KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- When Michigan was slumping earlier in the season, the coach started thinking Super Bowl, not Final Four.
John Beilein conjured up the highlight-reel catch that Patriots receiver Julian Edelman made during New England's game-tying drive in the Super Bowl, and said the Wolverines should keep that sort of play -- an outlier, as he called it -- in mind.
"The point with the Super Bowl catch was that Edelman, he willed that catch," Beilein said Wednesday. "We have to will stuff to happen. You have to work hard. I really stressed the outlier things, too."
Michigan's road from the bubble to the Sweet 16 continues Thursday night with a game against third-seeded Oregon.
Since the Super Bowl, the Wolverines are 12-2, including a sweep through the Big Ten tournament that secured their spot in the NCAAs.
Derrick Walton Jr., has averaged nearly 20 points a game and the Wolverines have shot better than 50 percent from the floor.
The key to the turnaround?
"When you have great kids to work with, they'll believe and you they trust you," the coach said.
