As he prepared for his final trip to Chicago before his collegiate career came to an end, Nimari Burnett did the only thing that made sense: he wore Kanye West.
In particular, the graduating guard for the Michigan men’s basketball team listened to a song called “Homecoming.” West, a Chicago native himself, wrote the song as a heartfelt ode to the city that raised and shaped him, expressing his desire to return to where it all began.
Burnett’s “homecoming” last weekend served a similar purpose.
“He feels full of himself,” Diana Kannan, Burnett’s girlfriend, told The Michigan Daily after the Wolverines beat No. 6 seed Tennessee in Chicago Sunday. “Coming from Chicago, the journey he went from (Texas) Tech to (Alabama) to come here, and now to get to the Final Four in Chicago feels like a big homecoming.”
Kannan and Burnett, who got engaged last April, would play West’s track together in the week leading up to the second NCAA Tournament as a playful way to explain what the conference means to Burnett. In fact, the song was the only part of the joy that the village boy had. Kannan also remembers one night her husband-to-be couldn’t sleep because of happiness, comparing her to a child in the morning before a class trip.
But it’s the song’s funny lyrics, performed by West and Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, that capture the moment best:
“Chi City, Chi City, I’m coming home again. Do you keep thinking about me every time? Do you keep thinking about me every time? Because I’m going home again.”
That’s a good fit for Burnett, who had just returned home two weeks before the Big Ten Championship. Michigan missed a chance to cut the net in that period, but made up for it with a 95-62 rout of the No. 1 seed. 6 Tennessee on Sunday.
This time, Burnett lifted the trophy on the same floor he used to watch his childhood heroes do the same. And that meant the world.
“Playing at the United Center, I remember growing up as a kid and dreaming about playing at the highest level,” Burnett said Saturday. “Being here, watching Derrick Rose growing up was always amazing. But being here, playing in the Final Four, I think there’s nothing like that.”
Before Burnett began his college career with the Red Raiders, he was the starting shooting guard at Morgan Park High School in the Windy City. Burnett helped the Mustangs to the state championship as a freshman, contributing 20 points in the championship game. However, he had to admit that winning the Elite Eight on Sunday felt better.
“No offense to Morgan Park and at the time as the state champion, but I’m going to have to put this one No. 1,” Burnett said Sunday.
It was during his time at Texas Tech that Burnett first met Kannan. He’s seen his entire collegiate career, from seeing time in just 12 games with the Red Raiders his freshman year to contributing 10 points and seven rebounds as a starter in the All-Region Final Four contest with the Wolverines. And because of that, the feeling was hitting him on Sunday as well.
Kannan told The Daily, “Oh, proud of him.” “Like, where he started at Michigan, then for (Michigan coach Dusty May) to come in, and win their first year, and then be here now. It’s like, you can’t ask for anything better, especially since a big guy who likes to go out like this is the best.”
Thanks to Michigan’s dominant performance on Sunday, Burnett’s college career is far from over. He still has two more games to win to lift the trophy that everyone in college basketball is fighting for. But it really felt like you closed a chapter on Sunday night.
When Burnett left the United Center for the last time as an athlete with the last cap of the Four on his head, he left his hometown, and everyone who looked at him the way he used to look at Rose, with something special – something that would make them think of him, every time.
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