Someone in the maize rage was holding up a sign that said Horton owns Dee’z Nuts during that game. (in reference to Dee Brown). After that game we were thought to be a lock for the tournament… and then fully shat the bed.
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i was there and i didn’t remember this! i remember the orange krush showing up and pretending to be michigan fans then taking off their michigan gear and revealing orange. hope they had a fun drive home!
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Wait I thought Deez Nuts jokes were a new thing
Naw, since 1992 and The Chronic
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Man, I’m so late to this. My list is probably similar to @SuperDave41 - funny how much I’m learning about the relative age of our most infamous posters on this board!
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Chris Webber - I was 10 when the Fab5 showed up, which is prime sports molding time. Webber was the one that put me in awe. Plus I was the 7th-8th grade free throw champion at his basketball camp in '95 and CW put a medal around my neck. See #9 below for more…
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Derrick Walton - Dylan pretty much nailed why.
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Nik Stauskas - The driveway videos, the first time I saw him drive and dunk, the swag, and the production was unreal. The fact that '14 team is overshadowed by '13 sucks for Nik’s legacy.
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Eli Brooks - Totally unconventional here…but he played basketball how I played basketball. Someone even told me in the Rec Center (on 2K’21) that I played like Eli Brooks
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Jalen Rose - I think he was just the first time I was exposed to such an aesthetically pleasing lefty. And the baggy just looked better on him than others.
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Moritz Wagner - I was never so confident in an unpolished freshman to become something great as I was with Moe.
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Lou Bullock - I definitely pretended to be him in my driveway in the summers when there were no camps. Some dudes make the net splash differently, and he was one.
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Franz Wagner - I fell in love when he deflected a pass out of bounds on defense and gave a personal fist pump. He just gets basketball. He should probably be higher on this list.
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LaVell Blanchard - Man that dude gave everything he had and got very little back in return. Plus, as alluded to in #1…he was in the free throw competition I won at the CWebb camp in '95 (as was JRich)
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Daniel Horton - I didn’t care about burger boys, but he was definitely the top dawg of the Amaker era and he played a lot of great games.
Thanks @telekinetic !
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Longtime member of the UMHoops community here, come to read comments every day, but first time poster.
This topic has me salivating over deep memories that take me back to the mid-1960s and my first exposure to college basketball at 8-9 years old.
The Cazzie Russell-led Wolverines in the Final Four (albeit losses to Duke in ’64 and UCLA in ’65) left an indelible impression on me, starting a lifelong love for Michigan basketball.
If y’all will bear with me I’ll just list my favorite players in chronological order with a few short comments for each. Edit: my notes are getting long so I’ll end at 2000 and come back with some more recent favorites later.
Cazzie (obviously), Bill Buntin, Oliver Darden - just loved the chemistry generated by this nucleus, maybe just another athlete short of winning a couple NCs.
Rudy Tomjanovich - I grew up in Hamtramck and saw Rudy T play for the Cosmos (a program that also featured the great Brisker brothers, Ralph and John, and multi-sport star Ike Blessitt, perhaps best known for a spring training fight with his then-manager Billy Martin when he played for the Tigers in the early ’70s), followed his trajectory as a pro player (ouch, still feel that punch he took from Kermit Washington that effectively hastened his demise as a player) and NBA Finals winning coach with Houston.
Henry Wilmore - tough inside/outside 6-3 guard with nice scoring touch.
Campy Russell - loved that he chose UM and his HS rival Lindsay Hairston became a Spartan. I thought Campy’s all-round game was superior (proved later in the NBA).
Joe Johnson - 5-11 PG played with Lindsay at Detroit Kettering, ran the offense with Campy and CJ Kupec (Kevin Love-esque PF, who paired well on the front line with Russell).
Steve Grote - tough kid, cool haircut, team leader of those great Johnny Orr teams of the mid-‘70s.
Ricky Green - first time I saw him (Vanderbilt game, early 1975-76 season) I thought he was the fastest straight line basketball player I’d ever seen. He was phenomenal (as was Phil Hubbard, who was slowed by injury troubles for much of his career, college and pro) from day one.
Mike McGee - methodical, no nonsense scorer.
Roy Tarpley - saw him as a gangly high school center at Detroit Cooley, never thought he’d develop as he did under Bill Frieder.
Antoine Joubert - loved ‘the Judge’ at Detroit Southwestern, had a nice career at Michigan but somehow lost the bombs away accuracy he had in high school.
Gary Grant - best two-way UM Hoops player in my lifetime? Maybe. Franz gets my vote for post-2000 players.
Terry Mills - pure high school all-American hype who started slowly in college (I think sitting out his freshman year due to Prop 8, as did Rumeal Robinson, really hurt Terry) but had a nice finish.
Glen Rice - I remember him from those powerhouse Flint Northwestern teams when he was a tall, skinny rim runner and maybe fourth scoring option as an underclassman. His development under Frieder/Fisher and later as a pro was uncanny.
Loy Vaught - steady big who could score, rebound and defend. Another important piece of the ’89 championship team.
Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard - loved all of the Fab 5 but this trio is historic for what they did at Michigan and beyond.
Louis Bullock, Maurice Taylor, Robert Traylor - liked these guys a lot, a shame that off court troubles tainted their individual legacies. RIP Tractor.
Lavall Blanchard, Jamal Crawford, Kevin Gaines - I thought this group was going places but Ellerbee was obv not the guy to take them there.
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a perfect first post! welcome!
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You’ve gotta be up there in days read with 0 posts. Nice first post
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Nik Stauskas. I used to shovel snow off the driveway and try to copy his YouTube videos of him shooting threes when he was a recruit lol. That 3-game stretch he had where they beat Wisconsin, Iowa, and MSU, all of whom were in the top ten, was amazing.
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Trey Burke. For obvious reasons.
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Franz Wagner. Felt like we’d heard his name for so long as a recruit since Mo was on campus, was great to see him turn into such a monster defensively. Felt like such a unique player compared to the Beilein types.
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Derrick Walton. Never felt more confident in a player at the free throw line late in games. Will always remember that revenge game against Louisville and the big ten tournament run.
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Spike Albrecht. Loved him his first two years obviously, but I also love how much he gave every game that 3rd year when Michigan was so bad. You could just tell how much losing hurt him, but he never stopped giving effort, he even outplayed DeAngelo Russel in that one game at home.
Jordan Poole, Duncan Robinson, Mo Wagner I’d also count.
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This has been a really cool thread!
I got thinking of some of my favorite players, and one of the names that came up was Garde Thompson. He played on a couple of Big Ten Championship teams in the 80’s, and had that great shooting (9-12) three point effort against David Robinson’s Navy team in the NCAA tournament in 1987.
I looked Garde Thompson up on the internet, and found this interview with him that was really enjoyable to listen to. Anyone that remembers Garde Thompson might really enjoy the listen:
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Not going to rank them or list them all out but a few players I’ve had particular affinity for over the years:
Louis Bullock
Lester Abram
Jordan Morgan
MAAR
Mo Wagner
Isaiah Livers
Eli Brooks
I could list like 30 players from the last 10 years or so but I kept it short.
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This game is why David Robinson is my favorite NBA player ever. Dropped 50 on Michigan, but we still won. That dude was a GD unicorn.
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Among some GREAT posts on this thread, this is my favorite! I’m quite sure most of you understand why…this gentleman, @nospectacle is a guy from my era and that makes us kindred spirits.
I agree this is a great first post, and too, that this was a terrific idea, @telekinetic! Thanks for the heads up. 
I’m literally being pulled out the door by Mrs. Silverblue as I feverishly type these last few words, so I’ll offer my list in a couple of days. We don’t get out of town much anymore and we’re headed up to our favorite place in the world, (REALLY, it is!) Glen Arbor to do some camping at D.H. Day (our favorite camp ground). Thanks for this, Bill, and all who participated. Well done, guys! 
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Not sure any poster here writes with as much physicality as you silver. You have us on the edge of our seats!
(Enjoy Glen Arbor. It’s beautiful this time of year!)
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Started following Michigan basketball on my six transistor radio listening to Cazzie Russell at Yost Field House. My favorite player is Phil Hubbard. Before he hurt his knew, he was unbelievable. So quick. So explosive. So fun to watch. After all, Phil went on to have 10 year NBA career playing on one leg. His sophomore year was something special.
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“writes with as much physicality”
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We should all be looking inside and asking ourselves if we are living up to silver’s example! I am furiously typing this while being chased by a pack of wild dogs!
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Rice (barely remember it)
Juwan Howard
Robbie Reid
Louis bullock
Lavell Blanchard
Lester abram (HM: Daniel Horton)
Zack Novak
Darius Morris
Jordan Morgan
Trey Burke
Derrick Walton
Both wagners
Charles matthews
Kobe Bufkin
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With a robust smack of the return key he finished his post, satisfied with the point he made.
And the keyboard winced.
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