D.J. Wilson emerges as March Madness star for Michigan

He goes by D.J., so you don’t often see it fully spelled out: DeVante Jaylen Wilson.

But, yes, one of Michigan basketball’s breakout stars of the postseason was named — in part — after one of Michigan basketball’s biggest stars ever: Jalen Rose.

“He was meant to go to Michigan, absolutely,” Capital Christian (Sacramento, Calif.) School coach Devon Jones, who coached Wilson since elementary school, told USA TODAY Sports on Friday.

Though it took a little while, and a little luck, for that to become clear.

Wilson, the unsung hero for the Wolverines throughout their Big Ten tournament championship run and their first-round win in the NCAA tournament on Friday, wasn’t originally on Michigan’s recruiting radar. He’s from Sacramento, not typically known as a hotbed for Big Ten basketball, and he was long, lanky and still figuring out just what his body could do.

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But he happened to be playing in an AAU game in Milwaukee, against Kevon Looney, a five-star Michigan target who eventually would sign with UCLA. Then-Wolverines assistant coach LaVall Jordan noticed the 6-9 kid in the Class of 2014 with a 7-3 wingspan who looked like he had a skill set perfect for a John Beilein offense.

“His recruitment, for Michigan, was more of an accident than it was on purpose,” Jones said.

Jordan was looking for someone to fill a void that Michigan would need to fill, as Glenn Robinson III would be headed to the NBA.

Jordan then went to see Wilson at a tournament in Las Vegas, and he nearly did a double-take, calling fellow assistant Bacari Alexander over to help him evaluate Wilson accurately.

“I was like, ‘Hey, BA, come watch this kid to make sure I’m not losing it here — I think he’s pretty good,’ ” Jordan recalled Friday evening. “He said, ‘No brainer for us.’ …

“He kind of fit the mold of all those other guys — Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr. — he was under-recruited, underrated and had a chip on his shoulder.”

Part of what kept Wilson under the radar of other top programs was, actually, his size. He shot up so fast he sustained a stress fracture in his lower back during the spring of his junior year in 2012 that required a body brace and forced him to miss the spotlight of the summer recruiting period.

“He was always a taller kid, always really long; he was actually a little clumsy coming out of junior high,” Jones said. “His feet were so big and his arms were so long. He didn’t have a lot of strength, really, to control his body. He went through a 5- or 6-inch growth spurt in between his sophomore year and the time he was a senior that just really exploded his recruitment and his ability to be dominant in high school.”

Michigan began recruiting Wilson that following summer, in 2013, with all of its coaches eventually coming out to spend time with Wilson and his mother in California. And even after he earned more interest nationally — he took visits to Gonzaga and Columbia — as he got healthy heading into his senior season, he stayed connected to Michigan. He committed that fall to the Wolverines.

“There was a lot of doubt out there,” Jones said. “I think people doubted whether he was strong enough or tough enough or mean enough. No one ever really doubted his skill set, because he’s got an amazing work ethic — this is a kid who’d work out three times a day, before school, after school and again at night.

“He’s the first kid who’s ever gone to the Big Ten from Sacramento. Everybody’s proud of him. What he’s doing for Michigan right now is kind of a dream come true. It’s something he’s always said he would do, and would be able to do. It’s a really emotional time for coaches and people who love him to see all the hard work, loyalty and everything he’s put into this come into fruition.”

Much of the hard work Wilson has put in over the past three years has taken place in the weight room alongside Michigan strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson. A knee injury sustained against Villanova his freshman year ended up being a blessing in disguise; he was able to redshirt and get stronger.

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“You could tell he’d be a good shooter for his position,” Jordan said. “He just had to get more physical and embrace contact. That was the big thing.”

Now a junior, Wilson is doing just that — and it’s led to great things for both Wilson, who is averaging nearly eight more points and five more rebounds a game than he did last season, and Michigan, too.

Though no one would argue that senior guard Derrick Walton’s heroics have carried Michigan over the past two weeks, it’s hard to ignore Wilson’s contributions. He scored 26 points on 11-for-18 shooting to help knock out Purdue, the Big Ten’s top seed, in the conference tournament last week. And he scored 19 — 6-for-6 from the free throw line — in the seventh-seeded Wolverines’ win against No. 10 seed Oklahoma State in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday. Michigan next plays No. 2 Louisville on Sunday.

“Everything with D.J. has always been about his confidence level,” Jones said. “As long as he’s not scared to make a mistake on the floor, then he’s going to be able to play at his full ability. John Beilein and his staff at Michigan have done such a great job of letting him embrace his role. They didn’t put a lot on him this year. They said, ‘Hey, D.J., we need you to rebound. We need you to defend. We need you to block shots.’ Those aren’t all the fancy words that a 19-, 20-year-old wants to hear.  But he bought into that.

“Now he’s starting to show his repertoire of his offensive skill set. He’s starting to shoot the ball with confidence. He’s putting the ball on the floor. He’s showing some emotion. It just all came from confidence.”

Jordan spent Friday afternoon recruiting; he’s no longer an assistant at Michigan but rather the head coach at Milwaukee. But he still fired off some texts to Wilson’s mother, congratulating her on her son’s great performance. He said she was thrilled, too.

“It’s fun to see kids become what they want to become one day, and what you think they can become when you sign them,” Jordan said. “It’s fun to see their confidence grow.”

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