The Michigan Miracle, 1989
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March 20, 2009
A SPECIAL NOTE Hello Loyal Readers, As some of you know, I’ve been asked to give the Golden Apple “Last Lecture” this year, which falls on Tuesday, March 31, at 7 p.m. at Rackham on Michigan’s campus. (The speech notice on the home page seemed to raise more questions than answers.) I’ve titled my speech, “What I’ve Learned – Despite My Efforts,” and it’s free to the public. But, I promise, there will be no attendance taken, nor quizzes given. Just thought you’d like to know. As always, thanks for reading!
-John
The Michigan Miracle, 1989 Michigan State’s men’s basketball team earned its 12th straight NCAA tournament bid this week, a second seed they could afford to take for granted. But the scene was quite different in Ann Arbor, where the Wolverines coaches, players and over a thousand fans gathered at Crisler Arena Sunday night, in the hopes CBS would announce the team had earned its first bid in over a decade. CBS listed the teams that made the NCAA men’s basketball tournament one by one, keeping the crowd waiting through 62 of their 65 picks. When they finally announced the Wolverines had earned the tenth seed in the South Region, the fans erupted – and with good reason: it was the Michigan basketball team’s first unequivocal good news in years. Yes, I know the Fab Five was all the rage in the early nineties. But their reign resulted in two years of probation. The pleasure came with a price. The last time Michigan basketball enjoyed the kind of unbridled ecstasy you saw on Sunday was fully two decades ago – when Michigan pulled off a minor miracle. The dream started two years earlier, in a dorm room. Freshmen Terry Mills and roommate Rumeal Robinson would come home tired after a long day of classes, work outs and homework. “But every night,” Mills says today, “we’d talk about what we were going to do: graduate on time, with our classmates, and win a national title.” Michigan teams had already won seven Big Ten titles in the previous 35 seasons, second only to Indiana. And they’d made it to three Final Fours. But more often, Michigan would take a talented team to the tournament, and fold in the first weekend. It seemed like Michigan’s 1989 team was poised to follow suit, after getting dismantled by Illinois on the final day of the regular season, 89-73 – and it wasn’t that close. But that stunning setback would not be the biggest shock of the year – or even the week. Two days later, athletic director Bo Schembechler found out head coach Bill Frieder had secretly agreed to coach Arizona State the next year. Schembechler fired Frieder on the spot, famously saying a Michigan Man would coach Michigan. If ever there was a team set up for failure, this was surely it. Most tournament teams feel more tension as they advance – but for Michigan, it was the opposite. Robinson told me, “People don’t really understand how nerve-wracking those first games were. We’d just gotten blown out, we’d lost our coach, and we knew all about the great Michigan teams that got knocked out early. That was pressure.” The first weekend, the Wolverines wobbled against weaker teams, before pulling out last minute victories. But they survived, and gained confidence straight through to the finals. Along the way, they captured the nation’s imagination. Even their parents were becoming celebrities. Robinson drew on that calm confidence in the title game against Seton Hall. With his team down by a single point, and just three seconds left on the clock, Robinson stepped up to the foul line. If he missed the first shot, Michigan would lose. But, if he made them both, the Wolverines would win their first national basketball title. Adding to the drama, Robinson was a poor free throw shooter, hitting only two-thirds of his shots. It was at this moment, of all moments, that Robinson’s teammates decided to leave him alone. They didn’t slap his hand or even talk to him -- the way you might isolate a pitcher who’s working on a no-hitter. No one, in the long and rich history of the NCAA tournament, has ever faced such singular pressure. Robinson responded by throwing the first shot straight in, then the second – setting off an unprecedented celebration in Ann Arbor. A year later, Robinson and Mills accepted their diplomas with their classmates, making their dorm room dreams complete. Even after last night’s victory over Clemson, there’s probably no way the current Michigan team – or any other – can pull off such a miracle. But who knows? We probably won’t find out for years whose dorm room dreams are coming true this spring.Copyright © 2009, Michigan Radio
Confess--When and how did you tape so that you could refer to "last night's victory"? Two endings ready, so one could be timely?
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Anonymous,
Yep, I confess! We taped two endings, and my producer, Vince Duffy, glued it all together Friday morning.
I figured it would be a demolition derby of a game -- more energy than polish -- and it was. Hard not to be impressed by the job Coach Beilein and his team have pulled off.
I suspect Oklahoma is not thrilled to draw the Wolverines today. They're a hard bunch to prepare for.
-JUB
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John, your comments reminded me of one of my own Michigan memories. Though not nearly as successful, they are about the (I think) last time that M played a tournament game in Kansas City, which was spring 1964. I was a freshman on campus that year and working with the M Daily sports crew. M won the early rounds and earned a trip to the finals in KC. That year, the semis were on Friday night and the finals on Saturday. Also, that was one of the last years when the semifinal losers played again as prep for the winners' game the next night. Unfortunately, my group at the Daily couldn't leave campus until Friday afternoon, so we drove to KC overnight. Also unfortunately, we listened to M on the radio get hammered by Duke in the semi as we drove by Chicago. That was disappointing. We arrived in KC very early the next morning (I drove the graveyard shift thru small town-Missouri), slept for a while, and then set out for the auditorium where we witnessed Cazzie & the boys shellack K State. That was the game when Bob Cantrell broke out with 20 pts -- he had not scored much all year. Thanks to the game between the semi-final losers, the weekend turned out to be a winner for the Blue. And worth our delayed overnight trip to KC. Memories are a wonderful thing!!
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Mr.Greiner,
Thanks for sharing your memories. Amazing how many people wrote to me about theirs, whether about the 1989 team or others. The things we did and saw at that age seem to stick with us longer than the decade that followed. (At least it has for me!)
I did know Michigan played the consolation game that year, but didn't know the rest. We certainly take for granted the ease of travel. I can only imagine driving that car through rural routes with no air conditioning, no radio, and no cruise control.
But I would have loved to see that team play at Yost!
-John
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Someone who has the courage to call the Fab 5 like it is... how refreshing! I understand the power of "forgiveness" but have people already "forgotten" the damage they did to the University?
I was an undergrad during those days and it still grinds me to this day to think of all the hard working Michigan men and women I went to school with, who did amazing things in and out of the classroom, and happily did it in obscurity. While at the same time, a handful of people, WHO KNEW BETTER, decided in a fit of misguided righteousness to get paid.
Those are the things that we used to look down at the University of Ohio State for; now, everything that is wrong with college sports came home to Ann Arbor; that should be the Fab 5's legacy... heck, they never won anything either, so why all the idol worship?
On another note, thank goodness for technology. I had to watch the Clemson game on the March Madness website. Congrats Michigan and well done Coach Beilein!
Go Blue!!!
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Chris,
I could not agree more. I'm not among those who say, Yeah, they screwed up, but everyone does it, and they were so exciting.
So what?
I would argue they did more damage to Michigan's reputation than anyone else in the history of the university. If that sounds like hyperbole, I'd be eager to hear who takes their spot at the top of that ignoble list.
The adults deserve most of the blame here, in my opinion -- Frieder, who set the tone, Fisher, the ADs and naturally Ed Martin. But the players are now adults, too, and it would have taken so little for Chris Webber to earn absolution when he returned to Detroit to play for the Pistons. "Hey, I was a kid, and I shouldn't have done it. I regret any damage done to the university."
As you say, we are a forgiving nation. But you have to ask for it -- and to do that, you have to admit it. And all that requires a measure of humility -- not one of the Fab Fives' strengths.
Every time you see the asterisks denoting "vacated games," you are forced to remember the price Michigan -- and all its coaches, athletes and alums -- continue to pay for that brief run.
Okay, I feel better now. Thanks, Chris.
Enjoy the Madness!
-JUB
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Congrats on the honor! Will you be able to view or listen to the lecture online?
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Thank you!
I'm not sure about the technical side, but I believe they put it on YouTube after the fact.
Hope that helps.
-John
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