Michigan basketball joins rare company following upset of Tennessee
The Michigan basketball program has enjoyed consistent success in the NCAA Tournament the past five years. This year, they made some noise yet again when they stunned the No. 3 seed Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday in the Round of 32, 76-68. Hunter Dickinson (27 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists) and Eli Brooks (23 points, three rebounds, and five assists) carried the Wolverines in the upset victory. With the win, Michigan joined rarified basketball company, becoming just one of five teams in college basketball that has advanced to five straight Sweet 16s.
Check out the graphic below.
That’s a pretty impressive list of teams. When it comes to recruiting rankings, it’s hard for any team on the list to compete with the recruiting classes the Duke Blue Devils have pulled off in the last five years. They have consistently found themselves at or near the very top of the college basketball recruiting rankings. The Blue Devils also pulled in the top recruiting class in America, according to the 2022 On3 Consensus Basketball Team Recruiting Rankings.
None of the teams on the list have any sort of shortage of basketball talent flowing through their program, even if it was a down year this season for the Michigan Wolverines.
Michigan’s Fab Five
Following the upset win over Tennessee, Michigan head coach Juwan Howard found his old Wolverine teammates, Chris Webber and Ray Jackson. Then he hugged them to celebrate the victory. Howard, Webber, and Jackson were all teammates on the “Fab Five”, one of the most famous teams in college basketball history.
It’s always good to see old teammates of such a legendary team get back together. To see it after the big Michigan win in the NCAA Tournament had to be extra special for everyone who follows the program.
Here are a few more stats on the Fab Five.
The ESPN 30 for 30 Documentary on the Fab Five drew 2.7 million viewers during its original airing on March 13, 2011, setting a record as the highest-rated ESPN documentary ever. While at Michigan, the Fab Five were the first team in NCAA history to compete in the national title game with all-freshman starters. Four of the players were McDonald’s All-Americans in the 1991 recruiting class. It was a record that stood until the 2013 Kentucky Wildcats’ recruiting class, which had six players compete in the McDonald’s All-American Game.
Michigan will face off against the Villanova Wildcats in the Sweet 16 in San Antonio, Texas. The game will be played in the AT&T Center on Thursday, March 24.