Ranking the last 10 years of UM hoops
I started thinking about how this current bball team stacked up to recent years. It's been an incredible stretch for UM hoops, so it wasn't easy, but here's my rankings of the last 9 full seasons plus this one so far.
1. 2012/13. Title game. Player of the year. Breaking out to the national stage. 5 future 1st rounders and a 2nd rounder.
2. 2013/14. This is really close with the team below, but I loved the Stauskas/Levert/GR3 trio. Won the big ten outright. Lost in the elite 8 on a last second shot to eventual runner up Kentucky.
3. 2017/18. Easily could be 2 on this list. Won the Big Ten tournament for a 2nd straight year. Lost in title game. Lucked out with some upsets making their path in the tournament fairly easy.
4. 2016/17. Could go with the team below here, but the 16/17 was playing amazing down the stretch. Won the big ten tournament. Walton/Wagner/Wilson really clicked as the year went on. Lost by 1 in sweet 16 to Final Four team Oregon.
5. 2018/19. Great defense, frustrating offense. Didn't seem to click down the stretch the way some other teams have. Still, talented team with a great record. Blown out in sweet 16 to eventual runner up Texas Tech.
6. 2019/20. Could move up the list with a nice finish to the year. Talent-wise this feels about right.
7. 2011/12. Burke as a freshman. Solid squad but needed the reinforcements from the following recruiting class. Share of the Big Ten title for the first time since 85/86. Disappointing 1st round loss to Ohio.
8. 2010/11. Darius Morris led team finished 4th in the Big Ten and beat Tennessee in the 1st round before falling to 1-seed Duke by 2 in the 2nd round.
9. 2015/16. Mediocre team. Finished 8th in the Big 10. Snuck in as a play in team and beat Tulsa in that game before losing to 6-seed ND in the 1st round.
10. 2014/15. Only team on the list to miss the tournament. Season could have gone much different if Levert didn't get hurt.
It's been a fun 10 years! Anything you guys would change?
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
Pretty good list. 16/17 was the most memorable for me. Even over those championship runs. To this day, when I hear that Coldplay song that was used for the NCAA Tournament intro I think about how close Derrick Walton was to sinking that shot against Oregon. And everything before that was amazing. MAAR's pink shoes, rallying after the plane crash, playing in practice jerseys, beating the No. 1, 2, 4 teams in the BTT, the 92 points against Okie State.
Shoot I even remember how disapointed I was after that Northwestern buzzer beater loss.
The first title run was similarly memorable: Spike's outrageous play - starting in the VCU rout, then Florida. Even the opening round people said UM would lose to the SD Jackrabbits. Morgan's dunk against Syracuse. Such great fun.
It makes me realize how basketball is more enjoyable than football. In all of the seasons, UM lost and we don't vilify them. If Harbaugh went to the final four every year, or final 8 and lost we would probably complain about him every day.
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:53 PM ^
Yeah I agree about the 16/17 team. It was kinda a revival after 2 down seasons and a very slow start to the year. Walton went on an incredible tear to close out his career, and the big man duo was hard for teams to match up with.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:06 PM ^
It was the mid-season revival that to me was so memorable. After that home OSU lost where their PG Tate out rebounded anyone on our team there was growing concern about whether Beilein still had it in them. They came out in their blues after Maverick Morgan called us a “white collar team” and we never looked back.
In the Beilein era there were a couple of groups of seniors who really embraced the program and took leadership roles. It started with Douglass and Novak, then Walton and Irvin, now we have Z and Teske.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:53 PM ^
Donnal was the culprit of white collar comment. He was as soft as it gets.
February 24th, 2020 at 6:15 PM ^
Don't forget MAAR and Duncan on that list of senior duos. Brought that team to the national title game.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:54 PM ^
Actually 16-17 got off to a hot start, with some big wins, then went into a rough midseason slump. Things bottomed out with a home loss to OSU . . . then we pounded Sparty to launch the team to a strong finish. Sound familiar?
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:09 PM ^
Well said brother
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:09 PM ^
It makes me realize how basketball is more enjoyable than football. In all of the seasons, UM lost and we don't vilify them.
There was an article about this written this past season. Basically, all college football fanbases are unhappy. The need to be perfect during the season to have a chance at the playoff sets people up for disappointment.
In basketball you can lose a third of your games (even 40%) and make the tournament. Games are still important for jockeying for seeding (plus the conference title) but you know you've still got March to redeem yourself. I used to think that this watered down the season too much, but I'm changing my thinking about that. It's too hard to make the CFP playoff and if you miss it, your season feels like a total failure.
February 23rd, 2020 at 5:20 PM ^
I think part of it too is that Beilein teams (and now Juwan's team) would consistently surprise and overachieve. They make great adjustments, they make runs in tournaments, beat our biggest rivals, etc. Basketball has been really fun to follow over the last 10 years. Football feels like the opposite
February 24th, 2020 at 11:25 AM ^
Um, if we were to make the playoff every year like Oklahoma I'd never complain again. Anything past that is just extra.
Beilein's teams have played their best basketball at the end of the season, and Harbaugh's teams are the opposite.
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
I feel like we would have been a very dangerous team of McGary didnt smoke a joint that one year.
February 23rd, 2020 at 12:54 PM ^
Ugh yeah that was frustrating. Can't believe it was a year long suspension. That would have been the 2013/14 season, right?
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:51 PM ^
No he played sparingly 13/14 cause of his back issues.
He was looking to come back for 14/15, but then got suspended, lost his appeal, then entered the draft
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:58 PM ^
Yeah, he tried to play through the back pain for awhile, then shut it down in January and had surgery. He was making a rapid recovery and even dressed for the tournament (which was why he was drug tested). If he had gotten the surgery at the beginning of the season, he probably would have seen the court in March.
February 23rd, 2020 at 4:01 PM ^
Oh that's right. That 14/15 season coulda been much different with Mcgary and a healthy Levert.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:03 PM ^
I get your point but he had a lot more than one joint. The guy was smoking more trees than the California fires.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:10 PM ^
Actually the issue was his back injury that led to surgery. He tested positive for weed at the end of that season and then went pro instead of missing another season.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:48 PM ^
Correction; We were dangerous while he was smoking many joints.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:02 PM ^
2017/18 will always be pretty special. If I remember correctly, there were so many discussions talking about how good 18/19 would be. It's almost like everyone was writing off that year by February. Then we went on that run and everyone was like "wait... maybe next year is THIS year!"
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:14 PM ^
I’ll add to this discussion and rank the top 10 players of the last decade:
1. Trey Burke (NPOY; self-explanatory)
2. Nik Stauskas (B1G POY)
3. Derrick Walton Jr (his senior run was as good as any player)
4. Mo Wagner (heart and soul of the 2017-18 team)
5. Caris LeVert (injuries unfortunately got in the way his last two years; major role in the 13-14 B1G championship and Elite Eight run)
6. MAAR (silent assassin for 4 years)
7. Mitch McGary (small sample size, but was unguardable when healthy)
8. Zavier Simpson (captain, leader of 3 (hopefully) long runs in March)
9. Charles Matthews (best defender of the decade)
10. DJ Wilson (his emergence as a junior was the biggest surprise of the decade)
Honorable mentions: Isaiah Livers, Iggy Brazdeikis, THJ, GR III, Duncan Robinson, Zak Irvin, Jordan Morgan, Darius Morris & Jon Teske
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:30 PM ^
I’d put Livers ahead of Wilson. Livers was a starter on that team that went to the NC. He was great for us last year, and is the best player on the team this year. DJ gave us one good year, and that missed box out against Oregon still gives me nightmares.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:47 PM ^
Mitch...man, when he was on, he was a game changer. It all went up in smoke...
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:49 PM ^
GR3 started and played a pretty big role on my top 2 teams, so I'd have him in top 10. Id also have Hardaway in the top 10.
Wilson and Mcgary were too short of sample sizes, i wouldn't have them in my top 10.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:38 PM ^
When all's said and done I think this year's team will best what last year's team did in the NCAA Tournament. I can't help but think this year's team is going to be special. We got a lot of players that can have the back of any one or two players that have a bad game. They play great D, they play for one another. They got that 'Win the Game' attitude the 2013/2014 team had. Last years' team was a talented, but motley crew. There was always a tinge of, I don't know, something uncomfortable in the vibe I had of them. There is nothing of that in this years' team. You get the feeling they'd go to war with one another. I'm really excited to see how far these guys go.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:47 PM ^
The field in this year's tournament will not have any heavy favorites like in past years. Usually, the 538 site (most user friendly) gives about a 50% chance for one of the top ~three teams to win it. (Off the top of my head.)
This year, the odds difference between #1 and (say) #10 will be the lowest it's been in a long, long time.
Why not Michigan?
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:06 PM ^
Agree. This team is really starting to look the part. We have a quality player at every position who is a threat to score. Last year was a grossly underachieving team. Maybe something was going on during the season with that team. It seemed like a lot of the guys weren’t really buying in and were already mentally declared for the draft. I know it was a sweet 16 appearance but they could have done more, not to mention the 3 losses to sparty. Livers is way more of a star than expected, hopefully he sticks around another year.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:26 PM ^
The wild card is a rookie coach. Early returns are great - especially tourney win in Bahamas - but still too early to tell.
Beilein was a masterful tournament coach. His teams regularly exceeded expectations in tournament play.
Please note - I LOVE coach Howard and support him 100%.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:42 PM ^
Anything you guys would change?
The block was clean.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:31 PM ^
and so was the team.
February 23rd, 2020 at 5:22 PM ^
I would probably kidnap Donte DiVincenzo the night before the title game and hide him somewhere for 24 hours. I'd go to jail for sure, but I think it'd be worth it
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:45 PM ^
Rankings don't matter! Why did you...
Oops, sorry. I was starting to get the idea we should condemn a post and implicitly brag about focusing on important stuff.
Joking aside, nice list. I'm eager to see where #6 ends up.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:49 PM ^
Truthfully, I think the 18/19 team was the best team of the decade. I would take them head to head over any other team. Suffocating defense and a top 25 offense that had decent firepower. The top 6 guys were stacked.
Unfortunately they horribly underachieved in the two or three games that mattered so no one really think this. I like to think that this team offset the luck involved with the 17/18 team.
February 23rd, 2020 at 3:13 PM ^
2018 v 2013
Burke > Simpson
THJ > Poole
Stauskas (freshman year) < Matthews
GR III < Brazdeikis
McGary > Teske
Bench
2013 (Spike, LeVert, Morgan, Horford) < 2018 (Brooks, Livers, Johns, Castleton/Davis) Mainly give the edge to 2018 because of Livers.
Altogether 2013 just had too much firepower at the top. I can see the 2018 team matching up well defensively, but wouldn’t have enough offense to win
February 23rd, 2020 at 5:55 PM ^
Iggy was not better than gr3. Iggy wasn’t an efficient player that was forced to carry the scoring load on a mediocre offense and was a worse and less versatile defender. 2013 bench was also better, castleton/Davis and johns were useless last year against high level competition and Brooks was a nothing as an offensive player.
February 23rd, 2020 at 7:04 PM ^
Iggy wasn't an efficient player?
He was our leading scorer and go to guy, and still shot 46% from the field and 40% from 3, good for 15 points per game. What are you talking about?
KenPom has the 2019 team above the 2013 team, FWIW.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:51 PM ^
I’ve read several comments lately — like # 3 here — about how we lucked out with some easier opponents on our way to the national championship game. Hogwash! Do you all forget that we had to beat God to get to the national championship game? Maybe the earlier rounds had some luck, but Sister Jean had the big guy working pretty hard for Team Gryffindor that year. I’d say the odds were pretty stacked against us that year and the team came through! Until that Divencenzo guy sold his soul to the devil so that he would never miss a shot
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:56 PM ^
I'd put 2011-12 over 2018-19. Yes, we won 30 games last year, but the second half of the season was disappointing, even with a Sweet 16 appearance, while 2011-12 massively overachieved to grab a share of the title. Losing in the first round was annoying but still, it was a banner season.
I don't think we can rank this year just yet. The next month will tell the tale.
February 23rd, 2020 at 3:08 PM ^
I get your point, but talking about the quality of the teams themselves, and not their accomplishments, 18-19 was the best Michigan team of the decade. Going by adjusted efficiency margin on KenPom (which is how KenPom ranks teams), 18-19 was over 10 efficiency points higher than 11-12.
February 23rd, 2020 at 3:39 PM ^
the quality of the teams themselves, and not their accomplishments, 18-19 was the best Michigan team of the decade
Hmm, I don't know about that. I'd rank 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2017-18 higher, and maybe this year's team too depending on how things shake out.
Last year's team seemed to have been scouted out by opponents around midseason and the second half was a real grind.
February 23rd, 2020 at 7:06 PM ^
I think how good last year's team was is shadowed by the games that we remember. MSU x3 and TTU. KenPom ranks it as the best team of the decade, FWIW.
It was a damn shame we didn't do anything special.
February 23rd, 2020 at 1:57 PM ^
Really good list. My favorite team will always be that 2017-2018 team. They had some of the best endings to any game I’ve seen. Against Maryland at home and Houston in the 2nd round
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:02 PM ^
I’d just like to point out how great it is to have the first team (chronologically) on that list in 8th place. I was at that 2011 game against Tennessee (Bruce Pearl was their head coach then — yuck! I remember people joking about the contrast between his sleaze and Beilein’s high ground). From where we had been most of the prior decade, that 2011 team felt like a hopeful step in the right direction, a pretty good bit of success relative to the general expectations of where the program was.
I remember talking with friends along the lines of, “if we can get Darius Morris to come back, we might actually be able to take step forward.” At that point, we were almost conditioned against harboring hopes of any real, sustained progress in MBB.
If you were to tell me then we would see a list like this at the end of the decade, I think we would have all been outright giddy. What a great run under John B, and what a great start in the passing of the torch to Juwan!
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:14 PM ^
That was a big breakthrough. It was the year of the Aneurysm of Leadership, the turning point of Beilein's tenure. Beilein beat Sparty for the first time (our first win at Breslin in this century) and we turned our season around. Darius Morris was a really fun player to watch. He gets forgotten sometimes.
February 23rd, 2020 at 7:12 PM ^
His: "Get the F--- off of my court" to Kalin Lucas was one of the top 10 moments of the time period.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
I know last season Michigan made it to the Sweet 16, but getting beat by those bastards at Staee three fucking times made it hard to see that season as a success. Splitting with Staee has made this season much more enjoyable.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:23 PM ^
While they are indeed a bitter rival, I am so glad that we have had so many successes, and so many types of successes, in the last decade that our record against them (while always mattering in the math of a season's success) is no longer season-defining .
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:37 PM ^
It really has been amazing. Beilein really resurrected this program and has made it a powerhouse. I’m thinking JH is going to continue on that and maybe even make it more consistent but he’ll be doing well to follow in Beilein’s giant footsteps.
I’m hoping this year tops the list fyi.
February 23rd, 2020 at 2:38 PM ^
Can anyone share how much season tickets cost? I’ve been poking around and can’t seem to find them. Just an approximation is fine. We are considering joining the waiting list for next year and i haven’t heard back from the ticket office yet. Thanks
February 23rd, 2020 at 9:03 PM ^
I would guess around $300 per seat for the season. Slightly under $20/game