I had mentioned before, in another post about how Nik and Mo were my favorite Beilein-era basketball players. People questioned why I didn't pick a guy like Trey, but in another post today, @RyanRob03 stated: "Mine was Stauskas. Absolutely loved his on court demeanor. The kid was so much fun to watch. Dude was a sniper".
I completely agree with this take, but I was also thinking about "why" I loved watching these guys play so much: Nik and Mo Wagner also were the special type of players that relished playing the role of "The Bad Guy" on the road, and they seemed to play their best games in front of the most hostile crowds. I think of the three pointer Stauskas hit at then #3 Wisconsin in 2014 with 48 seconds left with a one point lead. Stauskas stuck out his chest, flexed at the road crowd, and sauntered back to the Michigan bench pointing his fingers and saying "I own this" after Wisky had to call a TO. Then, despite a serenade of boos and curse words from the fans at Kohl Arena, he went on to calmly hit 6 straight FTs to ice that win.
He also had a very good game at MSU, hitting the three on the road to give us our first lead in a win at EL.
As for Mo Wagner? This:
27 points at Breslin...all while egging on the hostile crowd with his usual antics (tongue-wagging, flexing, finger pointing, laughing, yapping, grinning).
IMO I think that guys like Nik and Mo have a Euro attitude to playing basketball: Relishing and getting great motivation from the booing road crowds. It seems as if they take the hatred of the road crowds as the ultimate respect, and the more negative the crowd got, the more energized these players got. That's why these guys were my favorites: They had thick skin and excelled in the toughest environments with an IDGAF attitude.
Iggy, to an extent, had the same attitude, but I can't say he was a favorite (though I liked him).
I completely agree with this take, but I was also thinking about "why" I loved watching these guys play so much: Nik and Mo Wagner also were the special type of players that relished playing the role of "The Bad Guy" on the road, and they seemed to play their best games in front of the most hostile crowds. I think of the three pointer Stauskas hit at then #3 Wisconsin in 2014 with 48 seconds left with a one point lead. Stauskas stuck out his chest, flexed at the road crowd, and sauntered back to the Michigan bench pointing his fingers and saying "I own this" after Wisky had to call a TO. Then, despite a serenade of boos and curse words from the fans at Kohl Arena, he went on to calmly hit 6 straight FTs to ice that win.
He also had a very good game at MSU, hitting the three on the road to give us our first lead in a win at EL.
As for Mo Wagner? This:
27 points at Breslin...all while egging on the hostile crowd with his usual antics (tongue-wagging, flexing, finger pointing, laughing, yapping, grinning).
IMO I think that guys like Nik and Mo have a Euro attitude to playing basketball: Relishing and getting great motivation from the booing road crowds. It seems as if they take the hatred of the road crowds as the ultimate respect, and the more negative the crowd got, the more energized these players got. That's why these guys were my favorites: They had thick skin and excelled in the toughest environments with an IDGAF attitude.
Iggy, to an extent, had the same attitude, but I can't say he was a favorite (though I liked him).
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