Saddi Washington beat Michigan in 1997

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Found this the other day doing some research for the 'Guide.

In reply to by CLion

snarling wolverine

April 26th, 2018 at 1:14 PM ^

A prime example of why you shouldn't put too much stock in interim performance.  A lot of teams rally behind the interim guy in the short term.

Ellerbe had been fired at Loyola of Maryland the year before.  We decided that his one kind-of-good season at Michigan (won the BTT but lost in the round of 32 with a loaded roster) was more indicative of his ability than his three bad seasons at Loyola.  Whoops.

cobra14

April 26th, 2018 at 9:50 AM ^

You are young. Saddi’s WMU squad was a very talented team. Him, Kimbro, Rashad Johnson among others were dynamite. They beat Clemson round 1 in tourney. The game between WMU and EMU that year lives in infamy

snarling wolverine

April 26th, 2018 at 11:42 AM ^

Maybe, maybe not.  Ellerbe and Amaker were here a total of 10 years.  A 1998 hire might have retired or moved on by the time Beilein was ready to come here.  (In contrast to RichRod, Beilein didn't have an adversarial relationship with the WVU AD.  He left simply because the opportunity to coach at Michigan was too good to pass up.)

NittanyFan

April 26th, 2018 at 10:05 AM ^

in retrospect - it wasn't a terrible loss.

All of EMU, WMU, Detroit, MSU and U-M made the tourney that year - 4 of the 5 won a game (EMU lost to MSU, so someone had to lose) and 2 of the 5 made the Sweet 16. 

I don't think any other year has even come close in terms of Michigan-based teams being successful.

UNCWolverine

April 26th, 2018 at 10:22 AM ^

Well UNCWolverine beat Saddi in 1992. My high school team played Sexton in summer ball before our senior year. I remember hearing a lot about him before we played, but we were able to get the best of him that day. I’ve never mentioned this before but this post seemed like a good time to throw it out there.

I have to be honest I was a bit skeptical when he was hired, but what a great move by Beilein. Go blue.

OwenGoBlue

April 26th, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^

Sam Webb had all the assistant basketball coaches on earlier this week (Monday or Tuesday) for a multi-segment deal.

It’s a good listen if you want to get to know these guys a bit and hear about their relationships to the players, relive the run, etc. Great group of dudes.

hvsiii

April 26th, 2018 at 11:40 AM ^

That WMU team was fun to watch.  I was a Sophomore at WMU and went to that game as well as all the home games.  Saddi and Rashod were pretty dynamic.  They carried that team with some help from Jason Kimbrough.  The MAC was a pretty solid league that year.

As a side note, watching Earl Boykins for EMU that year was also pretty fun.

Flying Dutchman

April 26th, 2018 at 11:55 AM ^

I was at Western the same time as Saddi and had the privilege of a lot of pickup basketball with the team.    Saddi was a damn fine player, and really was a couple bad knees away from likely being a Big Ten player.

The 97-98 Broncos were a lot of fun.   That's the year they beat Clemson in the dance.  I was working at Waldo's at the time, but took the day off, and we nearly burned the place to the ground that day.  

A2MIKE

April 26th, 2018 at 11:59 AM ^

He hit corner three after corner three.  Michigan football beat Wisconsin earlier in the day.  Nobody really cared about the basketball game.  

Boner Stabone

April 26th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^

Western was very good that year.  That was not a bad loss by any means.  They knocked off a good Clemson team in the dance.

Like the above poster pointed out many people don't remember any of those November 1997 basketball games, because the football team was in full pursuit of a National Championship beating Penn St, Wisconsin, and Ohio St. during the month.

HonoluluBlue

April 26th, 2018 at 1:47 PM ^

But as of this moment WD has had a post up for several hours without receiving a single downvote! Amazing! Maybe the old adage that some people never change is incorrect.