What an incredible 10 years it has been. Unthinkable when the decade began that we would soon witness:
8 NCAA tournament appearances
5 Sweet 16s
3 Elite 8s
2 National Championship appearances
2 conference championships
2 Big Ten Tournament championships
11 players drafted
2 conference player of the year winners
1 National player of the year winner
Huge shoutout to @umhoops for the coverage through the years. This site has helped grow my interest in Michigan basketball immensely and engaging with the community here is one of my favorite parts of the fan experience.
So my question to the board is…what will you remember most from this decade and why?
I’ll start - my Dad is a UofM grad who never got too into Michigan b-ball compared to football while I was growing up. My Michigan fandom is largely tied to our relationship, and as the hoops team got better (and he saw how big a fan I was), he got a lot more into it.
After Trey Burke hit the shot against Kansas, I came home for Easter weekend the next day and he was in our driveway in my #3 maize jersey re-enacting the step back shot. We laughed and spent the entire weekend talking about the team and then watched Stauskas and the rest of the squad eviscerate Florida a day later giddy as can be.
Lots of moments throughout the decade, but seeing it all come together for the first time under Beilein in the 2011-12 season is one of my best memories. We had a freshman point guard who had me nervous before the season (mainly because I remembered how Darius Morris struggled as a freshman), but Trey Burke turned in an outstanding freshman season. We had a lot of guys who had more moxy than talent. We had new assistant coaches and I was unsure what the coaching would look like. But we managed to pull together as a team and won our first Big Ten title in decades (albeit shared). Even though the season ended with a couple of bummer losses - a 22 point loss to Ohio State in the BTT and the loss to Ohio in the NCAA tourney - my optimism for the future under John Beilein went way up with this season.
My memories of Michigan Basketball in general go back well before this past decade to the decade of the eighties and taking my son to games at Crisler when he was just a young lad. And, of course the 1989 National Championship team was an unbelievable run, and a team we got to see at Crisler several times!
But, for this decade, my most enjoyable memories would be, of course, the Burke shot AND the Jordan Poole shot. As an aside to my greatest memories and speaking of that West Regional in 2018, after Michigan moved on to the regional finals at the Staples Center in L.A. that young lad, my son, who was now all grown up and older than a lot of guys on this forum, worked as the General Manager of Purchasing for Food and Beverage at the Staples Center and Microsoft Theater. His office was literally just across the concourse from the arena, and he called me during the regional final where there was a HUGE Michigan crowd. After walking the 20 or 30 feet across the concourse, he held the phone up so I could hear and told me he had never heard the arena that loud! Never! Pretty cool.
So, both the Burke and the Poole shots were great moments and memories, and anything having to do with Michigan Basketball and my son are big for me, too, but possibly the two greatest moments, for me, of the decade were Coach B in the locker room with the water cannon having the water fight with the players, drenching the guys and getting drenched, himself, and Juwan dancing after the Battle 4 Atlantis Championship!
And yes, this has been a great decade! So, what do you say, let’s start a new GREAT decade of Michigan Basketball! I think I’ve got at least ten more years in me to enjoy something that’s been pretty important to me, and to all of us, and provided great personal memories for over fifty years!
The rebirth of Michigan basketball under John Beilein is historically significant. Emerging from the Amaker and Ellerbee eras and resulting in two National Championship appearances is astounding and meaningful.
I have so many great memories from this decade. The Burke shot probably tops them all, but the Douglas dunk from the DMo behind the back pass in the NCAA tourney, Poole shot, Stauskas kiss to MSU crowd, Stauskas step back at Wisconsin, DMo get the F off my floor, Burke strip and dunk off Appling, JMo final four dunk against Syracuse, Spike in the title game, Spike stolen in bounds pass and layup against Florida in the elite 8, Wagner behind the back dribble dropping Ward, entire BTT after plane crash (especially practice jersey game)… I’m excluding so many other memorable moments. This has been a hell of a decade. I sure hope the good times keep rolling.
These are GREAT ones, adam! We’ve been so Blessed with Michigan Basketball, and with essentially every game televised now, and with this outstanding website and forum, as others have said, it’s Great To Be Michigan WOLVERINE!
It’s the Burke shot for me. We were flying to LA and the plane was pretty quiet, until that shot when about 60% of the flight cheered. Just an awesome experience. Then we got to my buddy’s place and watched the whole game again after in n out burger at like midnight on the west coast.
Many of you have already cited most of my great memories. So I will add a more personal special one - UM vs. Purdue for Sr. Day the year Spike played for Purdue, 2017 Feb. My Freshman year hallmate and I arrived early to tour the Crisler Center, then we were able to go hang out near the tunnel and associate with several players. You can see me with DRob on this site and I have pics with Mo and others. A young female jr high pt guard came with her Dad and a Spike sign. She got his autograph on her jersey and a photo op. And that was just pregame. Up by 15 at the half, a lead as big as 19 in the second. The postgame speeches by DWalt and Irvin were awesome.
Edit: Purdue won the regular season conference title.
My favourite team was the 2013-14 team that reached a regional final and lost to Kentucky. I loved that team for the great 15-3 B1G record (including wins at MSU, Wisconsin, OSU, and Purdue). As a Canadian, watching Stauskas’ dominance was fun. As a Jordan Morgan fan, watching him turn into a key player was great. Topping the season by travelling to Indy for the regional weekend was fantastic. Losing the final was tough, but that was as exciting an environment as I’ve been in for a game.
My favourite moment was the Poole shot to beat Houston. That was a miracle win, given the circumstances that led to that final possession even mattering.
It was both. Vs. Syracuse in 2013 to reach the national title game, then Vs. Tennessee in 2014 after the backcourt turnover when the game had almost completely slipped away.
Incredible decade indeed. Remember that one time we dominated UNC and Gonzaga on back to back days and then Juwan did the cabbage patch with the team on national television?
I’m really happy that Morgan, along with Walton and Irvin a few years later were all able to end their careers on such high notes. All three players had up and down careers and were heavily critisized, but all three ended their careers playing their best ball and ensured they will be remembered fondly.
And I’ll always remember how beautiful Beileins offense was, and how fun it was when the team was on fire. Beilein was way ahead of the curve when it came to value of three point shooting, and it was great watching his offenses just go off. We always played such a slow pace but with how effeciemt our offense was it never felt that way. Fans of other teams regularly thought we played at a fast pace because we were so effecient. Watching Burke, Stauskus, and senior year Walton run the offense was magical. Swear it felt like Stauskus started every game with an off the dribble three off ball screen action. Low turnovers, a lot of threes, and a lot of easy looks at the rim, just a brilliant offense when executed properly.
My biggest regret would be that we missed Levert as an uperclassman. He was playing at such an absurd level his senior year with a 126.8 Ortg on 26% usage, 32.9 ast rate to 11.9 TO rate and shooting 533/.450/.788. Unfortunately hes continued to have injury issues in the NBA, but of all the NBA players Beilein had he is the best of the bunch and we actually managed to get him to stay all 4 years.
Also that we only got one tourney run out of McGary. If he’s healthy I think we win the whole thing his sophomore year. We would have beaten Kentucky with an elite rebounder like McGary. And I would have loved to see our offense go up against that UConn defense.
Not sure why it’ll always stick out to me but the Spike lefty one-handed 3/4 court bounce pass to GR3 for a dunk against VCU at the Palace in the 2013 run
Watching that video made me realize that fans from other teams must really hate us. Haha. We have had some big personalities doing big things over the last ten years.
