ATLANTA - Most of the time, Glenn Robinson III and Tim Hardaway Jr. are recognized more for the accomplishments of their fathers than their own.
Such is life as the respective namesakes of a No. 1 overall draft pick and former NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs and the son of a five-time NBA All-Star.
But for a few weeks in March and one Final Four weekend in Atlanta, that status has been flipped. Robinson, Michigan’s freshman forward who some call “GRIII,” and Hardaway, a junior shooting guard who wears a familiar No. 10, are all the envy. Even of their fathers.
”I’m living the dream,” said Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson, the 1994 Naismith and Wooden college player of the year at Purdue who made it only as far as the Elite Eight. “[The Final Four] is something that I strived to do, so it’s great to see my son make it. I’m a part of them, that’s a part of me, so I’ll get a chance to make it there some kind of way.”
The same goes for Tim Hardaway Sr., who played in four NCAA Tournaments in the late 1980s at Texas-El Paso but never made it past the second round.
”I’ve never been to the Final Four, but I’m there now because of the name on his back,” Hardaway Sr. said, laughing. “I’m there and I’m living the dream right with him.”
The Wolverines are making their first trip to the Final Four since the “Fab Five” took them there in 1992 and 1993. What that team had in swagger and charisma with Chris Webber and Jalen Rose, this team has in NBA pedigree.
Jon Horford, a sophomore forward, is the one Michigan player with an NBA relative who knows what it’s like to play in the Final Four. His brother, Al Horford, now the Atlanta Hawks center, won two national championships with Florida, including the last time the Final Four was at the Georgia Dome in 2007.
”Once everything is over, we’ll probably talk about it,” Al Horford said. “For now, I want to give him his space and let him enjoy all of this. I don’t want to start comparing and put additional pressure on him.”
It’s been 19 years since Robinson played against Duke in the Elite Eight, which was about two months after his son, Glenn III, was born prematurely. Trey, as he’s known to his family, was just getting big enough to leave the hospital in Gary, Ind., when Mike Krzyzewski devised a game plan to place Grant Hill, a two-time college defensive player of the year, on his father’s hip.
Hill and a host of Duke defenders held Robinson to 13 points, 17 less than his season average, on 6-for-22 shooting. Purdue lost 69-60 and Duke went on to play Florida in the Final Four. Robinson was in the stands in Cowboys Stadium last Sunday when the Wolverines beat Florida in the South Regional final to earn a shot at Syracuse tonight in the Georgia Dome.
Robinson, who played for Milwaukee, Atlanta, Philadelphia and San Antonio and ultimately made Atlanta his home, will have to drive only 30 minutes from the northern suburbs to the Georgia Dome.
”I get nervous once the game gets a little tight and once things get crucial at the end of the game,” Robinson said. “But before the jump ball I’m excited, almost like I want to go out there.”
Because of his NBA career and the fact he and Glenn’s mother split when their two boys were young, Robinson didn’t get to see his son play basketball in person until his junior year in high school. But the two, who remained close, spent plenty of time playing 1-on-1 together.
”We’ve been playing 1-on-1 since he was 6 years old,” said Robinson, who took it easy on his son as a youngster but said he still never let him win.
”I told him he wouldn’t beat me until he was a sophomore in college,” Robinson said.
Little Dog, as some call him, is a little ahead of schedule. He beat his father three years ago.
”I had a shoulder injury and I didn’t work out or train for like six months and that worked out well for him,” said the elder Robinson, laughing. “That’s my excuse but, hey, he beat me fair and square.”
Hardaway said he and his son stopped playing 1-on-1 a couple of years ago when Tim Jr., 6-6 and six inches taller than his father, tried to dunk on him.
”Yeah, we had to stop that because he tried to dunk on me and I tried to hurt him,” Hardaway said, laughing. “Now, I can still beat him at H-O-R-S-E. I can still shoot the ball. Getting to the spot, that’s a problem. But shooting the ball, that’s not a problem.”
It took Hardaway and his son years to come to an understanding about the differences in their approach to basketball. Hardaway Sr. grew up in South Chicago where basketball became his means to escape gangs. “They would know that you were into sports and they left you alone,” Hardaway said.
He played with a chip on his shoulder because of his height (6 feet). He was known around the neighborhood - even by a younger player he mentored from Gary, Ind., named Glenn Robinson - for scoring 54 or 60 points in summer league games, one day after another.
Growing up in Miami, TimJr. didn’t take basketball as seriously. The more his father pushed, the less fun he had. It got to the point where Tim Sr. said his wife and three children were hardly speaking to him.
That all changed one night during Tim Jr.’s junior season at Palmetto High, when Hardaway sat in the bleachers away from family, friends and any distractions and just watched his son play.
”He rebounded the ball,” Hardaway said. “He played the way I’d been wanting him to play, but I was always around people and really wasn’t looking at the game. … He had a great game and he did everything he was supposed to do.”
Walking out of a gym after the game - a loss, no less - Tim Sr. hugged his son and apologized.
”I said, ‘You know what? I’m sorry. I’m absolutely sorry for being on you. As much as it’s going to kill me, as much as I want to, I’m not going to ever talk about basketball again unless you ask me a question,’ ” Hardaway said. “From that day on, everything has been fine. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s the way it had to be if I wanted to keep my family together.”
Not that he doesn’t get the urge to slip back into coach mode, but if Tim Jr. says, “Dad, Dad!” he’ll snap out of it. During today’s game with Syracuse, Hardaway will be up and down in his seat, moving around, talking.
”I’m up there coaching,” Hardaway Sr. said. “But to myself.”
Michigan vs. Syracuse WHEN 7:30 p.m. Central RECORDS Michigan 30-7, Syracuse 30-9 SEEDS Michigan No. 4, Syracuse No. 4
NCAA SEMIFINALS Michigan vs. Syracuse, 7:30 p.m. Central today, CBS
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
MICHIGAN POS NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG G Trey Burke, 6-0, So. 18.8 3.1 G Tim Hardaway Jr., 6-6, Jr. 14.6 4.6 G Nik Stauskas, 6-6, Fr. 11.5 3.1 F Glenn Robinson III, 6-6, Fr. 11.0 5.5 F Mitch McGary, 6-10, Fr. 7.4 6.2 OFF THE BENCH G Spike Albrecht, 5-11, Fr. 1.6 0.8 G Caris LeVert, 6-5, Fr. 2.2 0.9 F Jordan Morgan, 6-8, Jr. 4.7 4.5 COACH John Beilein (672-401 overall, 121-84 in 6 season at Michigan)
SYRACUSE POS NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG G Brandon Triche, 6-4, Sr. 13.7 3.4 G M. Carter-Williams, 6-6, So. 12.1 4.9 F CJ Fair, 6-8, Jr. 14.3 7.0 F Rakeem Christmas, 6-9, So. 5.1 4.6 F DaJuan Coleman, 6-9, Fr. 4.8 4.0 OFF THE BENCH F James Southerland, 6-8, Sr. 13.5 5.2 F Jerami Grant, 6-8, Fr. 3.9 2.8 C Baye Moussa Keita, 6-10, Jr. 3.7 3.8 COACH Jim Boeheim (916-310 overall and in 36 seasons at Syracuse)
WHERE Georgia Dome, Atlanta RECORDS Michigan 30-7, Syracuse 30-9 SERIES Syracuse leads 8-5 TV CBS
CHALK TALK It’s been more than 12 years since Michigan last beat Syracuse and Boeheim is 9-0 all-time vs. Beilein as a head coach. In order for the momentum to swing Michigan’s way, the Wolverines will need to limit turnovers and use Hardaway Jr. and/or McGary to exploit the middle of the Syracuse 2-3 zone. Syracuse will need to rely on that zone defense, their rebounding advantage and create turnovers to keep the tempo of the game more to their liking.
Sports, Pages 19 on 04/06/2013