Cazzie turns 80 in June. What's Michigan doing to celebrate?
Until Cazzie Russell chose to join Bill Buntin in his announced effort to make basketball relevant in the early 1960's, Michigan didn't take basketball seriously. In plenty of years the team records resembled this year's. The only time Michigan had even made the NCAA tournament was when some football players helped out in 1947-48. Cazzie completely changed the environment, packing Yost and becoming the main catalyst for the construction of Crisler. At the very least Michigan should bring him back and name the floor after him. He's almost 80. Let's not wait any longer.
Cazzie and the late Bill Buntin were the core of Michigan's first great teams.
Don’t forget George Pomey (PG), Larry ‘Trigger’ Tregoning (SG) and Oliver Darden (SF). That 1965 team was loadeD and it took one of John Wooden’s great early UCLA teams to deny them a National Championship. The architect of Michigan’s rise to national prominence was their head coach, Dave Strack.
Pump all that Michigan basketball lore right into my veins! Im here for all the history.
I was just a wet behind the ears hooper when the judge and the general were leading the show. They were so much fun. Rice and his 89 squad set my world on fire though. Michigan hoops has been a love of mine ever since. Damn it I want Juwan to dominate for a couple decades as our coach.
Love me some UM football dont get me wrong but Antoine Joubert and Gary Grant set me down the path.
My dad took me to the Indiana game in early January 1966(?) at Yost. The game was sold out but the ticket taker allowed us to sneak in and sit with our legs under the court which was raised, sort of like Minnesota has at the Barn. The atmosphere was electric and I recall stomping the Hoosiers pretty badly. That was my first experience with UM Basketball after a full season of Football at the Big House. Cazzie, Buntin, et al were impressive and I was in awe.
Sitting in the dirt?
Yep. The floor of Yost was dirt back then.
Here's some obscure Dave Strack trivia: He was one of the founders of Huron Valley Swim Club, which is just west of Ann Arbor:
That takes me back in time. Huron Valley Swim Club, along with Ann Arbor Country Club, were the two powerhouses in the summer league I (and the rest of my siblings) swam in back in the early-to-mid 60's. They produced a lot of talent that made Ann Arbor schools among the best in the state back in the day.
It seems the plan is to shit in his house repeatedly.
He will be the starting guard for the home finale versus Nebraska.
caZZie ruSSell -- LLoyd caRR
lucky stars that fell on U of M. Cazzie was before my time but as a M BB fan so much appreciation for what both these dudes did and still do for M athletics.
I don't mean any disrespect to Lloyd Carr, but I think you presented an apples-to-oranges comparison. When I think of Lloyd's body of work at Michigan, I don't see "lucky star."
I just finished Mountaintop by Baumgardner& Snyder with behind the scenes stories compiled by players who visited Lloyd the past couple years while he was confined with his declining health. I see many similarities between the culture of our 97 NC team and the 23 NC team. Both coaches were special, had a private bond with their players, and it was no accident their teams were good.
By firing Juwan?
Glad I read the comments before posting the same exact thing.
+1 for reading comments before posting
And... Bringing back Sanderson! 😎
When my dad turned 80, I told him that I invited 80 guys named Ben to his party, & I gave him eighty $100 bills. It was all his money anyway. He appreciated it.
My dad has more friends named George.
Make him head coach.
Cazzie is still the best M hoops player I’ve ever seen. (Yes, I’m really old)
I just missed him at UM but got here to see Rudy T. My best memory of Cazzie was when he was with the Knicks in '69. Willis Reed went down with an injury early in game 5 of the Finals against the Lakers. Cazzie was forced to guard Wilt Chamberlain in the middle and, somehow, the Knicks won. They won the series in 7, when Willis made his epic entrance just before tip off and the Knicks blew out the Lakers.
Getting a new coach?
I am sorry I can only give this one upvote.
Thanks for the post. I’m old enough to remember seeing him play in the NBA as kid but didn’t know much else about him or his time at Michigan. A quick glance at his Wikipedia page and he has had an impressive and productive life.
Harbaugh told Greg McElroy that if he really loved football he would coach until he died. He would be proud of Cazzie!
https://flaglerathletics.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/cazzie-russell/1732
I remember that 1965 team. Like the football team, they came tantalizingly close to a national championship 1964-65. Impressive (almost) double.
Go Blue!
If they rename the court before the end of the season, will it mess up our dynamic offensive sets? If you're supposed to dribble in one spot for 20 seconds and suddenly there is "CAZZIE" underneath your feet, is that going to cause you to speed the play up and screw up the timing? Maybe wait to after the season.
It is a shame that they have not named the court after him yet. After all, Crisler is the house Cazzie build, the least they could do is name the court after him.
Hard not to agree with a guy named boner stabone.
It was fairly common up until the early 1960s for Michigan football players to compete in other sports, especially basketball. Looking back from a contemporary moment where specialization is the thing and multi-sport athletes are rare, it's hard to fully grasp a guy like Ron Kramer playing three sports and being a star in two of them. So I don't know if it's accurate to say that "some football players helped out" in the late 40s as much as it's true that a lot of those guys of that era were freak athletes who were used to playing all year, and without the kinds of scholarship rules that exist now that make it harder/less advantageous for an athlete to be on two rosters, were encouraged to keep competing year-round, because they were just as good in the other sports, too.
Also, basketball was still a sport gaining traction at the college level well into the 1950s. Cazzie and Buntin got to Ann Arbor right at the cusp of NCAA basketball being a major thing, just as the NCAA Tournament was surpassing the NIT as the more important/prestigious postseason event. A lot of that is why Cazzie was so important for the program. He put Michigan on the map precisely at the moment when it was critical to do so.
without the kinds of scholarship rules that exist now
I don't think Michigan even gave out athletic scholarships in the 1940s.
Pretty much, yes. Schools found other ways to make it cost-free. My point was (IIRC) that the AD scholarship math today works in weird ways when someone is on a couple rosters, especially if one of them is football, which is one of the reasons as to why multi-sport athletes are harder to come by today. Back in the day, none of that mattered.
It was fairly common up until the early 1960s for Michigan football players to compete in other sports, especially basketball.
Best example of this is from the 70s when football star Don Dufek starred on the hockey team.
UM is blessed to have some bball legends to honor and celebrate.
I had the pleasure of meeting Waymon Britt last summer. Very enjoyable conversation.
Hopefully hiring him as the new MBB coach.
Agree that Cazzie Russell is the GOAT in Michigan basketball and what a class move it would be to name the court after him.
Back in his day the NBA had an East and West division. A coin flip between the worst teams in each division decided who would get the #1 pick which would be Cazzie. The flip was between the Knicks and Pistons. The Knicks won and took Cazzie, with the 2nd pick the Pistons took Dave Bing.