Ranking the last 10 years of UM hoops

Pretty good list. 16/17 was the most memorable for me. Even over those championship runs. To this day, when I hear that Coldplay song that was used for the NCAA Tournament intro I think about how close Derrick Walton was to sinking that shot against Oregon. And everything before that was amazing. MAAR's pink shoes, rallying after the plane crash, playing in practice jerseys, beating the No. 1, 2, 4 teams in the BTT, the 92 points against Okie State.

Shoot I even remember how disapointed I was after that Northwestern buzzer beater loss.

The first title run was similarly memorable: Spike's outrageous play - starting in the VCU rout, then Florida. Even the opening round people said UM would lose to the SD Jackrabbits. Morgan's dunk against Syracuse. Such great fun.

It makes me realize how basketball is more enjoyable than football. In all of the seasons, UM lost and we don't vilify them. If Harbaugh went to the final four every year, or final 8 and lost we would probably complain about him every day.

I feel like we would have been a very dangerous team of McGary didnt smoke a joint that one year.

2017/18 will always be pretty special.  If I remember correctly, there were so many discussions talking about how good 18/19 would be.  It's almost like everyone was writing off that year by February.  Then we went on that run and everyone was like "wait... maybe next year is THIS year!"

I’ll add to this discussion and rank the top 10 players of the last decade:

1. Trey Burke (NPOY; self-explanatory)

2. Nik Stauskas (B1G POY)

3. Derrick Walton Jr (his senior run was as good as any player)

4. Mo Wagner (heart and soul of the 2017-18 team)

5. Caris LeVert (injuries unfortunately got in the way his last two years; major role in the 13-14 B1G championship and Elite Eight run)

6. MAAR (silent assassin for 4 years)

7. Mitch McGary (small sample size, but was unguardable when healthy)

8. Zavier Simpson (captain, leader of 3 (hopefully) long runs in March)

9. Charles Matthews (best defender of the decade)

10. DJ Wilson (his emergence as a junior was the biggest surprise of the decade)

Honorable mentions: Isaiah Livers, Iggy Brazdeikis, THJ, GR III, Duncan Robinson, Zak Irvin, Jordan Morgan, Darius Morris & Jon Teske

When all's said and done I think this year's team will best what last year's team did in the NCAA Tournament. I can't help but think this year's team is going to be special. We got a lot of players that can have the back of any one or two players that have a bad game. They play great D, they play for one another. They got that 'Win the Game' attitude the 2013/2014 team had. Last years' team was a talented, but motley crew. There was always a tinge of, I don't know, something uncomfortable in the vibe I had of them. There is nothing of that in this years' team. You get the feeling they'd go to war with one another. I'm really excited to see how far these guys go.

Rankings don't matter! Why did you...

Oops, sorry. I was starting to get the idea we should condemn a post and implicitly brag about focusing on important stuff.

Joking aside, nice list. I'm eager to see where #6 ends up.

Truthfully, I think the 18/19 team was the best team of the decade. I would take them head to head over any other team. Suffocating defense and a top 25 offense that had decent firepower. The top 6 guys were stacked.

Unfortunately they horribly underachieved in the two or three games that mattered so no one really think this. I like to think that this team offset the luck involved with the 17/18 team.

I’ve read several comments lately — like # 3 here — about how we lucked out with some easier opponents on our way to the national championship game. Hogwash! Do you all forget that we had to beat God to get to the national championship game? Maybe the earlier rounds had some luck, but Sister Jean had the big guy working pretty hard for Team Gryffindor that year. I’d say the odds were pretty stacked against us that year and the team came through! Until that Divencenzo guy sold his soul to the devil so that he would never miss a shot  

I'd put 2011-12 over 2018-19.  Yes, we won 30 games last year, but the second half of the season was disappointing, even with a Sweet 16 appearance, while 2011-12 massively overachieved to grab a share of the title.  Losing in the first round was annoying but still, it was a banner season.

I don't think we can rank this year just yet.  The next month will tell the tale.

Really good list. My favorite team will always be that 2017-2018 team. They had some of the best endings to any game I’ve seen. Against Maryland at home and Houston in the 2nd round

I’d just like to point out how great it is to have the first team (chronologically) on that list in 8th place.  I was at that 2011 game against Tennessee (Bruce Pearl was their head coach then — yuck! I remember people joking about the contrast between his sleaze and Beilein’s high ground).  From where we had been most of the prior decade, that 2011 team felt like a hopeful step in the right direction, a pretty good bit of success relative to the general expectations of where the program was.

I remember talking with friends along the lines of, “if we can get Darius Morris to come back, we might actually be able to take step forward.” At that point, we were almost conditioned against harboring hopes of any real, sustained progress in MBB.

If you were to tell me then we would see a list like this at the end of the decade, I think we would have all been outright giddy.  What a great run under John B, and what a great start in the passing of the torch to Juwan!

It really has been amazing. Beilein really resurrected this program and has made it a powerhouse. I’m thinking JH is going to continue on that and maybe even make it more consistent but he’ll be doing well to follow in Beilein’s giant footsteps.

I’m hoping this year tops the list fyi.