True Senior Appreciation Thread

I saw this picture of X and Teske on twitter yesterday.  A few posts later, I ran into the old gif of X flexing on Purdue his sophomore season.  We have seen these two grow so much and elevate their game and it's unbelievable sad to me that this is our final year. 

X brought that fighters mentality, the chip on the shoulder that makes you outwork your opponent that other Michigan teams, across all sports, never seem to have.  I had unflappable confidence that Howard's first year was going to be a good one, only because I am sure a senior Zavier Simpson would be extremely successful as the starting PG for any team. He doesn't need any knowledge of that teams plays or strategy, he just plays winning motherfucking basketball and unselfishly puts his guys in position to succeed.  He is a vocal leader and is the entire reason for this team's culture.  You think Castleton stays after the game and shoots around if he doesn't see X barking at people to work their ass off everyday?  This is arguably more important than any skill you can show off on the court, and I hope the young guys absorbed every second of it and can pass it along after Zavier leaves.

Teske, for all his issues he had this year, showed that you can outplay your ranking. Stars don't matter. What matters is if you're wiling to put in the work to elevate your game, to play your role to the best of your ability, and to never give up, even when you're outmatched.  He's from a small town, and in all likelihood was only a 3 star because he was over 7 feet tall.  How do you become a premier center in the Big Ten, which has been absolutely brutal for bigs in the past few years, as some 3 star from the middle of nowhere?  By working your ass off, being coachable as hell, and doing exactly what you need to do, nothing more, nothing less.  That's how someone ends up being more than they  ever thought they could be.  Stay within yourself, build your confidence by proving you can do what you were meant to do, and then use that success to expand the definition of who you are and what you can accomplish.

When these two leave, it will be the end of perhaps the greatest era of Michigan basketball history. And I enjoyed every second of it.