John Beilein responsible for one third of all U-M's (official) tourney bids
With our imminent bid this Sunday coming that will give a historical total of 28 NCAA tournament appearances, with 8 coming in the Beilein era. Factor in that 4 were vacated and, if you're a by-the-book kind of person, 1/3 of our NCAA tourney bids have come from one coach
IF YOU DESPISE THE NCAA yes I know that’s really 28.5714%
One quarter of them, and half of the national championships.
So what happened on the Bachelor last night???
/jk
Granted, until c. 1975 only one team per conference could get in, and the tourney itself was smaller, so it's not surprising that a recent coach would have a disproportionate share of our tourney bids/wins. But he's still awesome.
I am by no means belittling Beileins accomplishments here at Michigan. He is a fantastic coach and great for not only the University, but for the game itself. The tourney, though, moved to 32 teams in 1975 with only 1 team per conference getting in before 1975 and to 64 in 1985. Johnny Orr coached here 12 years and made 4 tourneys, all but 1 predating 1975. Bill Frieder coached here 9 years and made 5 tourneys, 3 of which came in a field of 32. Its now at 68 with one of Beileins appearances coming as one of the last 4 in. So this OP is actually meaningless.
So...Beilein isn't awesome? That doesn't sound right...
The Tournement expanded from 64 teams to 68 because 4 new conferences recieved auto-bids, and the NCAA didn't want to reduce the number of at-large teams that made the tournement.
Because the number of at-larges is still the same, it's an apples to apples comparison going back to 1985.
Unless of course, those conference champions would have received at-large bids had the tournament not been expanded. Apples to Quince comparison?
Every basketball season in recent memory is able to dull the sting, just a little, from the previous football season.
FYI if Rich Rod never came here I wouldn’t even be watching basketball. I started watching them after his first season because it I figured we’d win more than 3 games. Ever since then I’ve been addicted
"Responsible?" I do not believe JB would agree with that in even his most candid moment if you asked him.
"Led us to more tourney bids as coach," yes.
The guy, along with Hutchins and you could also say Berenson, has led us as a shining beacon through the darkest period in Michigan sports since the early 60's.
We should all bow down whoever we submit to as our Higher Power, and thank Him for sending us John Beilein! Quality coach, even higher quality human being.
but for 40+ years only 1 team was going from the B10.