UConn/Michigan: Let It Be 1987 Deja Vu, Is That Too Much Too Ask?

Posted on January 17th, 2010 by jamiemac No Comments

A day after the JCB made a triumphant return to the hoops handicaping world, and the Big 10 race carved out clear front runners for first and last place, the hometown Michigan Wolverines get their chance on the court to make their statement of the weekend. Michigan isn’t swimming anywhere near the Bubble right now, but a home win over brand name power UConn could make up a lot of strokes in a hurry. Its been an uneven season for the Wolverines, at beast. Even though they appear to be on the uptick, the Wolverines havent had anything in the way of a winning streak to distinguish itself record wise. With 15 games remaining, the Wolverines need to begin piling up some wins, something like a 2 out of every three clip, the rest of the way to become a sure fire NCAA tournament. At this point, its hard to buy into the fact that the Wolverines have the chops to pull that off. But you can only win the game in front of you and then move on.

Speaking of which, the position and challenge ahead for Michigan today has me drifting into days of yore. Not quite as far back as the days when MJV prowled campus in his crank-started model-T. But still pretty far back. Twenty-four whole years. Almost to the date, the Michigan basketball program faced similar straights they do today: struggling to make a name for itself, NIT-only dreams and hosting an elite Big East program in a nationally televised game. Let’s take a trip into the Maize and Blue Wayback Machine in advance of this afternoon’s tipoff.

It was January 18, 1987 and the Michigan basketball team, one of the country’s elite hoop programs the previous team seasons, was struggling. They only lost a combined nine games the previous two seasons, but Michigan had already lost six times in the 86-87 season. They had won back to back Big 10 titles, but were off the a 2-3 start in Big 10. The fact those wins were home celebrations over bitter rivals Ohio State and Michigan State didnt really inspire a ton of hope that Michigan was going to be among the league’s top shelf for a third year in a row. They were non competitive in double digit road losses at Illinois and Purdue. And Indiana thwarted a Michigan comeback and broke the hearts of the Crisler crowd when Steve Alford went end to end to score a game winning bucket at the buzzer. Throw in December losses at home to Western Michigan and on a nuetral floor to Middle Tennessee State and people weren’t exactly spending January dreaming of any March Madness.

The fanbase was not overly restless with the performance. People were frustrated by the team’s play, but most of us were still feeling fat, satisfied and pretty after the first Big 10 championship in four years on the gridiron that academic year. The Wolverines lost the Rose Bowl, but the good times from a season with wins over Notre Dame, Michigan State and Ohio State (something the school has done only three times since: 1991, 1997 and 2003) still washed over the faithful.

Besides, with hoops, it was expected to be a transistion year. There was strong sentiment and expectation that the ensuing seasons would be championship ones. Virtually everyone on this squad would return and sprinkled into the mix would be two of the best recruits in the country, Rumeal Robinson and Terry Mills. The duo were ready-made players, expected to be the forward/point guard combo to rule the Big 10 in future seasons. Unfortuneatly, they were spending their freshmen seasons in 1987 in street clothes after failing to qualify to Prop 48 standards on their SAT tests coming out of high school. Future championships seemed assured with them waiting in the wings, so Michigan fans were ok to take their lumps that season with a team that just didnt have enough to be elite that season in the Big 10.

Let’s quickly talk about that. In the Michigan rotation that season included senior Antoine Joubert, who for all his faults, inconsistencies and big butt on the floor, could fill it up with anyone; senior Guarde Thompson, a sharp shooter who was taking advantage of the newly installed three point line to boost his scoring in his final year on campus; junior Gary Grant, a do-everything ,all-conference player, the most explosive dunking guard in program history, who was also won of the best defenders in the league; somebody named Glen Rice, who was more lunchpail forward than scoring option during his sophomore year; and Mark Hughes and Loy Vaught, both playing their first legit minutes in careers that would go down as some of the more efficient and underrated in the frontcourt in program history. Grant and Rice were the league’s last two freshmen of the year winners. Joubert had been on all league teams in the past. Yet, this lineup couldnt compete with the league’s upper tier. They didnt have enough firepower. Amazing. Drop a lineup like that in today’s Big 10, despite the league’s recent Renaissance, and they take over the league. In January 1987, with three Big 10 teams in the AP top-6, this was a middling team.

Every game during the 1986/87 that Michigan struggled in, the TV cameras invariably would find a shot of Robinson and Mills sitting on the bench next to each with an even louder than he is today Dick Vitale touting the fact these guys were the best players in every Michigan practice. We drooled. Michigan already had the best damn football program in the conference, but were primed to unleash a pair of basketball thouroughbreds to rule the hoops world the following season. We could handle a rebuilding season in hoops. But, you still wanted to make the tournament. It had been expanded to 64 teams only two years prior, so it was looked on a s a big slip to go from a #1 and #2 seed, like Michigan had been, to out of the field. We were more patient then, but today we’d be crying, wailing and screaming about regression. Nevertheless, despite that talent, and like today, Michigan, in the middle of January 24 years ago, was not a tournament team.

And they were taking a break from league play to host the mighty Syracuse Orangemen. Folks, this was an amazing team. They were ranked 5th in the country that weekend. This is the squad with Rony Seikaly, Sherman Douglass and freshmen Derek Coleman, who Jim Boheim plucked out the Detroit PSL. His “homecoming” was big news that weekend. This is the team that lost the National Championship that season to IU on the famous Keith Smart buzzer beater. Michigan had a meh non league season including results the pundits today would label as Bad Losses, but a win over Syracuse had a chance to redefine the terms of their OOC slate. With plenty of high end Big 10 scalps ahead on the slate, Michigan had more than enough chances to become tourney worthy. Kind of sounds familiar, right?

Despite the average season to date, a buzz arrived with the Orange coming to town. For the first time since Michigan had been “back” (remember the 85/86 was the first in seven years to make the NCAA tournament), the Wolverines welcomed to town a marquee non conference foe. The Frieder Era was not known for its challenging OOC slates. They had played in the Maui Invitational in November, 1985, but other than that the Wolverines feasted on cupcakes until Big 10 play. This was 2.5 years before the first Duke game that sparked that rivalry. The fifth-ranked Orange, ah, juiced the house. Crisler rocked. And it helped push the Wolverines to an emotional 91-88 win. Earlier this evening, I lost myself for a few minutes in the box score of that game nearly a quarter century ago when I was, gulp, a freshmen in high school.

Can we get this game on ESPN Classic? I want KenPom to take a look at this one. The efficiency stats have to be revealing. Michigan scored 91 points and shot 56.7 percent from the field. But, they had 18 turnovers. So, that’s 91 points on 84 possessions (it was a different time, my friends). That’s ok, isnt it? Since I cant fathom the current Michigan team–or any other Big 10 team, for that matter–tilting for over 90 points in regulation, I’m just going to ignore whatever efficiency stats would say and proclaim that day to be one of offensive explosiveness in Ann Arbor.
Guarde Thompson and Gary Grant were the show stoppers that day for the Wolverines. They each dropped 23 on the Orange. Thompson led the team with 8 assists. I mentioned above the Grant was a do everything sort. He stuffed the stat sheet with 6 dimes, 5 boards, 4 steals and a block all the while hitting half of his shots. When I watch Manny Harris, I am most reminded of Grant’s game. Grant is one of the most explosive athletes in Michigan history, plucked from the well known Canton McKinley High School in the fertile Buckeye country of Central Ohio. He also played centerfield for some pretty good baseball teams during his team as a student in Ann Arbor. He’s way more fearless and less stubbornly reliant on his jump shot than our Corperryale is. He had more muscle and looked more physically ready for the NBA during his time at Michigan than Manny ever has. Manny still remains the most explosive Michigan guard since Grant, however, IMHE.
Michigan got pounded on the offensive glass 23-10. But, you cant overlook the Gritty McGrittersons up front with Hughes, Vaught and Rice working hard against the deeper Orange. They combined for 18 boards, each scored in double figures and shot over 60 percent from the field.
Hold on a minute? Did you just call Glen Rice a Gritty Gritterson? Are you thinking right? Surel, you jest? This is the top scorer in school history, not a grit dealer. All true. But, in his first two seasons on campus, Rice was depth, a role player of sorts and not the focal point of the offense. He didnt attempt a single trey, for example, as the Wolverines scored 91 points in upsetting the powerful Orange. He only scored 12 three pointers during his first two years. He was a rebounder. Athletic enough to grab a board and elevate faster than anyone else for a putback bucket. I think he led the Big 10 in rebounding during his freshmen and sophomore seasons. I gave the researcher the night off, so i cant say for sure. This was not his offense yet. The O that year revolved around Grant driving to the goal and throwing something up to the rim for a basket or a offensive rebound chance for the front court, Thompson drilling open threes and stretches of time with Joubert ball hogg-, er, I mean running the offense.
Speaking of Joubert. In one of the biggest showdowns of the season, he logged 28 minutes and scored just 4 points. That sounds about a right. Back then, we used to debate what the Judge did the night before his stink bomb games. I feel we should reprise that game in honor of today. I’m guessing Dooleys, wearing a fur coat drinking a case of Colt 45s. And, yes, I realize I’m being a little generous on that last one.

Anyway, Michigan won the game, and it provided invaluable cache towards an eventual tournament bid. The win hardly signalled the end of Michigan’s inconsistencies that season. They later had a three-game losing streak, including a blowout at the hands of MSU who had an unusually down year in the Heathcothe Era. They lost back to back games in the final two weeks of the year. But, they blew out Purdue in the regular season finale to clinch a 9-seed in the field. They beat Navy and David Robinson in the first round, despite 50 points from the Admiral. Vaught snapped the rim off the backboard with a exclamation mark dunk in the closing minute. The good times ended with a 109-97 loss in the next round to top see North Carolina. All in all, everything ended reasonably well. With Robinson and Mills joining the fold, we knew a championship contender was out there. The good times were rolling.

Getting back to this year, Michigan doesn’t find itself in any worse position. The Huskies today might not be as awesome a win as Syracuse was then, and they’re not even close to the elite caliber they themselves played to last year, but a wins impact here can be the same. The bubble looks weak right now. The door is still wide open to any team who begins to string together some January and February resume wins. Michigan is not close to any mock brackets right now. But, a win over the Huskies and managing to find a way to notch a win among the trio lined up next (at Wisco, at Purdue, vs MSU), would give Michigan a 12-9 record at the end of January, a winning record in Big 10 play and two of the more impressive wins of anyone in the country over the back half of the month. A 5-2 February wouldn’t be out of the question. Two wins in the next fortnight against classy competition could set Michigan up for a 18-12 final regular season record, with a chance for a 19th and even 20th during the first half of Big 10 tournament weekend. The road map is out there for Michigan. They just need to play their game, allow Manny and Peedi to be the best players on the floor and maybe make a few more treys. They might as well start today.

How do they do that then? Somehow maintaining one of the more efficient offenses in Big 10 play during this brief non league hiatus would be a good start. Otherwise, here’s the scoring formula that will lead to a Michigan win. The Huskies dont score the ball from behind the arc. They might make three treys a game. We know Michigan isnt the best shooting team out there, but we also know they will bomb away every time they get. If they get hot for any stretch, they will more than double up the Huskies on this stat line.

The Huskies best players are all turnover prone. And, its not a vintage Huskie defense that creates a lot of turnovers either. Michigan needs the continued growth on the court of PG Darius Morris in that regard who has netted a 16-6 assist to turnover margin in the Big 10 games so far. If that continues trending upwards and LLP stops doing his Demetrious Brown impersonation, Michigan will have a TO margin in their favor giving them extra possessions helping to negate the additional chances the Huskies will get from their advantage on the offensive glass.

Also, consider the charity stripe. The Huskies are known yippers on the stripe in big games. This actually is a trait they have in common with that 1987 Syracuse team (Wait? Too Soon? Sorry, Cilurzo). This is the 42nd best FT shooting team vs the 226nd best FT shooting team. In their losses this season, they have basically missed as many free throws as they’ve made. If the Huskies are lipping out from the charity stripe, then go ahead and, uh, cackle with glee.

Overall translation: There are tons of hidden points and scoring advantages out there for the Wolverines, they just need to be patient and take advantage of them.

It’s late at night. Wine is in the blood. Its probably doing most of the talking right now, but I’m bullish on the Wolverine’s chances in this one. I think they manage to get it done. the Huskies will get the predictable disappearance and sloppy play down the stretch from their best players. Michigan will find a shooting groove during two key stretches spurred on by a raucous home crowd. Like the 1987 game with Syracuse, Michigan’s top two scores, which of course will be Harris and Sims, will combine for over 40. Douglass and Novak hit big shots circa Duke 2008. And, why not, Vogrich pushes in a basket each half. Michigan wins 65-59. Ugly, but effective. Will it turn the season around and be the first mile marker on the long road back to the tournament? I wont go that far. But, for a couple of days at least, it will make us feel good about the sports world. Now, where can I place a prop bet on Mike Hart scoring a touchdown in the AFC Championship Game?

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