6 Years Ago Today...
I'm sure many of us remember March Madness buzzer beaters over the years. The ones that stand out the most to me in my childhood are:
1989 - Sean Higgins putback against Illinois in the Final Four
1990 - UConn's Scottie Burrell to Tate George to beat Clemson
1992 - Dook's Christian Laettner over Kentucky
Pretty incredible that Michigan has 2 of the most famous/important buzzer beaters inside of a decade, although I guess Trey's isn't an official buzzer beater as there was still some time left. Enjoy.
That is what Howard teams lacked. Grit, attitude and passion. That starts at the top, we just didn't have a leader at the top. Miss coach B! Thank you for sharing.
Jet fuel.
Lacked a NPOY too.
March 17th, 2024 at 10:53 PM ^
OT - interesting name… we use to have friends at Lake Wylie and would spend a lot of time there. We get to NC often
This was the most exhilarating moment in my sports fan life! I had just gotten back from Vegas. My oldest son was watching the (very late) game at his grandma’s house. We called each other and screamed together for a good 10 minutes. Trey Burke made him a lifelong Michigan fan. Jordan Poole made it a lifelong passion that we can hopefully share for decades to come.
On this day in 1989 Steve Fisher notched his first career win as head coach at Michigan.
What moments in Michigan history. Moments that will live on forever
Trey in no way counts as a buzzer beater. However, I still consider it The Shot.
Poole's true buzzer beater was, in its way, nearly as important as Burke's. Both baskets put us on a path to the finals.
The missed buzzer beaters I deeply regret, in order:
1) Franz vs. UCLA 2020. Mike Smith actually missed one that looked like time expired but half a second was put back on the clock.
2) Nik vs. Kentucky 2014. The shot would have tied it, not won it.
3) Morris floater vs. Duke 2011, second round. There would have been a couple seconds left and it was a shot to tie it.
4) Walton vs. Oregon 2017. It was the Sweet 16, not Elite Eight. Also if it had been made there would have been a second left.
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxxQWqJfeDMMeCjcwBThl7leo0RNWFzkp-?si=hwyy0EYC16owebci
Wish I new how to post YouTube clip in post, Alas, I don’t
How about this forgotten gem. Jimmy King put back to get M to second consecutive Final Four!! Jim Harrick was livid.
On YT, Share>Embed>Copy (computer only, not mobile I believe)
On MGo, Source>Paste
Thanks. Def not working mobile. I’m about 100% posting mobile
Jimmy's put back saved them from a 2nd round upset. They still had to beat Temple and GW to get back to the final 4
Ahhh that’s rights. Weird they were playing UCLA so early. That was a tough game to watch. M did not play well.
Temple game was the one Coach Chaney sent a kid out on the court to deliberately try to hurt Chris Webber. Fuck Chaney.
Loved Burke's fire... and the block was clean.
And so was the team.
Saw the Poole shot in Vegas. Ran around the sports book just the same
I miss not watching good Michigan basketball the past 2 seasons. It helped fill in the gap between football seasons.
Who knows how many years it will be until we once again have good Michigan basketball teams. 😥
I think it’s much easier to get a good basketball team vs football. The pure number of players required to work together on both sides of the ball makes it much harder and longer for the football team
I got security called on me for yelling so much in my apartment when Poole hit that shot
My neighbor from across the hall came over to see if I was okay.
We were a basketball school
not a buzzer beater, but 35 years ago almost to the day, rumeal robinson hit the two biggest free throws of all time. down 1 in the national championship game, shooting 1-and-1 with a couple of seconds left in the game:
sinks them both. michigan is the national champion. glorious.
I had this SI cover taped to my wall when I was a kid.
I also remember cutting out and keeping a poem that a Michigan fan sent to SI after the championship. It was set to the theme of Twas the Night Before Christmas, and the stanzas moved through the tourney, beginning with Frieder being fired and replaced by Fisher, through the Illinois semifinal game, and ending with Robinson's free throws. I can actually remember the closing lines, something like:
Bill Frieder was a dreamer, a hoper, a wisher.
But we don’t care now, because we have Steve Fisher.
I've searched through the SI archives and I can't seem to find it.
End of story. 🤷♂️
I was one of the lucky ones on this day. I had suffered a devastating ankle injury about a month prior to this, that ultimately required a couple of surgeries. I was about three weeks into recovery after the first, and I woke up that morning not feeling right. A trip to my doctor had quickly turned into a trip to the hospital, where what they suspected was confirmed, my entire left leg was clotted, and I had major bi-lateral pulmonary embolisms. They got me settled into my hospital room about 5 minutes after tip-off. I watched the game with much consternation, but not much outward expression, not wanting to dislodge the rather large and precariously placed blood clot that was tucked up right behind my collar bone. The “death zone” as the doctor referred to it. Once Poole hit that shot, all bets were off, and I went into full “if he dies, he dies” mode. I was yelling as much as I could with the sharp pains in my lungs, monitors beeping and buzzing, and nurses rushing to see what went wrong. My main nurse that night, from Centreville, MI, and a Sparty grad (even though we were about 1100 miles from home) was not impressed, just like I was unimpressed with their ability to crack the Syracuse zone defense in the tournament. Thankfully I pulled through, and got discharged the morning of the National Championship game against Villanova.
Glad it turned out in your favor. Pretty terrifying stuff. I'm reading this the day before I go have an MRI on my ankle, 8 weeks after spraining it.
Sounds like you ended up going to the doctor, then (I remember your thread from a week or so ago). It was probably a good choice.
Good luck!
I did and he recommended the MRI. Hopefully it's nothing serious and I'm on the mend.
Best wishes to you and your ankle.👍
Hoping the MRI provides a solution to your condition.🤞
Best of luck, Wendy. Hopefully it is something that can heal quickly for you!
blood clots are scary. glad to hear you didn't die, because then we never would have heard this lovely story
:)
March 17th, 2024 at 11:01 PM ^
I have a dear friend whose brother broke his leg and he died from a resulting blood clot two weeks later. It was so unexpected and tragic. My friend still hasn't gotten over it and it was 8 or 9 years ago. Just an awful freak thing.
Laettner shouldn't have even been in the game. Any other player in the world gets ejected for the foot stomp on Timberlake.
He goes out, M plays Kentucky for the 1992 national title. Woulda/coulda.
F&@k laettner and dook!! Watched that game from a airport hotel room near DTW. Flew to Cancun early the next morning.
Trey's shot is still exhilarating. I miss having a PG like Trey and later Simpson...they were absolute dogs.
I still remember feeling like it was over when MAAR missed that layup with about 5 ticks left. Wasn't it the same guy from Houston who went 1/4 on FTs in the last :30? Dude probably still has nightmares about that
Poole's shot was great, but Burke's was like an ice-cold dagger. And the block was clean! Thanks for posting,
Since this is a nostalgia thread, I'll note that Duncan Robinson just hit his 1,000th three pointer, the fastest ever to do that feat in the NBA.
That Trey Burke shot was one of the most amazing moments to watch live. What a shot.
Pay Bruce Pearl 100m.
Amazing moment. I had written this game off as a loss in that final 30 seconds. But the Houston guy missing those two FT's opened the door. And Poole was definitely fouled on the shot to boot.
Poole's shot made up for my extreme annoyance with Mr. Man-bun on Houston who was desperately flopping all game and complaining to the officials that he's been fouled every 5 seconds.
Also for the fact that this was the very last game of the night. It was a work night and somehow they put Michigan in the last game while all the west coast teams, who are three hours behind us, finished their games earlier in the day.
Thank you, Poole. And now I'm even more depressed over how awful it's gotten.
Sigh….how far we’ve fallen…..
I so wish Beilein was able to get over the hump and win the tourney one year. So close! But, a lot of great memories. Just not any one season that doesn't end in a loss ...