Sports

Michigan darling adds Oscar winner to list of well-wishers

LOS ANGELES — He hasn’t started a single one of Michigan’s 35 games this season, yet he delivered the most memorable finish of any of them.

Jordan Poole won’t be among the starting five for Michigan when it plays Texas A&M in Thursday’s 7:37 p.m. West Region semifinal game at the Staples Center.

But Poole, a precocious 6-foot-4 freshman guard from Milwaukee who averages 6.2 points per game, is very much the face of this NCAA Tournament, the essence of what “March Madness’’ stands for thanks to his game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer that vanquished Houston last weekend and sent the Wolverines to the Sweet 16.

Since the Poole shot fell, the fallout — both nationally and on the Michigan campus — has been incredible.

“I stopped and paused, because I didn’t believe it happened,’’ sophomore swingman Ibi Watson said. “I had to stop and take it all in and look around because I felt like it was a dream. I looked at everyone else and saw them running, so I was like, ‘This must be real.’ It was a crazy feeling.’’

Michigan starting guard Xavier Simpson said Wednesday, “I’m still at a loss for words. It still doesn’t seem real. It didn’t seem real then and it doesn’t seem real now.’’

But it was real, and it was magnificent.

“I had 394 unread text messages afterward, and as soon as I turned my phone on, it turned to 532. And they just kept coming in and coming in,’’ Poole said Wednesday. “They were piling up and got to about 800 and something. My dad texted me and just said, ‘Great shot.’ That’s all he said. He tries to be a tough guy. But I know he was excited.

“A lot of people sent me videos. A little kid sent me a video of him crying when I made the shot. A kid emailed our psychology teacher and told her she needed to congratulate the basketball team during the middle of class. My teachers were talking about it in school. It was pretty cool.’’

The coolest sequence came when Jordan Peele, the Academy Award-winning writer and director of the hit movie “Get Out,’’ accidentally received congratulatory messages on Twitter for the game-winning shot because people mistook him for Poole.

Poole and Peele exchanged messages on Twitter, and Peele is now one of Poole’s 17,000-plus followers.

“That was crazy,” Poole said. “He had a cat movie out a long time ago called ‘Keanu,’ and that was one of the first movies I saw. I’m a huge fan. And ‘Get Out’ has been one of most talked-about movies all year, an amazing movie.’’

Not as amazing as the fact that Poole was 0-for-9 from 3-point range entering the NCAAs and delivered that shot in the clutch.

“It’s not surprising at all that he hit the shot,’’ Michigan senior Duncan Robinson said. “He hits an uncanny amount of those shots in practice. He just has no conscience when it comes to those moments. It feels like he doesn’t feel the pressure of those moments. Being 0-for-9, he’s not the type of guy that sort of thing gets to him. He’ll just keep letting it go.’’

Watson, Poole’s best friend on the team, said he and Poole talked about his shooting slump entering the tournament and Poole brushed it off.

“He’s so confident that he thinks every shot he takes is going to go in, so he doesn’t let 0-for-9 or 0-for-10 bother him at all,’’ Watson said.

In Michigan’s last practice at home Tuesday before the team departed for L.A., coach John Beilein called one final play — a replica of the one Poole hit for the game-winner, but he set it up for Watson to take the shot.

Watson made the shot and then mimicked Poole’s wild celebration afterward.

“I might have even celebrated a little better than him, but he made the shot that counted,’’ Watson said. “I think that shot is going to put him down as a Michigan legend. He’s always going to be remembered.’’

Depending on how far this Michigan team takes this, Poole’s legend may grow exponentially. And like the story of the 25-foot tournament-winning putt in golf that grows in length with time and each retelling, Poole’s 25-foot jumper might soon be described as a mid-court heave.
Blindfolded.