Prove you are a Michigan Basketball fan

I've always been partial to Flint's own Leon Derricks myself.  Loved that guy.

OK, I'm with the spirit behind this thread.

I didn't have many experiences during the dark ages, but I was lucky enough to go to both Fab Five Final Fours. Mixed emotions abound...

And although Gary Grant was my first favorite M basketball player, seeing Mike Griffin, #20, at an M baseball game, and him giving me my first M autograph went a long way for him having a place near and dear to my 12-year old heart.

(Good Lord, we gettin' nostalgic here now, but what the hell...)

When I first started going to Crisler, EVERYONE'S favorite player was a guy by the name of Steve Stoyko.

Whenever the team got on the better side of blowout territory, the crowd would chant his name. He was M's own Kurt Rambis.

Courtney Sims... Remember watching the guy when I was a very young viewer.... My only thoughts were why can't we have nice things?

...without a mention of Freddie Hunter.

I believe the story went that he won the slam dunk contest at a Gus Macker tournament back in the day and he turned down the cash because he wanted to walk on at Michigan.

He did so, eventually earned a scholarship, and...someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think he ended up being team captain the Fab Five's first year.

I was pretty young, but Dion Harris and Daniel Horton were my boys. I loved DeShawn and Manny, too. It started to turn around with them, but 2007 and 2009 were still rough.

Marty Bodnar.

Would have liked to say Gary Grant but I think every team he ever played on in his life was easy to watch, at least until he got to the Clippers. Those Canton McKinley teams were something else.

Lavelle Blanchard. He was a great player.

Terry Mills.  I got to see him play in high school.  He was the real deal.  

The only sport I ever played was basketball but I was never really as big of a basketball fan as I was football. Basically from once I was able to really process what was going on in sports games (about when I was 8) to high school all I had known was Michigan being mediocre in basketball and that was pretty much the norm. I just figured ''well Michigan is a football school and State is a basketball school.'' I remember watching the 2005 NIT team and getting excited that they won and then realizing ''Oh...that means we're the 65th best team in the country now. Great.'' Fast forward two years and I remember listening on the radio and we're getting killed by FSU yet again in the NIT. I was not surprised that Tommy was fired. I'm sure guys like Daniel Horton, Graham Brown, and Air Georiga could have been a tournament team if Beilein was coaching them. I will be forever grateful for what Beilein has done. 

at the IM building when the pick-up bball games were shut down so the MMBB team could have practice.

He was a bit too cool to my friendly hello, as a I recall.  Not a big deal whatsoever.

Anyway, he was the most frustrating player to watch, because he'd have so many "soft" performances and then one tough one in a blue moon against a weak team.

My favorite player was Lester Abrams.

I have blocked out all detailed memories of the Ellerbe era, even though I remember watching every single game of the Ellerbe and Amaker eras.  I also watched every game of the first 4 years of Beilein, but now I cannot catch every game.  

I thank God for the mgoblogger that posts the games these days on youtube for me to catch up on later. Thank you, whoever you are.

Tractor Trailer!

The 90-91 season was long and tough.   The TRUE Michigan student hoops fans endured that year in good spirits.   I had a blast cheering for a frontcourt that consisted of:

Rich McIver (sweet hairdo)

Sam Mitchell (smooth, but inconsistent)

Eric Riley

McIver and Mitchell would soon transfer.   Sigh.   That was a young and innocent team in the young and innocent times before the Fab 5 craziness.  

Lavell Blanchard, Bernard Robinson Jr, Chris Hunter, Graham Brown, DeShawn Sims.  Particularly Blanchard and Sims as they both were asked to do way too much and you could tell they were trying super hard all the time.  I was happy that Sims got to play in the tourney.

Probably Jerod Ward, I always thought that the Fab Five part two was going to do something special, Ward was the number one player in the nation so I remember being super high on him. 

Fwiw Zack Novak is my favorite Michigan basketball player by a long shot. Dugan Fife is probably my second favorite player. 

Reid.

After reading all of this, MY how far we have come!

Garde Thompson. UM lost Wade, Rellford, and Tarpley after the '86 B1G title season and MIlls and Rumeal were prop 48 kids so they went to a three guard lineup with Grant, Joubert, and Thompson. I remember Garde hit a bunch of 3's in the NCAA tourney against Navy.

likely the best shooting BIG man / power forward ever at U of M

Go Blue!

I remember watching an utterly dominant (post eligibility) Jerad Ward destryoing it in the CCRB. Dunks, layups, he was scoring at will.  I didn't understand why he wasn't in the NBA. Then he started shooting from futher away and it became clearer.

My name on this here blog is a nod to my two favorite Michigan basketball players of my "adult" years of watching basketball.  "Adult" signifying 15 and older so that I was old enough to actually figure out what was going on.

Jimmy King (#24) - My favorite of the 5 due to his athleticism.  Think GRIII.

Maceo Baston - Coincided with my time in Ann Arbor.  Had "length" before it was a buzzword.  I loved watching him swoop over people for dunks/blocks/boards

Chris Young and Leon Jones.  Steve Fisher's final recruits, who played their first three years under Ellerbe and senior year under Amaker, going 12-19, 15-14, 10-18 and 11-18.  They never beat MSU and reached the postseason only once, losing in the first round of the NIT.  Those were also my four years at this school.  Good times.

Watched ET & company several times from the gold seats with my dad back in the early 80's.  This is back when games weren't all on TV.  Even kept score in the program.  Do I get my fan card now?

I think we were in the same psych class. Professor came in with a patch over one eye and dismissed the half of the class he 'couldn't see'. As I recall McGee was in the dismissed half but stayed for the lecture