Michigan all-time record in Sweet 16 games (corrected)

Submitted by rdlwolverine on

Michigan has an impressive 12-1 record in Sweet 16 games. 

Here is the breakdown:

1964 - beat defending champion Loyola (Cazzie Russell and Bill Buntin)

1965 - beat SEC champion Vanderbilt Dayton (Russell and Buntin again)

1966 - beat Western Kentucky with Clem Haskins (Cazzie still, but Buntin had graduated)

1974 - beat Notre Dame team that had snapped UCLA streak (Campy Russell)

1976 - beat Big 8 champ Missouri (Rickey Green, Phil Hubbard)

1977 - beat Dick Vitale's U Detroit squad (Rickey Green, Phil Hubbard)

1988 - lost to UNC (Glen Rice, Gary Grant)

1989 - beat UNC (Rice, Rumeal Robinson, Terry Mills)

1992 - beat Oklahoma State (Fab Five)

1993 - beat George Washington (Fab Five)

1994 - beat Maryland (Fab Five minus Webber)

2013 - beat Kansas (Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr, Mitch McGary)

2014 - beat Tennessee (Nick Nik Stauskas, Caris Levert, Glenn Robinson III)

 

FrankMurphy

March 23rd, 2017 at 1:53 PM ^

Wow. Thanks for digging up these stats. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time we lost a Sweet 16 game. We tend to either bow out in the first week or we make a deep run to the Elite Eight or further. 

Hail-Storm

March 23rd, 2017 at 7:04 PM ^

Mainly because I moved his house in college and he was a really cool down to earth guy. He talked about being weird retiring at 35 and what he's going to do next. I'm 36 now and finally get what he's talking about. It'd be weird to be retiring now.

stephenrjking

March 23rd, 2017 at 2:02 PM ^

Mentally the hardest thing for me in the lead-up to big games in sports I care about is the terror various intangible and even moderately tangible factors brings to mind when I think about them.

Like, on this March run, Michigan is settling old scores. Illinois again, Minnesota after that officiating debacle, Wisconsin, Louisville. Looks good for tonight, since DJ has a score to settle for that block a couple of years ago, but the two other teams in our region are both the ones who are due to "settle scores" with us. 

Or the fact that we're on a massive win streak. It's due to run out, right?

How about this one that briefly terrified me when I was getting ready for work: Michigan has basically played every game 3pm or earlier. They're in an early-game rhythm. Playing so late in the day is going to be hard on their biological clocks, they'll shoot poorly and lose.

Because if there's one thing that can throw off a team that has recently endured a near-disastrous plane crash plus a frenetic commute that prevented the team from even unpacking and a game played in practice jerseys, it's playing a game a couple of hours later than the recent normal. Or a win streak that is going for a while. Or a team in Kansas who had players two or three generations ago that got punked by Trey Burke.

Most of my private mental pre-game analysis is complete garbage.

Which is good, because my blood pressure went up when I read your post.

creelymonk10

March 23rd, 2017 at 2:12 PM ^

Also, as Anthony Wright tweeted, in the last 5 years, Michigan is 12-0 in open weekend of games for the BTT and NCAA (Round of 64, Sweet 16, and Final Four, also counting last years win against Tulsa as the opening game).

On the flip side, Oregon has always reached the Elite 8 as a top 3 seed, although a small sample size of just 3 previous times (2002, 2007, and 2016).

M-Dog

March 23rd, 2017 at 2:21 PM ^

Michigan is also money in the Final Four (6-1), and pretty strong in the Elite Eight (7-5 not counting 1948 which only had 8 teams in the entire tournament).

When we decide to go dancing, we stay out all night. 

M-Dog

March 23rd, 2017 at 3:45 PM ^

Yeah, not happy about that.

But look who we lost to:

1965 - John Wooden in his prime, during his 10-championship run,

1976 - Bobby Knight in his prime, during his undefeated season,

1992 - Mike K in his prime, during his back-to-back championships,

1993 - Dean Smith in his prime, for his second championship.

2013 - Rick Pitino in his 2nd championship at 2 different schools.

I don't like to lose, but those are some elite programs and elite coaches in their primes that we lost to.  

And Rick Pitino. 

It's not like we lost to Butler or Wichita State (or Seton Hall).  

We were a little bit unlucky, actually, in who we had to face in all those NC games. 

jmblue

March 23rd, 2017 at 3:48 PM ^

Those first three were brutal -  three of the best teams of all time.  

'93 UNC and '13 Louisville were, along with '89 Seton Hall, more typical Final Four-level teams - very good, but beatable.  Shame we couldn't pull out more than one of those three games. 

 

jmblue

March 23rd, 2017 at 4:01 PM ^

Yep.  That's the one that sticks in my craw.  That UNC wasn't even all that talented by their standards.  Eric Montross was probably their best player and he wasn't anything special.  They had one 3-point shooter and we kept leaving him open.

 

stephenrjking

March 23rd, 2017 at 4:10 PM ^

The mists of time have obscured the raw emotion coupled both in that heart-rending game and in the scandal that eventually followed that stripped results of that season from us. Like, only in the last few years have I been able to go back and fully enjoy the nostalgia of that Kentucky win in the Final Four, which was amazing. 

In the immediate aftermath of the scandal I disgustedly concluded that it was better that Michigan lost, because having a title stripped would be all the more crushing. 

In 1993, of course, I just plain wanted to win. 

Now? I'm not sure what I would've wanted more. Or rather, what ignominy I would have wanted to experience less.

Leaders And Best

March 23rd, 2017 at 3:20 PM ^

The tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Something to keep in mind when looking at years before 1985. Between 1953-1974, there were between 22-25 teams in the tournament.

Sweet 16 games before 1985 were usually Michigan's 1st or 2nd game in the tournament. I think a better way to look at this would be record in Sweet 16 since tournament expansion in 1985 (6-1). Still an impressive record either way.

WolverineHistorian

March 23rd, 2017 at 3:30 PM ^

They show that clip of the final seconds of Notre Dame upsetting UCLA in 1974 a lot. I can understand why because it was an iconic moment in sports history. But fuck Notre Dame.

It's nice to know we knocked that team out in the tournament.