Michigan Wolverines men's basketball
The Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing the University of Michigan. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and play their home games at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Wolverines have won one NCAA Championship, three National Invitation Tournaments, 15 Big Ten regular season titles and four Big Ten tournaments. One NIT title and one Big Ten tournament were later vacated by the NCAA due to sanctions.
Michigan has had 35 All-Americans, selected 48 times. Eight of these have been consensus All-Americans, which are Cazzie Russell, Rickey Green, Gary Grant, Chris Webber, Trey Burke, as well as Harry Kipke, Richard Doyle and Bennie Oosterbaan who were retroactively selected by the Helms Foundation. Twelve All-Americans have been at least two-time honorees. Russell was the only three-time All-American.
Seventy-seven players have been drafted into the National Basketball Association ; thirty-two of those were first round draft picks, including both Cazzie Russell and Chris Webber who were selected first overall. The 1990 NBA draft, in which Rumeal Robinson was selected 10th, Loy Vaught was selected 13th, and Terry Mills was selected 16th made Michigan the third of only ten schools that have ever had three or more players selected in the first round of the same draft. Six players have gone on to become NBA champions for a total of nine times and eight players have become NBA All-Stars a total of 18 times. Rudy Tomjanovich coached both the 1994 and 1995 NBA Finals champions. Glen Rice is one of only thirteen basketball players to have won a high school state championship, NCAA title and NBA championship.
During the 1990s Michigan endured an NCAA violations scandal, described as involving one of the largest amounts of illicit money in NCAA history, when Ed Martin loaned four players a reported total of $616,000. Due to sanctions, records starting in the 1992 Final Four, the 1992–93 season, and the 1995–96 season through the 1998–99 season were vacated by the NCAA. Throughout this article asterisks denote awards, records and honors that have been vacated.By the numbers
- All-time wins – 1,751
- All-time winning percentage – *
- NCAA National Championships – 1
- NCAA Final Fours – 8*
- NCAA Elite Eights – 15*
- NCAA Sweet Sixteens – 19*
- NCAA tournament appearances – 32*
- NCAA tournament wins – 68*
- No. 1 seeds in NCAA tournament – 3*
- Conference regular season championships – 15
- Conference tournament championships – 4*
- 30+ win seasons – 5*
- 20+ win seasons – 32*
- Weeks ranked No. 1 in AP poll – 22
* Includes vacated results and accomplishmentsHistory
Early years (1908–19)
As a result of public and alumni demand for a basketball team, Michigan fielded a team of members of the then-current student body and achieved a 1–4 record for the 1908–09 season. However, after three years of demanding a basketball program, the student body did not attend the games and the program was terminated due to low attendance. Basketball returned in 1917 in what was considered the inaugural season of varsity basketball. The team was coached by Elmer Mitchell who instituted the intramural sports program at Michigan. The team finished 6–12 overall. The following year Mitchell led the team to a 16–8 record.Mather era (1919–28)
coached the team to three Big Ten titles in his nine seasons as coach. After inheriting Mitchell's team, which he led to a 10–13 overall record during the 1919–20 season, he led the team to an 18–4 overall record during the 1920–21 season. This 1921 team won its first eight and last eight games to tie the Wisconsin Badgers and Purdue Boilermakers for the Big Ten title. The team won back-to-back championships in 1925–26 and 1926–27. The 1926 squad, which was captained by Richard Doyle who became the team's first All-American, tied with Purdue, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Indiana Hoosiers for the conference championship. The 1927 team had a new All-American, Bennie Oosterbaan, and won the school's first back-to-back championships and first outright championship with a 14–3 overall record. Mather died after a lengthy battle with cancer in August 1928.Veenker era (1928–31)
compiled the highest overall and highest Big Ten winning percentages of any coach in school history during his three years as coach. He earned 1st, 3rd and 2nd finishes during his three seasons, which included the 1928–29 conference championship. During Veenker's first season his team compiled a 13–3 overall record to win the conference, and Veenker continues to be the only coach in school history to win a conference championship in his first season. The championship team, which finished tied with Wisconsin, was captained by the school's third All-American Ernie McCoy. Veenker resigned to become the Iowa State Cyclones football head coach.Cappon era (1931–38)
had a long history of association with Michigan athletics starting with his service as a four-time letterman in football and basketball from 1919 to 1923. In 1928, he became assistant football and basketball coach and in 1929 he served as Fielding H. Yost's assistant Athletic Director. Although the highlight of Cappon's tenure as coach was a 16–4 third place 1936–37 Big Ten finish, he coached John Townsend who in his 1937–38 senior season became last All-American for at least 10 years. The team finished third in two other seasons with less impressive records of 10–8 overall in 1932–33 and 15–5 overall 1935–36, and Cappon's overall record was 78–57 overall. A notable captain during the Cappon era was 1933–34 captain Ted Petoskey, a two-time football All-American end and eventual Major League Baseball player.Oosterbaan era (1938–46)
In 1938 Michigan coaching duties were assumed by one of its greatest athletes. Bennie Oosterbaan had been an All-American in both football and basketball and held various coaching positions at Michigan in both of those sports as well as baseball. In basketball, he implemented a fast-paced attack as coach, and his teams' best overall record was 13–7 in 1939–40. That season he tied with his final season for his best Big Ten record at 6–6. He resigned after eight seasons to concentrate on his football coaching duties.Cowles era (1946–48)
Under Ozzie Cowles, during the 1947–48 season, Michigan ended the longest consecutive year period without a conference championship in school history. They also became the first contestants in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament during Cowles second of two seasons. The 1947–48 team posted a 16–6 overall record. This team also posted the first undefeated home performance in school history with a 9–0 overall record.McCoy era (1948–52)
became the second former All-American Wolverine player to coach the team. Like Oosterbaan before him, he became a football and baseball coach at Michigan. He also served as assistant Athletic Director under Fritz Crisler. During his four seasons as basketball coach, Michigan's best finish was during the 1948–49 season when they finished 15–6 overall and earned a third place Big Ten Conference finish. He coached Michigan's first All-Big Ten basketball players that season in Pete Elliot and captain Bob Harrison who were both selected to the first team. Harrison returned the following season as the first repeat first-team All-Big Ten basketball player and Elliot was a second-team honoree. McCoy served as a football scout at the same time.Perigo era (1952–60)
took over the Michigan coaching job after having served three seasons as Western Michigan basketball coach. Despite previous success as a conference basketball champion coach at Western and subsequent success as a Michigan High School Athletic Association champion basketball coach, his Michigan teams endured several mediocre seasons. His best Big Ten records came in 1956–57 and 1958–59 when his teams compiled 8–6 conference records. The latter team was tied for second in the conference and was 15–7 overall. It also had Perigo's only first-team All-Big Ten athlete in M. C. Burton. Team captain and two-time football consensus All-American Ron Kramer was third-team All-Big Ten in 1957 after being second-team All-Big Ten in both 1955 and 1956.Strack era (1960–68)
, a former team 1945–46 captain, had become the freshman basketball team coach in 1948 and later had become a variety assistant to Perigo. He led the team to three consecutive Big Ten Championships from 1963 to 1966 and a third-place finish in the 1964 NCAA tournament. During 1964–65 the team compiled a 24–4 overall record while completing an undefeated 11–0 overall home season and was the national runner-up, falling to John Wooden's UCLA in the 1965 championship game. Strack earned United Press International National Coach of the Year honors. The team ended the season listed number one in both the UPI and Associated Press national rankings. He recruited All-Americans Russell and Buntin to anchor his mid-1960s teams. Tomjanovich also became a Wolverine at the end of Strack's career and became second team All-Big Ten in 1968 subsequent later stardom. The 1964 team, which went 23–5 overall, tied with Ohio State with sophomore Russell and junior Buntin. In 1965, Buntin became the first Wolverine to be drafted by the NBA. In 1966, Russell led the team to its third straight conference championship and NCAA selection on his way to National Player of the Year honors.Orr era (1968–80)
In Johnny Orr's twelve seasons, he twice earned Big Ten Coach of the Year honors with Big Ten championships. His teams earned four consecutive NCAA selections from 1974 to 1977. The 25–7 overall 1976 team lost to an undefeated Indiana team in the NCAA championship game and Orr earned National Association of Basketball Coaches Coach of the Year honors that season. The 26–4 overall 1977 team finished first in both the AP and UPI national rankings, and Orr won Basketball Weekly National Coach of the Year honors. During Orr's tenure, six players earned a total of seven All-American recognitions, which is the most of any Michigan coach. Steve Grote became Michigan's only three-time first-team Academic All-American from 1975 to 1977 and with a second team All Big Ten as well as three honorable mentions was the first four-time All-Big Ten honoree.