our role was contacting the different groups and getting them together. They all bring different perspectives to this and it has been challenging but also very informative to work with all of them.” “We talked to the LSA Student Government and the student organizations that do the work on the ground about mental health,” Harake explained. “They affect a lot of the students on campus and they can really create some change.” In conjunction with these
If breakfast food were a major offered at the University, I’d have a 4.0. I wouldn’t even need to re-subscribe to my Chegg account if I were taking classes like “Intro to How Do You Like Your Eggs” instead of Polisci 495. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I go to bed thinking of it, and it’s my first thought every morning. Especially since moving to Ann Arbor, I’ve had an infatuation with scrambled eggs, puffy cheese filled omelettes, the endless toppings one could put on a stack of warm buttery pancakes and the innumerable things one can do to a plate of potatoes (a side dish which, if done right, can steal the spotlight from the main course). My mornings at home are always paired with a mug of black coffee — preferably Keurig Dunkin Donuts original blend in my Good Morning, Ann Arbor mug and a bowl of steaming hot oatmeal with a swirl of crunchy almond butter, a dash of cinnamon and a handful of fresh raspberries. That’s the best way to pre-game any Monday through Friday that begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends whenever I manage to check all the boxes on a neverending to-do list. Especially after a morning run or late night studying, breakfast is an important staple in the 24-hour routine of a college student. In the rulebook I live by, breakfast is an essential — and the brightest — part of my morning. This mantra has been instilled inside me since early childhood, when my father began a serious and unique 6:30 a.m. standing breakfast date which he called “choices,” where my brothers and I would gather around our kitchen table before school and he’d make a selection of different gourmet breakfast foods to start out our day on the right foot. I was lucky enough to have this tradition from elementary school to the last day of senior year of high school, running down the stairs with my backpack to a kitchen filled with the scent of lemon blueberry ricotta waffles or a pancetta goat cheese frittata (always served with a crisp of bread and pool of olive oil). I learned about how to fuel my body as I transitioned from child to adult, to never skip breakfast and that the best way to make a frittata fluffy is to whisk a tablespoon of cream cheese into your eggs. It isn’t hard to explain the appeal of breakfast, but it’s the most contested meal of the day — people don’t like to get up early, “aren’t hungry in the morning,” “can’t eat till they have coffee” — the list goes on. The perfect solution for the breakfast haters of the world is brunch: An early afternoon meal — the contraction between breakfast and lunch and an excuse to pair french toast with alcohol. The brunch scene in Ann Arbor is unlike anything I’ve ever come across in my 19-yearlong uninterrupted breakfast restaurant tour. To me, the promise of a good breakfast can make anybody
student organizations, the University’s mental health resources were well represented at the event. Student Life’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), for example, had information on the free workshops, presentations and therapy that they offer. Michigan Medicine’s Depression Center was also represented at the event. Though known primarily for their work in addressing mental health policy, they also offer support groups for students. The main focus of the event, however, was raising awareness of the institutional and cultural changes necessary to further mental health improvement around campus. Though the University does address mental health, there is always more to be done. “There is so much more that
a morning person, and I feel as though the brunch scene in Ann Arbor makes the city a breeding ground for brunch fiends. Sometimes, I feel as though the brunch trend takes the foundation of breakfast as the best meal of the day and pushes it aside a bit. Therefore, I’m an adamant believer in not only the Saturday / Sunday brunch but the mundane, daily, everyday breakfast date. For me, a 9:00 a.m. Wednesday breakfast date can be nicer than the 11:30 a.m. Sunday brunch with the gaggle of high school seniors trying to scheme their way into a few mimosas. That’s why it’s good news that Ann Arbor’s brunch restaurants serve breakfast every day of the week. Ann Arbor has too many breakfast places to count, which suits a breakfast fiend like me quite well. I like to think of these places on a spectrum, from important staples like Fleetwood Diner to boujee spots like Savas and Avalon Cafe, there’s something for everyone, even when you aren’t quite a morning person. If I’m in the mood for something greasy, a hangover cure or perhaps a late night breakfast snack, I always head to Fleetwood Diner. The distance and the wait are both worth it for the hippie hash, the signature dish of Fleetwood. A pile of buttery hash browns covered in a blanket of feta cheese (with a side of fries, eggs and crispy bacon, in my opinion) is quite possibly the very best thing I’ve ever tasted. That paired with the quaint atmosphere, the dim, dull lighting, click of the cash register and walls covered with so many stickers you can’t even see the paint makes the Fleetwood experience one in a million. However, when my parents are in town, we’re big Avalon fans — they serve some sort of blueberry pancake heaven in a heavy metal skillet which pairs perfectly with fresh maple syrup and any of their signature lattes. Avalon specializes in a fresh, unique take on a traditional breakfast, serving greens on the side of frittatas and omelettes, which is exactly the way my dad likes his breakfast. The vibe in Avalon is warm and inviting, the seating comfortable and the coffee bar to die for. If you’re looking for the best muffins and pastries around, Avalon is a go-to — their baked goods and pastries are what they’re known for, and they certainly don’t disappoint. I consider Savas the birthday brunch spot or the “student scene,” as any given Sunday morning it is filled with backpacks and celebration. Their brunch buffet is a favorite of mine, as it is almost as unlimited as my stomach’s capacity for breakfast foods. The mini quiches and chocolate desserts always line my Savas breakfast plate, and I also really like their selections of smoothies and juices. Their Sunday brunch buffet is $20 and includes a mimosa — a great way to get stuffed and celebrate a birthday or a job offer, while also getting tipsy. Despite its consistently long
line, Fred’s, an E. Washington health-minded breakfast cafe, is also one of my favorite places to indulge my breakfast fantasies. Between delicious açaí bowls and the divine toast selections, you can’t go wrong with Fred’s. A common destination for the girl searching for the perfect Instagram (it’s quite the aesthetic) or the healthy vegan foodie, Fred’s is one of my favorite places to go with friends for a ricotta toast or a matcha latte. Fred’s is on the pricier side for sure, but when I’m seeking out my favorite Kombucha or anything that has the word “tumeric,” I normally know I’m in the market to splurge a bit. I never realized how truly delicious frozen yogurt is on top of a warm, grilled blueberry muffin until I went to Afternoon Delight one frozen Ann Arbor morning. The quaint, dinerstyle cafe has choices from giant omelettes to crispy pecan waffles and cinnamon french toast. The true quirk of Afternoon Delight is in their fro-yo topped muffins, an unconventional, albeit heavenly, side dish I never knew would complete all of my breakfast fantasies. I’m willing to say that the muffins at Afternoon Delight are the best muffins in Ann Arbor, and perhaps the world. And trust me, I know my muffins. No matter how far I venture from Catherine Street, my favorite Ann Arbor breakfast place is, and always will be, Angelo’s. Standing since 1956, the child of two Greek immigrants, Angelo’s is at once both home and a foodie’s journey. Their commitment to the standard, traditional diner breakfast with its own perfect individualities makes Angelo’s familiar to a Jersey girl who is very used to a classic diner. I am a big fan of the chocolate chip pancakes, perfectly fluffy and buttery with syrup dripping on to the white ceramic plate, but I’m also absolutely married to the spinach and feta omelette (side of raisin toast grilled, side of potatoes — carb loading, you know?) and sometimes I just have to get both. Everyone knows Angelo’s for their crispy yet sweet raisin toast, and I am willing to admit that sometimes I dream that I am asleep on a pile of it, and then I wake up with my head on my pillow and just have to go to Catherine street to satisfy my cravings. While there is no “Intro to How Do You Like Your Eggs?” or “Chocolate Chips to Pancake Ratio 301” courses at the University, one can certainly become educated in breakfast foods in their years as a student here. From the over 10 different options for breakfast right in the heart of the city, it’s feasible and honestly honorable to try them all enough times to taste all of the staple menu items (and maybe a few more). There are just over 150 Sundays in my four years as a Wolverine (hard to believe I’m almost done with 75 of them), and you can bet that I’m taking breakfast very seriously somewhere (even if it’s just a dining hall) on each and every one.
we can do,” Issa said. “While there (are) a lot of resources on Central, for example, there’s not enough attention to people on
help people,” Harake said. “We have such a vocal campus when it comes to social justice issues, but this is one that many people don’t want to talk about as much. We want to take away the black hole surrounding it.” “There’s a lot of stigma surrounding mental health,” Issa said. “It’s okay if you are suffering, and it’s good to seek out these resources.” The event also featured performances from Groove, 58 Greene and Michigan Magic. They helped create a fun and open atmosphere in which students could come together and address this stigmatized topic. “We want people to come have fun and get some free stuff,” Issa said. “One person suffering is one too many and anything that we can do to draw attention to this is helpful.”
Though the University does address mental health, there is always more to be done North Campus.” “We want people to leave here feeling like they learned something and that they can
Arts
6 — Tuesday, April 3, 2018
TV REVIEW
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ALBUM REVIEW
ABC
Zach Braff’s return to TV completely disappoints DOOM’s latest is dynamic
ABC
SAMANTAH DELLA FERA Daily Arts Writer
It has been eight years since Zach Braff’s defining role as goofy doctor J.D. on “Scrubs” came to a triumphant end. Since then, the New Jerseyborn actor and filmmaker has turned his focus to movies, including 2014’s “Wish I Was Here,” which Braff wrote, directed and starred in. Now, his focus has shifted back to the small screen to take on his first sitcom since the wildly successful “Scrubs.” Braff’s new show “Alex, Inc.” takes its inspiration from the story of Alex Blumberg, whose successful, real-life podcast “StartUp” helped him create the award-winning narrative podcast company Gimlet Media. Braff plays Alex Schuman, a journalist and father of two, who quits his job at an upbeat radio show to tell the hard-hitting, interesting stories he wants to tell. The concept may sound very niche and millennial, perhaps even a little bit boring, but this is Zach Braff we’re talking about. This master of witty voiceovers and quick asides could make “Pawn Stars” into a cheery, laugh-out loud thriller. Braff brings positivity and quick wit to every project he tackles. And while in many cases that is his greatest strength, it is this show’s biggest weakness.
“Alex, Inc.” is far too polished for the difficult topic it tackles. This is a man in his mid-thirties who just quit his job spontaneously, without so much as telling his wife Runi (Tiya Sircar, “The Good Place”). When he does inform her after
“Alex, Inc.” Series Premiere Wed. 8:30 p.m. ABC the fact, she is shocked for about a minute before throwing all of her support behind him. Is it really so bad to see a spouse supporting their significant other? No, but “Alex, Inc.” fails to do anything to address the true weight of the decision that Schuman is making, a move that could potentially add some depth to an otherwise twodimensional show. Braff is still excellent in the role, there’s no question of that. But the dynamics of the characters make it clear that this is his show, and nobody else’s. One of the reasons that “Scrubs” was so beloved is that while Braff was the star, each supporting character had their own distinct personalities and storylines, which played off of and alongside the exaggerated and beautiful buffoonery of Braff. In “Alex, Inc.,” the supporting cast
Classifieds
members are nothing more than underdeveloped tropes. Schuman’s producer Deirdre (Hillary Anne Matthews, “Dirtbags”) is essentially his groupie, while his second cousin and business partner Eddie (Michael Imperioli, “Hawaii Five-0”) is nothing more than an Italian Mafia caricature who delivers the occasional somewhat comical line. The most punishable crime of “Alex, Inc.” is its severe misuse of Sircar, who is an incredible actress and plays a likeable character reduced to nothing more than her husband’s cheerleader. “Alex, Inc.” is too bubblegum for adults, but too mature to be a family show. It is clearly focused more on being a platform for an actor with as big of a personality as Braff than it is on telling its story right or integrating its talented cast well. While in “Scrubs,” Braff was a key complementary component to multiple welltold stories, in “Alex, Inc.,” he is the only story. The show chronicles the birth of a podcast, a medium that has become revolutionary in today’s entertainment industry. Yet the beauty of podcasts come from their ability to convey depth of story and emotion, just through words. “Alex, Inc.” fails to do this even with pictures on their side, leaving viewers to assume that maybe some stories are better left on the radio.
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
MIKE WATKINS Daily Arts Writer
Music changes; if it didn’t, Gregorian chants would dominate Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Generation after generation, old sounds are phased out and new sounds come to dominate as blends of past-respecting inf luence and future-forward innovation. With this trend, there is and always will be a rift between older listeners and younger listeners — hence why your Baby Boomer mom “doesn’t get” Frank Ocean. This contrast, as it pertains to hip hop, is especially evident on Czarface Meets Metal Face, a collaborative project by Czarface (a trio pioneered by Wu Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck including rapper Esoteric and producer 7L) and MF DOOM. Soaked in stripped down, boom-bap beats and clever lyricism, the album is nearly indistinguishable from dated projects like DOOM’s Mm.. Food or Wu Tang’s Enter The Wu-Tang. It sounds undeniably classic, despite its 2018 release, and makes evident the extent to which rap has changed over the past 15 years.
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Sound from Rover 4 Quite anxious 11 Canada’s most populous prov. 14 Corporate VIP 15 Pudding choice 16 Canada’s least populous prov. 17 Mess up 18 *Sci-fi energy ray that grabs ships 20 Set of guidelines, as for grading papers 22 Big stretch of time 23 Pay to play 24 Tattle 25 Cheer on 27 __ Moines 28 Hailed car 30 Sign before Virgo 31 “Then what happened?” 33 Sang 29-Down 35 Tattle 38 “Joltin’” DiMaggio 39 Puts in new film 40 “Dawg!” 41 Columnist Landers 42 Sees right through 43 Salt Lake City athlete 44 Family cat, e.g. 46 In medias __ 47 “Big Brother” channel 49 Soda can feature 52 Yacht spot 55 Word of lament for “poor Yorick” 56 __-pitch softball 58 The “U” in “MVEMJSUN” 59 Small, influential group ... and a hint to the word hidden in each answer to a starred clue 62 Suffix with ranch 63 “Norma __”: Sally Field film 64 Witty remarks 65 ID on a W-9 form 66 Concorde, e.g., briefly 67 Martyred bishop of Paris 68 “Ha! Told ya!”
DOWN 1 Taiwanese laptops 2 Syndicated sitcom, say 3 *Sci-fi classic featuring Robby the Robot 4 Top stories 5 Durable wood 6 Mental health org. 7 Beans go-with 8 *Vessels pulling water-skiers 9 Budget, in product names 10 Patriotic women’s org. 11 *Sign outside a new store 12 “That’s awesome!” 13 Sometimes egg-shaped kitchen gadget 19 Diminish 21 Numbered rd. 26 Auto pioneer 28 *Unable to tell red from green, say 29 Without company 31 “How to Get Away With Murder” actress __ Naomi King
32 “Smoking or __?” 33 French “his” 34 Tokyo, once 36 Word after op or pop 37 Foot part 39 “Hud” director Martin 45 Ultimatum word 47 Tender touch 48 Sports __ 49 Socks from the dryer, hopefully
50 Radii neighbors 51 Fancy neckwear 52 Vitamin prefix 53 Rehab center staffer 54 Synchronously 57 “It’s her __”: relationship ultimatum 60 NFL playmakers 61 Cheat
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04/03/18
Czarface Meets Metal Face CZARFACE/ MFDOOM Get On Down
to be his “villain,” a clever play on Doom’s famed Madvillain. This loose plot provides some structure and f low to the album, but more so allows for clever and entertaining skits and sampling, augmentations for which both the Czarface trio and Doom are well known. What makes the album especially interesting is the dichotomy between sound and lyrics. While the tracks act as portals to the rap that used to be, their lyrical content is
extremely current: The rappers trade musings on popular culture with lines like, “It’s on the tip of my tongue like Stan Smith’s face,” and “Only time you set-trip is when you binge on Netf lix.” When combined with the album’s classic sound, these modern lyrics make the aforementioned evolution of hip hop even more obvious. The nearly 40-year-old Esoteric raps about modern shoe trends and streaming services, something one would expect from the likes of Drake or Travis Scott, but the music sounds nothing like today’s rap. Now, I don’t want to indicate a bias against or dislike toward modern hip hop; I love and appreciate trap rap and all of its booms and mumbles. It’s simply interesting that, when placed in a modern context, outdated art exposes the changing of the times. The same could be said about Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych if it were repurposed with the face of Kim Kardashian or Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Little Fugue in G Minor” if Young Thug spit a verse on top. With Czarface Meets Metal Face, listeners are reminded of where hip hop was and where it is today.
TV REVIEW
‘Splitting Up Together’ is not worth your effort MORGAN RUBINO
RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, April 3, 2018
No autotune, no mumbling, no booming bass. The production is low-volume and crisp, and the lyrical delivery is decisive and comprehensible. The premise of the album is superhero-based: Czarface, a self-described hero, recruits Metal Face (a.k.a. MF Doom)
Daily Arts Writer
I had high hopes that ABC’s “Splitting Up Together” would make me laugh, especially with Ellen Degeneres as one of the show’s executive producers. And I mean really laugh — in a way that’s greater than the fake chuckle family comedies normally elicit. But with an overwhelming sense of “been there, done that,” a couple lacking on-screen chemistry and an all too predictable plot trajectory, “Splitting Up Together” mostly falls flat. Like a lighter version of HBO’s “Divorce,” “Splitting Up Together” follows Lena (Jenna Fischer, “The Office”) and Martin (Oliver Hudson, “Nashville”), a recently divorced couple who have decided, on behalf of their children and extensive mortgage, to remain living under the same roof. Well, kind of. The plan goes a little something like this: Alternating weeks on and off duty, one parent lives in the house and takes on all the household responsibilities, while the other gets some much needed rest and relaxation in the detached garage. It sounds simple — and boy is it. It’s just a disappointment that almost every aspect of the pilot is as one-dimensional and basic as the premise. Each member of the family is forced into a trope so constraining and overused that there seems to be little room for character development down the road. Lena is instantantly labeled as the uptight, high-strung mom, whose neurotic tendencies and hypersensitivity are to blame for the divorce. And Martin, on
the other hand, fully embodies the man-child trope, acting as the cool dad who just can’t seem to comprehend emotion or communication. As for the kids — well, the kids are just bizarre. They somehow seem unusually unphased by their parents’ separation. Additionally, they are bound by such rigid stereotypes that they come off more as caricatures of pop culture trends than real, living people. The oldest son, Mason (Van Crosby,
“Splitting Up Together” Series Premiere Tues. 9:30 p.m. ABC “Criminal Minds”), is nothing more than a boy embarking on the journey that is puberty. In the first episode alone, his complaint of painful balls completely consumes his already short moments of dialogue. The pair’s fiercely feminist young daughter, Mae (newcomer Olivia Keville), is almost scarily expressionless, as she sips tea from her “Male Tears” mug and bashes her brother for having a crush on Kate Upton. And as for the youngest child, Milo (newcomer Sander Thomas), the only air time he has been given is five seconds of looking cute. Perhaps the most pressing problem of “Splitting Up Together” is that it’s trying all too hard to be funny. The pilot felt strained, as though the actors were pausing to let audiences know that they had just said a joke, and that you should laugh now. While there were a couple
genuine sprinkles of pure comedy, like when Lena accidentally texts Mason with flirty messages, most of the punchlines fail to deliver. Among the cast, Jenna Fischer was truly the only actor who delivered a winning performance. As Lena, she was convincing and defined, and stood strongly as the leader of the household. But even then, I couldn’t help but imagine her in her worldrenowned role as Pam from “The Office” due to the characters’ shared use of witty humor and quick insults. Alternatively, Oliver Hudson was nice to look at, but extremely bland and unappealing as Martin. For a couple that had been married for 10 years, there was almost no chemistry between the two of them — either romantic as ex-lovers or argumentative as newly divorced. “Splitting Up Together” has a seemingly low shelf life, considering it is very likely that Lena and Martin will eventually try to rekindle their relationship. Or, at the very least, the series is sure to fall into the inevitable loop of a “will they, won’t they” storyline, which the show will frustratingly milk for all it’s worth. “Splitting Up Together” is meant to be a comedy, but divorce is just not given justice for the traumatic event that it is. It’s possible the series is meant for an older demographic that can really identify with the trials and tribulations of separation, or maybe divorce just isn’t conventionally funny. Either way, “Splitting Up Together” will easily get lost in the flood of other network comedies, and isn’t worth the hype that Ellen’s signature provides.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, April 3, 2018 — 7
Only tears
H
eartbreak knows noth-
ing of circumstance. There’s no sense in telling Zavier Simpson, sulked deep MAX into his MARCOVITCH locker and speaking in a hushed-tone, that his team wildly outperformed any expectation this season. Not as the team with a trophy was 100 feet down the hallway. Duncan Robinson doesn’t particularly care that the the upstart defensive scheme that came to prominence this year will pay major dividends down the road. That’s no solace for a senior who just lost by 17 in his last game. Don’t expect Charles Matthews, draped in a towel over his head, to delve deep into the bright future ahead of a shining beacon of a college basketball program. He didn’t sit out a year just to ignore the here and now. With the clock winding down, a graceful end to a slow, painful bludegoning in the National Title Game, fifth-year senior guard Jaaron Simmons could only summon a word to describe his emotion. “Damn.” The clock read 79-62, an anti-climactic ending to a season that has been anything but. “At the start of the season there’s a probably handful of teams, 10 teams, that would say ‘We need to be in the National Title Game,” said assistant coach Luke Yaklich. Michigan was decidedly not one of those teams. But? “We grew into that team.” This was a team unranked
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Freshman guard Jordan Poole sits at his locker following Michigan’s 79-62 loss to Villanova in the NCAA Tournament Final.
in the preseason, picked tied for fifth in the Big Ten and labeled as a fringe bubble team. This was supposed to be a rebuilding season, left to plug gaps left by Derrick Walton Jr. and DJ Wilson and anxiously await next year’s heralded recruiting class. Instead, it won a Big Ten Tournament and came one game shy of taking the whole damn thing. “Hell nah,” Simmons said, when asked if he’s thinking about preseason predictions “Right now, you’re thinking, ‘We just lost. It’s over. But we knew people didn’t expect us to get here. But that
don’t mean we didn’t expect to get here and we didn’t expect to win.” Don’t believe him? “We talked about being National Champs and Big Ten champs at our culture meeting in July, said assistant coach Luke Yaklich. “We referenced that again tonight. It’s been on our mind. The word ‘champion’ has been on our mind at the start of every single meeting. “Just 40 minutes short of just a perfect ending.” Monday night, those dreams were shattered by Donte Divincenzo, a particularly
“Just 40 minutes short of just a perfect ending.”
cruel and unforseen way to go out. The Villanova guard ended Michigan’s season with a 31-point outburst off the Wildcats’ bench. Instead of national player of the year Jalen Brunson or future firstround pick Mikal Bridges, the players in the locker room were left answering questions about how an Italian guard from Delaware sliced and diced one of the best defenses in the country. There were self-inf licted wounds, too. It would be hard for any team to win after shooting an abysmal 3-for-23 from 3-point range and allowing 12 offensive rebounds. There was a time midway through the first half when it appeared junior center Moritz Wagner could carry them to glory on his lonesome,
Pitching, defense shine as ‘M’ extends win streak
scoring nine of his team’s first 11 points, leading Michigan to a quick 11-6 advantage. That hope, though, continued to dwindle by the minute, with each Divincenzo heave and bruising team rebound. It was the Wildcats’ night, the Wildcats’ tournament and the Wildcats’ season. The Wolverines can take some consolation that their season ended by the clear, unquestionable best team in the country, a team that led the field beginning to end. but that does nothing to ease the harsh, momentary pain.
Michigan coach John Beilein sniff led as left the locker room to head to the podium, eyes red. He shared the sentiment of an entire locker room, an entire university. There’s a harsh reality of an ending to a run — one so abrupt and defiant that the numbness overwhelms the disappointment. It won’t mask the accomplishments of a special team in the bigger picture, but for the players in the locker room, nine months of work doesn’t get properly contextualized minutes after the buzzer. There’s reality, a realm in which this Michigan team — a group threaded together at its seams with transfers and no-name recruits — came 40 minutes short of a national title, ran into a buzzsaw and finished as the national runner-up. That’s a sentence that would’ve seemed preposterous not even a month ago. “I think that when the pain ends, whenever it is for each person, I know they’re going to look back on this and be thankful for the experiences they had,” Yaklich said, “the relationships that were developed, all of the wins, all of the losses, just the time together. “They’ll all get to that point when they need to.” There’s no room in the Michigan locker room for that right now, though. Not while the wounds are still fresh. Only tears.
There’s a harsh reality of an ending to a run.
Max Marcovitch can be reached at maxmarco@umich.edu or at @Max_Marcovitch on Twitter.
SOFTBALL
Miscues provide Wolverines with easy runs against Purdue JORGE CAZARES Daily Sports Writer
CHRIS FCASNI/Daily
Freshman pitcher Jeff Criswell struck out three in two scoreless innings of relief against Delaware.
BENNETT BRAMSON Daily Sports Writer
In the sixth inning of the Michigan baseball team’s game Sunday, freshman outfielder Jordan Nwogu miscalculated and decided to go for the catch. He missed — and crashed into the wall, allowing the Delaware hitter to secure a double. In the seventh inning, as Michigan held a one-run lead, Blue Hens second baseman Erik Bowren launched a fly ball to deep left field over Nwogu’s head. This time, though, instead of going for the catch, Nwogu played the ball off the brick wall and fired a bullet to junior second baseman Ako Thomas, who tagged the runner out. “When he made that play, I thought to myself … the kid who showed up here in September would’ve never been able to make that play,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “(In September he) would’ve never
had the arm strength to make that play, would have never had the savvy to play the ball off the wall, like he did.” Spurred by Nwogu’s big play, the Wolverines (3-0 Big Ten, 16-11 overall) would go on to take a 4-2 win over Delaware (13-12 overall) and clinch a series sweep for the third straight weekend. Nwogu’s play was the epitome of the transformation that Michigan has experienced ever since its 12-game win streak began. The defense, which had been one of the Wolverines’ biggest weaknesses early on, appears much improved. Through March 14, before the win streak began, Michigan averaged nearly two errors a game. During the streak, though, the Wolverines are averaging just 1.33 errors a game. “You can see them start to improvise and (make) some really athletic plays,” Bakich said. “Early in the year, we
didn’t have that. We were in more of a questioning and a doubtful state of mind, unsure of (ourselves). “… We’re still growing, we’re still getting better, we’re still needing to improve on some physical aspects of our game, but mentally I really like the improvements that we have made and that’s gonna be most important for this team as we continue to move forward.” The vast improvement in defense has opened up other aspects of the Wolverines’ game. According to Bakich, the defensive growth is a sign of the team’s increased confidence. Freshman right-hander Jeff Criswell reaffirmed Bakich’s emphasis on the defensive improvement and explained that strong play in the field helps him as a pitcher. “One of the most prevalent things I think for our team is just the solid defense that we’ve had,” Criswell said. “Day in and day out these guys work
as hard as they can and it’s really showing on the field. It’s just been awesome to see. It’s a good feeling to have the defense back you up and to have trust in them because it makes your job a lot easier as a pitcher.” Since the win streak began, Michigan’s pitching staff has posted a 2.33 team earned run average and this weekend saw its best overall performance yet, as it allowed just two earned runs in the three-game series. “It’s just been that over and over and over again, guys making big pitches and guys behind us making big plays,” Criswell said. “It’s been a really fun thing to be a part of. It’s a fun group and I think there’s only good things to come.” If the Wolverines can maintain the level of excellence their pitching rotation and defensive unit have displayed over the win streak, they are going to be a tough team to beat in a fairly weak Big Ten.
Throughout the course of a softball game, there are small plays that can change the outcome of the final score. Elite teams find ways to capitalize on these opportunities. On Friday, Purdue second baseman Stephanie Ramsey fielded a groundball in the fifth inning from junior centerfielder Natalie Peters, looking to turn a double play. On an errant throw, the ball deflected off Boilermaker shortstop Halle Hixenbaugh’s glove and trickled away toward left field. Freshman shortstop Natalia Rodriguez popped her head up to track the ball, saw that it was rolling toward the outfield and sprinted to third base. This allowed Peters, who had reached base on the previous play, to steal second –– putting two runners into scoring position for senior utility player Tera Blanco. Blanco took the opportunity to drive in both runners, increasing Michigan’s lead to 4-0. It was just one instance of heads-up base running that allowed the Wolverines to capitalize on opponents’ errors and create scoring opportunities. Over the weekend, Purdue committed four fielding errors and threw several wild pitches, contributing in part to 21 total Michigan runs. In the first inning on Friday, the Wolverines scored two runs on a series of three wild pitches which allowed both Blanco and Peters to score. Similarly, in the first inning of Saturday’s
game, runners advanced and later scored on a wild pitch and a passed ball. “If a team’s gonna give us bases, we need to take them,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “If they’re gonna give us balls at the plate, we need to take them and take our walks. Being on base is critical, and we take whatever we can get.” For all the opportunities that the Wolverines capitalized on, though, there were several instances over the weekend where they stranded runners in scoring position. In the three games against Purdue, Michigan left a total of 16 runners on base. On Friday, three runners were left on base before Blanco’s fifth-inning two-RBI single. The opening frame on Saturday ended with the bases loaded. Sunday saw three separate instances in which the inning ended with a base runner standing on third base, before the Wolverines finally pulled away. “We know we have to do a better job at that,” said Blanco. “And I think that we can even score more runs than we did this past game. I think we had a lot of missed opportunities, and it’s something we need to get better at this week.” Against a team like Purdue, being unable to take advantage of an opponents’ miscues may not change the final result. But as Michigan moves forward in Big Ten play and competes against tougher opponents, the errors, walks and heads-up plays will become increasingly important. Failing to capitalize on them may come back to haunt the Wolverines.
“If a team’s gonna give us bases, we need to take them.”
Sports
8 — Tuesday, April 3, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The reality that will haunt Michigan There were aspects of the Wolverines’ game that unexpectedly underperformed in their 17-point loss to Villanova MARK CALCAGNO Daily Sports Editor
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — As with everything in the Michigan men’s basketball program, John Beilein preaches a precise routine. For freshman forward Isaiah Livers, that means talking to his dad prior to every game. So on Monday, Livers told his dad how he needed to be aggressive, how he could attempt to stifle his matchup, how he wanted to take smart shots on offense. And naturally, Livers articulated his excitement to play in the national championship game — a dream for every college basketball player but a reality for a select few. Yet there was a sobering tone of realism in his words. “We’ve got to play like our old self,” Livers told his dad. “We got to pick it up. We haven’t played our best basketball in a while.” When Michigan took the floor in San Antonio, it’d been exactly 30 days since it won the Big Ten Tournament Championship. There, it looked nearly unbeatable with convincing victories over Michigan State and Purdue. But the Wolverines would soon begin to flirt with death like a bad habit. They were dreadfully sluggish in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Jordan Poole saved them with a miracle in the next round. A less-talented Florida State club nearly bit them in Los Angeles. Moritz Wagner needed the game of his life to knock off Loyola-Chicago. Excluding an anomalous barrage against Texas A&M, Michigan had been shooting 3-pointers at just 25 percent during the tournament. Defense and luck — having playing no
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Fifth-year senior forward Duncan Robinson was held to 0 points in his final game at Michigan.
team seeded higher than sixth until Monday — had carried the Wolverines through their rough shooting performances. “We’ve noticed that our shooting was not to where it normally is, that was clear the last two games especially,” said freshman guard C.J. Baird. All of this, of course, is part of basketball. No team is always
going to play its best. But Monday’s 20-point loss to Villanova was one that was coming. The Wolverines had another dreadful shooting performance, going just 3-of23 from beyondthe-arc. Their offense settled far too often. The rim was rarely kind. “I couldn’t tell you (why),” Baird said. “I mean every day,
Villanova ran the definition of a blitzkrieg offense.
those guys are raining 3s on us in practice.” And yet, there were aspects of Michigan’s game that unexpectedly underperformed. Michigan’s perimeter defense had been exceptional all-season long. On Monday, Yaklich’s magic number was eight — that, or less, was how many 3-pointers he told his defense it could allow to win. The Wildcats, even after starting 1-of-9, hit 10. “We (knew we had) to be incredibly connected defensively, the whole night,” Yakich said. “You can’t let your
guard down.” Villanova ran the definition of a blitzkrieg offense. Even when the Wildcats seem off-base like they did early, they strike before you know it. It’s what led Villanova to one of the most dominant tournament runs of all time, and it’s what led them to a 17-point win over Michigan on a night when its best player in Jalen
Brunson struggled immensely. That’s why defensive rebounding, a significant source of improvement this season, was so critial for Michigan. But the Wolverines allowed 12 offensive boards, killing any momentum and hope they had at coming back. “The biggest surprise was our lack of defensive rebounding,” Yakich said. “That was just surprising. … If you’d had said we’d give up 12 offensive rebounds tonight I’d probably have said we’re in trouble.” But perhaps what nobody could have expect was the performance of Donte DiVincenzo. He’s the sixth option in Villanova’s offense, averaging 13.5 points per game. He lit up Michigan for 31. “He killed us for sure,” said redshirt sophomore guard Charles Matthews. “He wasn’t their main option, but he showed up on the big stage, and I got to say I respect it.” Added Livers: “When someone’s on fire you got to deny him. I know we tried our best, but I don’t think we did what we’re capable of shutting a player down. That doesn’t happen a lot.” What had been happening a lot, however, were Michigan’s sub-par offensive showings. And when those are combined with rebounding lapse, a DiVincenzo blaze and an overall brilliant Wildcats’ team, they’re compounded into the blowout you’d expect. Of course, it was a blowout that the Wolverines weren’t expecting. And that’s the reality that they’ll have to deal with as they turn the page on this season.
“The biggest surprise was our lack of defensive rebounding.”
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman’s final exit The senior guard put on a show in his final game at Michigan, leading the team with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting ETHAN WOLFE Daily Sports Editor
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The walk between the bench to the Alamodome tunnel is as lonely as it is visible. After stepping up to the court and walking across it, it takes another 70 steps to leave — an expansive walk on the carpet with an unobstructed view around the arena until step No. 71. That was the route Muhammad-Ali AbdurRahkman took, jogging behind his teammates as they exited. In the final game of the senior guard’s career — a 79-62 drubbing at the hands of Villanova in the National Championship game — all he could do was stroll, stonefaced, off the court for the last time in a Michigan uniform. Nobody imagined his team would make it this far. The team’s accomplishments, including a program-best 33-8 record, didn’t make the defeat any less painful. “You don’t think about it much right now because of the way we lost,” Abdur-Rahkman said. “But nobody had us here. Lost a couple guys to the NBA, a lot of new faces and we weren’t picked to be one of the top teams in the Big Ten. We went out there and proved them wrong from the beginning of the season to the end.” Despite the results, AbdurRahkman did what a senior and team captain should do on the biggest stage — the perfect goodbye to one of the quietest players to rank in Michigan lore. In the first half of Monday night’s tilt he finished a transition layup, knocked down a 3-pointer and finessed his way to two more easy layups and a free throw for 10 points. The captain even showed uncharacteristic emotion, hoisting up three fingers and pounding his chest
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Senior guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman embraces Michigan coach John Beilein as he leaves the court.
after his triple. Then he was substituted out after earning his second foul with 4:07 remaining, and the wheels came irreversibly off for Michigan. Wildcat guard Donte Divincenzo exploded for 31 points, draining shots every which way. When Villanova wasn’t scoring, the Wolverines committed one foul after another. Abdur-Rahkman was the lone constant. The 6-foot4 guard stayed aggressive, driving to the rim for points three separate times and
hitting one crossover trey as part of his team-high 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting. The game was out of reach, but AbdurRahkman played like someone who knew it was his last game. “It’s a testament to his heart, the type of person he is,” said sophomore guard Ibi Watson. “Unfortunately, it was kinda overshadowed by our loss. But it just shows how he is as a person. He never gives up and he has such a great will. “It’s something that’s rubbed off on all of us, and he’s a great example of what it’s like to be a
“He never gives up and he has such a great will.”
Michigan man.” With 1:10 remaining, AbdurRahkman checked out for the final time and embraced John Beilein. It wasn’t long after he lined up last for post-game handshakes and made his contemplative jog out of the arena. But he wasn’t thinking about the future — it was time to be a captain one more time and impart his wisdom on his teammates. “I just wanted to say how proud I am of this team,” Abdur-Rahkman said. “Being the captain, I had my hand in a lot of things and a lot of people’s growth. We wanted to see people grow and pass stuff on to the younger guys.” Added freshman guard Jordan Poole when asked about Abdur-Rahkman’s leadership:
“That’s big bro, straight like that. We done been through so much. I didn’t really talk to him at the beginning of the year because I was tryna feel him out, but now we talk everyday. Being able to be around that type of guy — he just has so much knowledge, he’s like 27 years old.” So what comes next for the senior, who is actually just 23 years old? Earlier in the season, Beilein called Abdur-Rahkman a guy who practices solely to improve, not to make the jump to a more competitive league. Pursuing a professional basketball career
is not something that he’s ever spoken about publicly. Not even his teammates know. “Muhammad’s not like that,” said freshman forward Isaiah Livers. “He’s gonna make a decision on his own and that’s what I like most about him. But he hasn’t told me about it. … It’s not (his) last game of basketball, I do believe that.” The “silent assassin” as assistant coach Saddi Washington calls him, is just that — Abdur-Rahkman’s quiet imprint includes one of the most polished resumes in program history. A national championship appearance, two Big Ten Tournament titles, a Sweet Sixteen finish, 1,283 career points and a program record for most games played. Abdur-Rahkman was never one to make light of that, of course. It’s not in the DNA of someone who came in as a two-star recruit and who was thrusted into the starting lineup his freshman year to do that. His legacy is as powerful as it is predictable. “Do your work in silence,” Livers remarked of what Abdur-Rahkman taught him. “You don’t see Duncan (Robinson) and Muhammad f launting about all the work they’ve put in. They don’t say anything about that at all. … I haven’t told them this yet that I appreciate how much work they’ve put in even when nobody’s looking.” But after Monday night’s loss, Abdur-Rahkman couldn’t escape the 67,831 person crowd as he walked off the court for the final time. He’s now a part of Michigan basketball history.
“He just has so much knowledge, he’s like 27 years old.”