This Week's Obsession: How Hard Hath This Floor Been Rocked?
The Question:
That was enjoyable. In fact it was probably the biggest win in Crisler since…
Wait this is a history question? We should get Craig Ross to answer!
Oh good call.
You should introduce him though in case people don't recognize the name.
Um they should, but yeah, Craig is a Michigan fan who can probably claim to be the world's biggest Michigan fan by nature of the fact that he's been going to games so long that nobody younger than him remembers half as much, and nobody older than him remembers half as well.
You should plug his books.
I'm pretty sure he'd rather I make old jokes at his expense; a determined soul knows enough to Amazon from here.
Fair enough. The Responses:
David: All right. I sorted through game-by-game schedules and found out the last time Michigan defeated a higher ranked opponent than #3 - like Maryland was on Tuesday- at Crisler Arena was...December 13, 1997. They defeated #1 Duke.
Here is my chart of the top home wins of the Beilein Era. I started going back further...but it got REALLY scary, really quickly.
Year | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|
15-16 | #3 Maryland | 70-67 |
14-15 | #24 OSU | 65-57 |
13-14 | #10 Iowa | 75-67 |
13-14 | #13 MSU | 79-70 |
12/13 | #9 MSU | 58-57 |
11/12 | #9 MSU | 60-59 |
11/12 | #6 OSU | 56-51 |
8/9 | #4 Duke | 81-73 |
Here is a list of 'Almosts'
Year | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|
13/14 | #1 Arizona | 72-70 |
12/13 | #2 Indiana | 72-71 |
10/11 | #3 Kansas | 67-60 (OT) |
10/11 | #2 OSU | 68-64 |
9/10 | #5 MSU | 57-56 |
Michigan also had a couple of wins over #3s in Madison and East Lansing in the 13-14 season. I did not go through neutral site games.
So, technically, Tuesday's win was probably Michigan's biggest at home since 1997. I will say that the Duke win in 2008 might have been bigger than Tuesday, regardless of rankings. I was still in grad school and had Maize Rage tickets for the previous couple of years. That Duke win really injected some life and belief into the program. Michigan went on to make the NCAA Tournament that year for the first time in 11 years and that was the game where I remember thinking that perhaps we will be very good again at some point. Plus, we drove to East Lansing right after and beat Michigan State at Munn Ice Arena for the first time in 4 years. It was a good day.
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[After the Jump: Craig Ross answers the question, but only after 6 paragraphs of not answering the question]
Craig: Seth has asked about the biggest win at Crisler and my instinct is to think about the worst loss. That would be in 1989 to Illinois. Illinois had Kenny Battle, Nick Anderson, Stephen Bardo, Kendall Gill and Marcus Liberty. Plus Lowell Hamilton, also a solid guy. The Illini were the best team in the country that year and they had beaten us seriously at Champaign. But UM had Rumeal, Glenn, Loy Vaught (his name came from his uncle’s and aunt’s first name initials, Loy’s dad told me; Louis, Olivia and Yvonne), T. Mills and Sean Higgins. One hell of a team. All played in the NBA. Glenn, Loy and Mills were significant NBA guys. Slow, but huge and they could shoot it.
UM had a solid bench with James Voskuil (aerospace engineer) and Eric Riley (NBA backup for years; Desmond Howard and Elvis Grbac were his BB teammates in high school, along with OSU star Treg Lee) and Mark Hughes, also a fine player. That UM team shot 57% from the floor for the season, not a typo, and 47% (as a team!) from three. Loy, often a jump shooter at PF, shot over 66% from the floor for the season.
Crisler was packed early for the last game of the year against Lou Henson’s team (owner of the famed Lou-Doo) and I thought (with most of the rest of the crowd) that UM had a legit chance to win this one. Indeed I expected Michigan to win.
Not so. UM was run off the court 89-73 and it wasn’t that close. UM was up early but Illinois went on a 27-8 run and never looked back. I tried to find the box on that game since I hoped the evil Jim Bain was a part of it—but I don’t recall the officiating being an issue.
I do recall a disconsolate Crisler crowd, post game. Lots of muttering. Complaints about coaching. Frieder took a job a few days later at ASU, paying him a lot more than Bo would offer. Bo refused to let Frieder coach in the NCAAs. “Michigan Man,” etc. Steve Fisher lead UM to the NC and, of course, problems.
It all turned around in the NCAA semis when Sean Higgins hit a put back at the buzzer for a 83-81 UM win over Henson’s team. Glenn Rice was on fire the entire tournament and I think he may still hold the NCAA record for scoring in the event. His 28 against Illinois might have been his low for the tournament. UM won their only NC that year, but Illinois was the better team. Of course the Fabs were better than UNC and uber-star Eric Montross, too. Data points and Ed Hightower to thank for that one. The more hair Ed grew, the better ref he became. At the time, Ed didn’t have much hair or the ability to blow the whistle against UNC.
Orr in '77 | UM Bentley Library |
But, best home win? That’s the actual question. The first game that comes to mind is another last game—this time in the 1977 season when Michigan played Marquette (strange, I know) and Al McGuire was still the coach there. Like the 1989 affair, this one had a certain panorama. Johnny Orr coached Michigan. The Wolverines had run it out to the NC game in the prior year with the inverse of the 88-89 team; a group of small but quick guys. Ricky Green was the fastest player I ever saw on a BB court. But he probably weighed around 160. Steve Grote, a refugee from football was the off guard. Johnny Rob played one forward. About 6’ 5”. The other forward, the power forward, was Wayman Britt, who at 6’ 2” was the best defensive player I have ever seen in my life. Just ask Adrian Dantley, who he terrorized. The center was Phil Hubbard (6’ 7”). Before Hubbard hurt his knee, he had a lightning first step to the basket, and he routinely beat the lumbering centers of the time. A ludicrously small team, but so fast it was breathtaking. Hubbard and Green had longish but not spectacular NBA careers. [In 1977 Green and Hubbard combined for 12 steals against MSU. Green later had 7 against Western KY, a UM record that stands to this day.]
Britt was gone in ‘77 but Green and Hubbard were consensus AAs. Tom Staton and Alan Hardy were talented freshmen and Joel Thompson (a better jumper than Brett Petway) was 6’ 8” and finding his way. Marquette came to Crisler as a top 20 team, and featured Bo Ellis and Butch Beard, two great players who had real NBA careers. Michigan was # 3 coming in (and, by my recall, #1 after the game). It was a Sunday national TV game but UM was missing Green, out with an ankle sprain. Green’s role was assumed by floppy-haired David Baxter. Baxter was a good player, but he wasn’t Rickey Green and the crowd was apprehensive. Rightfully so, as Marquette dominated the game.
Michigan struggled without Green and Marquette lead by 11 points with about 10 minutes left in the game. There was no shot clock at the time and it looked like McGuire could slow down the game---just more or less hold the ball---and win it. But Michigan stole the ball and then it was turned over with the officials (I concede) playing the pro rasslin’ roles of the day. Crisler was ear shattering, very unusual for the often quiet arena, as the Wolverines edged closer. Grote, who hadn’t scored in the game, dropped in two free throws in the last few seconds to seal a 69-68 victory. The crowd was energized as Michigan was poised, or so it seemed, to win its first NC.
Alas, we waited 12 years. In the Quarters Orr made the strange decision to have Hubbard press Charlotte Center (later with the Celtics) Cornbread Maxwell, while Maxwell brought the ball up the floor. And with officiating that was crazed, Hubbard was in trouble early, finishing with 4 fouls. Green and Grote fouled out. Johnny Rob and sub Alan hardy finished with 4 each and Charlotte rode a big FT differential to a seven point win (+13 FTs made) with Michigan making only 8-14 and missing several 1/1s down the stretch. The panorama is that Marquette beat Maxwell’s team in the semis 51-49 and went on the win McGuire’s only NC.
Best and worst? Well they are to me and they seem, somehow, connected. I hope the elements of the above that are memory aren’t too far off. 1977 is a while back.
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Ace:
I’ll take any excuse to post that GIF, especially when it’s fitting. The 2014 win over MSU gave Michigan their third straight win in the series, and it was much-needed coming off a home loss to Wisconsin. Michigan never looked back after LeVert’s halftime buzzer-beater, finishing the regular season with five straight victories to earn a Big Ten title.
Unexpected victories are fun, but I’ll take a titanic win over a rival any day. The atmosphere in Crisler for that game was twice what it was on Tuesday night.
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Seth: What about a titanic win over a rival that's ALSO an unexpected victory?
It was the end of the worst of times, and the beginning of the best of times:
Here's a short list of things this night had going on:
- The inaugural Denard and Roundtree cam.
- Matt Vogrich(!) turning the corner on Draymond Green(!) then blowing past Adreian Payne(!).!
- After Michigan blows a lead it had been nursing for 3/4 of the game, Trey Burke ties it back up with a three from the Block M.
- Austin Thornton passing up an open 3 to run the silly play to Appling who got blocked by Jordan Morgan forcing MSU to get it to Draymond Green and
- AAAHHHHHHHHHHareweallowedtobreathyetit'sbeenlike4yearsAHHHhhhhHHHHHH!
Until that 60-59 victory it felt like everything the Beilein era got was stolen, as if any moment now someone's going to notice that Novak is playing the 4 and the 2 is some scrawny dude named Stu, and Jordan Morgan's head is never more than 6'9" off the floor, and turn off charges. That includes the "Get the F off my court!" sweep the previous year.
Not that this…
…was exactly striking fear across the nation. And if I'm being honest the Big Ten Championship banner they'd hang says "lolsparty" just as much as the one it's next to screams "Yes THAT Big Ten!"
So we were still definitely in the Zak and Stu era, but 2012 Michigan had had already offed Wisconsin, and come so close to taking out those Indiana tossers in Assembly Hall. One win against a potential 1 seed could be a fluke. So beating State, Michigan's best win Kenpom era to that point, was the moment you had to look at Beilein's basketball program—not just the young parts and the recruits and the increasingly rosy future but the team on the court right now—and admit "these guys are good."
January 15th, 2016 at 2:20 PM ^
The win this week reminded me a lot of the Zack and Stu era. Winning games you have no business winning is really fun. Thankfully, Beilein has given us a lot of those.
January 15th, 2016 at 2:28 PM ^
THE ANSWER IS CLEARLY 12/13 MSU
I know this latest win was against a higher ranked opponent, but for how that MSU win propelled us through the rest of the season and how it finished, it has to be #1 of the Beilein era. Trey was unconscious in that game.
I mean...21 points, 4 boards, 8 assists, and *5* steals
January 16th, 2016 at 12:17 AM ^
January 16th, 2016 at 3:56 PM ^
still gave me chills. What an awesome play! Thanks for posting those highlights.
January 15th, 2016 at 2:31 PM ^
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January 15th, 2016 at 2:42 PM ^
It was actually 1993-94, and I remember that game very well. Big Dog averaged 30 points a game that season. He had 37 against Michigan that day. Embed below (don't say I didn't warn you).
January 15th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^
I know his players consistently say that Fisher really does coach, but there were so many times during the Fab Five era when he looked like a deer in headlights at really critical moments. Like, the play where Rose turned it over before Big Dog finished us off, what the hell were we doing? Why did he not, like, inform the team exactly what the hell they were doing?
January 15th, 2016 at 3:34 PM ^
Yeah, that possession was awful. We're up one in the final minute and Jalen jacks up a three at the beginning of the shot clock. And then when we get the offensive board and the shot clock is turned off, he throws that bad pass towards halfcourt. Really poor awareness of the situation.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:40 PM ^
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January 15th, 2016 at 2:56 PM ^
And we also lost to Northwestern (a bad Northwestern team, too) that week. We went from being alone in first place to finishing second by one game.
January 15th, 2016 at 2:58 PM ^
to say it, but that sounds like a "very Fab Five" thing to do.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:08 PM ^
That was a great game, and a painful loss. I scalped tickets for $200 with my buddy and I don't know if I want to watch that on video for free.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:40 PM ^
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January 15th, 2016 at 2:45 PM ^
done. I didn't mention it because I did not think anybody would really remember it. We lead that game by like 8 points with about two minutes remaining. Pretty epic collapse.
We also won a really improbable game at Mackey earlier that year IIRC.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:52 PM ^
i'm not craig ross-level old, but i'm old, and i'm not prone to "insert current player is the greates of all time" hyperbole, but...well, the 2013 loss to a penn state team that came in 0-14 in the big ten was one of the strangest losses i can remember. we were still obviously an ncaa seed afterwards, so it didn't sting for very long (plus trey stole the ball from sparty in our next game), but it was a weird one.
January 15th, 2016 at 2:44 PM ^
Great memories from 77. I remember watching the Marquette game, but I'd forgotten that Green was out and virtually everything else about it except Marquette's asinine uniforms. Those 76 and 77 teams were more fun to watch than any Michigan team ever, with the exception of the 2012 tournament bunch with McGary firing on all cylinders.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:13 PM ^
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January 15th, 2016 at 8:22 PM ^
Blueroller. You and I are on the same page. You just picked out my three favorite teams/seasons.
Thanks.
January 15th, 2016 at 10:51 PM ^
I was there as a Michigan Soph, other than the 70's 10-10 tie with OSU in Football I've never seen a crowd more rocking. I remembered Green tried to go with a heavily wrapped leg.
January 15th, 2016 at 2:52 PM ^
I was at that '97 Duke game. It was my freshman year, we had just beaten OSU in football a few weeks earlier and rushed the field then we beat #1 Duke at home and I got to rush the court. Plus I think Woodson got named Heisman the same day as the Duke game. Good times.
January 15th, 2016 at 4:00 PM ^
Rushing the field against OSU is probably top sports-related experience of mine, bar none.
And yes, they were on the same day. Still kick myself that I didn't make it to that Duke game.
It was a whirlwind of U-M sporting victories, including hockey's 1998 NC win.
Man, good times indeed.
January 15th, 2016 at 2:58 PM ^
That was the first Michigan hoops game I ever attended. What a disaster. Illinois was flyin' high that day, and our guys were flat, flat, flat. So disappointing to see a lineup as talented as ours get minced by an equally talented lineup (Battle, Bardo, Anderson, LIberty, Gill, etc,).
I'll gladly swap the Final 4 victory for that bitter defeat, though.
January 15th, 2016 at 7:43 PM ^
I remember that game as a nightmare as UM's Big 10 season final. I walked out of that arena so depressed. We couldn't guard them at all, especially Kendall Gill. I remember hearing alot of grousing about Frieder.
...Little did I know what was coming in the very near future!
January 15th, 2016 at 3:00 PM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 8:25 PM ^
I know the fourth guy on that team was Treg Lee. But I think there was another notable athlete on that team. Do you recall? Thanks.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:58 PM ^
I was just a tyke, but that's when I first loved all things Michigan.
Gordy Bell, Harlan Huckleby, and Rick Leach helped on the football side.
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January 15th, 2016 at 10:55 PM ^
I sat in the row in front of Johnny Orr's wife (a PE teacher in the Ann Arbor public schools I think). She would ride the refs all game long.
January 16th, 2016 at 10:17 AM ^
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January 15th, 2016 at 3:16 PM ^
nuetral court game in a while was West Virginia in 2012-13. Not that WV was really any good but we came out looking like an NBA team and it really got my attention as to what kind of team we were that year.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:18 PM ^
That Ricky Green record was tied by Eric Turner vs. Western Michigan and Gary Grant against Iowa.
http://www.mgoblue.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/mich/sports/m-baskbl/a…
January 15th, 2016 at 3:27 PM ^
and I always said the same thing as Craig: Fastest guy I ever saw on the court. He could go end to end in about 3 seconds. Britt and Grote did the Gritty work on D and Phil Hubbard was a great talent lost to a knee injury (before they knew how to fix 'em). That team got me hooked on Michigan basketball.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:41 PM ^
Blueverine, I would have agreed with you, until I saw Allen Iverson play at Georgetown - that kid was an absolute blur!
January 15th, 2016 at 8:29 PM ^
and, yeah, that pretty much comprises the list.
January 15th, 2016 at 10:56 PM ^
Ricky Green was slowed down by the draft from his huge fro.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:34 PM ^
...that nobody has mentioned december 1989, when the nascent fab five beat duke, something like 114-105. in overtime.
i was in grad school at the time; someone at the architecture school had a crappy 12-inch b&w tv in their cubicle, and there were at least twenty of us jammed on top of one another and shouting at the tv. i fell in love with the girl who was pressed against me during overtime, and we probably woudl be parents together today if it had gone to double overtime.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:49 PM ^
That was two years before the Fab Five.
The Fab Five also had an epic Duke game at Crisler, but in that one they lost in OT after making a huge comeback.
January 16th, 2016 at 9:31 AM ^
There was a moment in that game when we were making the comeback after having been down by 20 or something like that when they committed 2 consecutive shot clock violations and then took a timeout (or maybe it was a TV timeout) and the crowd was going absolutely nuts. I have still to this day never heard The Victors sung louder.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:38 PM ^
i don't know why i'm conflating the fab five with the 1989 team. i'll see myself out.
the detail on the girl, though, that's gospel.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:30 PM ^
The Marquette game was the single most amazing sporting event I've ever attended. Crisler went wild after that win.
January 15th, 2016 at 8:31 PM ^
...were we sitting together on that one?
January 17th, 2016 at 6:14 PM ^
sitting with hugh cohen and someone else (like i can remember, eh?) :) did we go to games together? i don't recall...
January 15th, 2016 at 10:58 PM ^
Most memorable game for me of any Michigan sport.
January 15th, 2016 at 3:31 PM ^
Attended a wedding of two UM grads that night. At game time, they stopped the reception cold, wheeled in some big TV's, and we all watched the game - and what a game it was!
If you've never had a chance to see it, you MUST check it out. What a slugfest, with the entire court filled with NBA talent.
Scary to consider what the rest of the reception (let alone prospects for the marriage) would have been like had we lost. Instead, it was a fantastic, fun time, the reception recommenced with renewed joy, and those kids are still happily married!
January 15th, 2016 at 3:40 PM ^
The 1974 win at Crisler over Indiana was the biggest home win that I can recall. Knight had a powerhouse with seniors Steve Green and John Laskowski in addtion to the guys that would later go undefeated - sophs Scott May, Quinn Buckner, Bob Wilkerson and Tom Abernethy and Freshman Kent Benson. Michigan was led by juniors Campy Russell, CJ Kupec and Joe Johson. Freshman Steve Grote started at one guard and Wayman Britt had just recently been inserted into the starting lineup in place of Bill Ayler. Michigan was coming off a disappointing year with Campy joining celebrated seniors such as Henry Wilmore and Ken Brady finished with a losing record in the conference. The "Dump Orr" party almost won the student government election that fall. Indiana led 41-26 (I think at halftime), but Michigan chipped away the whole second half with a major contribution coming from freshman Lionel "Main Train" Worrell (he had been recruited off the playgrounds of Newark the summer before enrolling). Finally, Michigan caught the Hoosiers at the end, winning 73-71. The Hoosers beat Michigan by 12 in Bloomington. The two teams tied for the Big Ten title at 12-2 (Michigan lost at Purdue and Indiana lost at Columbus). This meant a third matchup in Champaign in a playoff for the conference's only NCAA bid. Michigan won again and went on to beat the same Notre Dame team that had snapped UCLA's 88 game winning streak earlier that season, before falling to Marquette in the Elite 8.
January 15th, 2016 at 8:33 PM ^
Didn't Main Train evaporate after one year? I seem to recall some story in SI with Orr or Frieder going back to NY or NJ to try to convince him to come back. Recall on that?
January 16th, 2016 at 7:40 AM ^
January 16th, 2016 at 5:19 PM ^
..for this
January 15th, 2016 at 3:47 PM ^
But I've been to my share of games at Crisler and I think one that's up there for me is March 5, 2011 against MSU.
Was not looking good, since Tim Hardaway had 0 points in the first half, but we were leading.
It was the first time we'd season-swept Sparty in who knows how long, and we had broken a decade and a half of losing at Breslin, which was our first win in the last five tries (edit: against MSU on any court).
Ended up almost beating Duke to go to the Sweet 16.
That was the start of something special.
January 15th, 2016 at 4:04 PM ^
Brent Pettway..........Double digit point status, Finally!!
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