Maize basketball uniforms
I just wanted to see what the board thinks of the use of the maize uniforms in basketball. I think that they are our best-looking jersey and definitely understand the tradition behind them, but to me, they have been over-used this season.
As far as I understand (and I have only been a fan of the basketball team for a relatively short time, so correct me if I'm wrong), the maize jerseys are for "big games" in part because they are usually what the team wears during the NCAA tournaments, whether they are home or away.
This season, though, it seems like nearly every game has been in the maize: both MSU games, OSU, Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, all 3 games in Hawaii, etc. I can't think of any home game this season where we have worn the whites (note: I have not watched every game, I'm sure there were plenty of early-season games that we did), but I would like to see them broken out more often. There is no reason to wear the big-game uniforms for a game against Illinois, like we did last weekend. I just feel that when we wear them so often, it diminishes their importance, to the point where maize is our primary and white is the alternate.
Thoughts?
February 16th, 2012 at 2:14 PM ^
White isn't one of our colors. Maize (not highlighter yellow) at home, blue on the road.
February 16th, 2012 at 2:41 PM ^
Next time they're on the road.
February 16th, 2012 at 1:43 PM ^
i personally like the whites for hockey, maize for basketball, and, of course, blue for football
February 16th, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^
Absolutely prefer the Maize jerseys by a long shot. Personally, if they wore them for every game I wouldn't be offended. Just like I absolutely despise the football away jerseys. If it works, don't mess with it. On a similar note, I prefer the current maize a lot more than the old maize. Just think it's more appealing, especially when linked with blue.
The white jerseys are absolutely horrible and I'm fine with the blue. I have no problem with them wearing the maize very often
February 16th, 2012 at 2:14 PM ^
Those maize jerseys are pretty jazzy... we should give them a try for football!!!
February 16th, 2012 at 2:17 PM ^
In case anyone misses this, the multiple exclamation points probably indicate that he's joking.
February 16th, 2012 at 2:16 PM ^
I wish we wore the Maize for every road game. That's how much I like them. I feel every big home game should be maize as well, while we wear white against lesser teams.
February 16th, 2012 at 2:20 PM ^
As noted by someone else above, the Illinois game could be considered a "big game" because it was on national television. The team has worn maize 13 times out of 26 games so far, and that didn't include the first OSU game, which was one of five they've worn the blue. Here are the games where they wore maize:
- Ferris (season opener)
- all three in Maui: Memphis, Duke, UCLA
- at Virginia (Big Ten-ACC Challenge)
- Bradley
- at Indiana
- Wisconsin
- MSU
- at Arkansas
- Indiana
- at MSU
- Illinois
The only one of these where wearing the "big game" uniforms seems questionable would be Bradley.
By the way, here's the team's record in each color:
- Maize: 8-5 (4-2 Big Ten)
- White: 8-0 (3-0)
- Blue: 3-2 (2-2)
February 16th, 2012 at 2:36 PM ^
wear white all the time.
February 16th, 2012 at 6:26 PM ^
Crazy. I was under the impression their record was better w/ the maize. Thanks for posting the numbers.
February 16th, 2012 at 10:04 PM ^
Was Bradley the game where Beilein coached aganst his son? Maybe that had to do with it.
Who decides the uniform color? Beilein, or the players, or just the equipment manager?
February 16th, 2012 at 2:18 PM ^
I might be in the minority, but i wish they would switch to football rules and wear the blues at home every game and wear White/Maize on the road. I just think the all blue uniforms are sweet.
February 16th, 2012 at 2:22 PM ^
I hope we come out with some Nike combat basketball jersey for the game Saturday.
gotcha, I like the maize
February 16th, 2012 at 2:43 PM ^
"This Saturday, be prepared. The Maize Rage is ready to give the world a Black Eye."
Don't think that this wasn't part of Nike's pitch before we signed with adidas.
February 16th, 2012 at 2:32 PM ^
But lets be honest. This...
is not this...
Really, it just shows that Illinois has gone further off the deep end that Michigan has. It's practically red, now.
February 16th, 2012 at 10:07 PM ^
What really strikes me there is not so much the maize but the blue - that "official" shade looks more like Kentucky's blue than the dark shade we use.
February 17th, 2012 at 4:34 PM ^
No, it's better.
February 16th, 2012 at 2:42 PM ^
For historical purposes, the first time I can recall maize uni's being worn was by the 76-77 team. Didn't see the game myself but I'm pretty sure I remember a picture of Ricky Green wearing maize in a Sports Illustrated article. I believe it was against Indiana – given the battle royales Johnny Orr's mid-70s teams had with Bob Knight's Indiana teams, it would make sense to break out something new for the Hoosiers.
If I'm remembering correctly, I'm pretty sure that was it until the Fab Five.
February 16th, 2012 at 10:10 PM ^
I never knew about that. I'd love to see a photo.
February 17th, 2012 at 2:09 AM ^
If he's talking about the 11/29/76 issue of SI, where Green is on the cover, they're wearing blue against IU. I could have the wrong issue or something, though; I'm not saying he's wrong. Side note: cool article about the 1976 football team and victory over a certain rival. This is the whole issue.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/edb/reader.html?magID=SI&issueDa…
February 16th, 2012 at 2:49 PM ^
A little off topic but on May 11th, every Michigan fan should shatter a piece of glass on the ground in honor of Robert Traylor. It will be one year since he's passed on 5/11.
Glass....I think you know what I mean...
February 16th, 2012 at 2:52 PM ^
Save them for big games, MSU, OSU, anyone really good in the Big Ten, big out of conference games like Duke, and the Tournament. Make them special again for big games that jazz up the players when they wear them.
February 16th, 2012 at 9:10 PM ^
Jalen: "uhh, you do know that we don't have any timeouts, right Chris?"
February 16th, 2012 at 3:00 PM ^
I wish the athletic department would sell replicas of the 1989 jerseys ?
i would get a glen rice in a heartbeat, and maybe i could smash some alaskan also
February 16th, 2012 at 9:11 PM ^
Great pic
February 16th, 2012 at 3:12 PM ^
I lack the graphic tools to render it (is there a decent tool for this you can download on the nets?) but I'd actually like to see:
Hoops uniforms with the '89 style wordmark - with a straight, not arched, alignment and the block M embiggened. Uniform numbers would be on-center as per NCAA guidelines. I'd keep the shorts basic, with just a block M and no side panels.
White uniform would have a maize M with blue trim and blue letters with maize trim, just like with the 80's teams
However, the Maize uniform would have all blue lettering with white trim and the Blue uniform would have all maize lettering - for some reason, the block M in white doesn't look right to me.
February 16th, 2012 at 3:17 PM ^
I love them. Personally, I'd get rid of the white jersey and just wear maize at home and blue on the road.
February 16th, 2012 at 4:47 PM ^
What makes Michigan uniforms iconic is the fact that we do not succumb to the idea that big games deserve flashy uniforms. We have 1 home uniform, and 1 away uniform (til DB had anything to say about it) and in basketball we almost always wear maize. Regardless of opponent.
February 16th, 2012 at 6:38 PM ^
I don't know if that's supposed to be sarcasm. We pretty much pioneered the concept of the third uniform, in both basketball and hockey - and that third uniform was intended for big games.
February 16th, 2012 at 7:15 PM ^
Im not suggesting I don't believe you, but I tried to look into this and have found literally no information. I have discovered that NHL teams have been using "3rd jerseys" since the 50's, but nothing else.
Also a quick survey of all the Michigan Basketball pictures I have found are about 60% maize, 30% blue, and 10% white... perhaps most of the pictures came from big games, that would explain why maize is so prominant in the pictures...
I'm just sayin, if we PIONEERED the 3rd uniform, you'd think there'd be some documentation of it. Where can I find such documentation?
February 16th, 2012 at 8:53 PM ^
I'm not saying we were the first ones in all of sports to do it, but we were definitely one of the earliest in college sports. It was 20 years ago that the Fab Five came out with the maize uniforms against Duke, and the hockey program introduced maize around that time as well. Your point above (that we don't wear special uniforms for big games) doesn't make much sense given our history.
February 16th, 2012 at 9:13 PM ^
so because we came out with maize uniforms to play Duke, that confirms your theory that we pioneered using flashy uniforms for big games?
I am young, 25, but I've been watching Michigan basketball since I have a memory, and I recall us wearing maize most of the time, home or away, regardless of opponent.
Maybe I'm wrong. but offer some better evidence than "we wore them against Duke once."
February 16th, 2012 at 9:31 PM ^
In 1991-92, we wore the maize uniforms for two games: Duke and OSU. It was definitely intended as a big-game uniform. And that's pretty much what it's been since. It's just that since then we've expanded the definition of "big" to mean "almost every Big Ten home game and the occasional important road game."
I'm not really sure why you seem to be bothered by the notion of Michigan wearing special uniforms. Heck, even our football team used to always wear special bowl-game uniforms, with fancy shoulder designs, as in the 1993 Rose Bowl:
February 16th, 2012 at 9:13 PM ^
Hah, I was laughing at him when I flipped on Pebble Beach the other weekend.
February 16th, 2012 at 8:22 PM ^
The 8-0 record in the whites is an interesting number. I love the maize but I also think we have wore them to much this year. I say white vs. Ohio an up that record to 9-0 in all white this year.
February 16th, 2012 at 10:14 PM ^
I absolutely love our current "electric" Maize unis. They are totally unique in all of CBB, and work well as either home or away unis.
I hope we don't go to a generic yellow in an attempt to emulate Maize. We will just look like a dozen other schools. *Yawn*
One thing I would like to see . . . the return of the big bad bold block M on the shorts. Yeah, I know the Fab 5 wore it, but they don't own it and our period of mourning is over. Reclaim possession of it, and wear it loud and proud.