Just Out of Reach

It's hard to be too upset about the University of Michigan's loss to Louisville last night in the NCAA men's basketball championship. This is the first time in 20 years they've been at the top of their game, and as a number 4 seed the results were a pleasant surprise. They just got out-played and out-coached by their betters.

I've been a Michigan basketball fan for a long time, inheriting it from my father. I remember very well the 1976 team, which went to the finals against Indiana's undefeated squad. They had a great back court of Ricky Green and Steve Grote, and actually led that final at half time, before getting blown out in the second half. That team's last gasp came the next year, when they lost to UNC-Charlotte in the regional final. That tournament was marred when my grandfather died right in the middle of it.

The next time Michigan made noise in the tournament was 1989, when they won it all. They had Glen Rice and Rumeal Robinson, the latter making two free throws to beat Seton Hall in overtime for the championship. I remember that the semi-final was against Illinois, and I taped the game (I went into New York City to see Heathers, if I remember correctly). I watched the tape, not knowing the outcome, but hadn't allotted enough time, so it ran before the end of a very close game. I had to call someone in the family to find out who won, as there was no Internet at the time to turn to.

Then came the Fab Five, who went to two straight finals in '92-'93. They lost them both--in '92 it was a blowout against Duke. I remember that game because my girlfriend at the time called in the middle of the game and we had a very difficult phone call. In '93, they lost to North Carolina when Chris Webber famously called a time out he didn't have. That team would break up and go the NBA, and recruiting violations would cause the wins to be vacated.

Michigan stayed in the wilderness for much of the next two decades. They weren't terrible--they had the dubious honor of winning back to back NIT tournaments. Steve Fisher, who coached for the title and two other final fours, was finally let go after scandal tainted him. A few other coaches were used: Tommy Amaker, assistant from Duke, seemed like a good fit, but he couldn't get it done, and is now a success at Harvard. John Beilien was brought in from West Virginia, and finally he brought Michigan to the promised land.

Even with my work schedule, I managed to see quite a bit of the games: the workman-like win over South Dakota State, then the crunching of VCU. I only saw the last play of the Kansas overtime game, so missed the comeback and the clutch three-pointer from Trey Burke. But I saw every bit of the smackdown they gave Florida, and listened to much of the Syracuse win over the radio, seeing the last, ugly five minutes.

So I had gotten to know the players by the time of the final. Burke, named player of the year, had been inconsistent, but hit an early three-pointer that made things look good. But he got a second foul (a bad call), and rode the pine for the rest of the half. Beilien surely left him on the bench because his replacement, Spike Albrecht, had a half for the ages, scoring seventeen, including several from behind the arc. Michigan built a 12-point lead, the exact lead that Louisville came back to beat Wichita State.

In the last few minutes of the half, I think the game was lost when unheralded Luke Hancock hit four threes for Louisville, and Michigan went into halftime with only a one-point lead. Burke came back in the second half strong, but Albrecht was shutout. The entertainingly awesome Mitch McGary was held in check, and whatever Rick Pitino's adjustments were, they worked. Michigan pushed the lead to four, but soon Louisville eclipsed them, building their own ten-point lead, before winning by six.

I should add that toward the end of the game, I got a call from my current girlfriend, who laid on me some heavy news and we ended the call deciding, for the time being, we'd be just friends. Clearly my personal life suffers when Wolverine basketball succeeds.

This was a young team, but it seems that it won't be a sure thing for next year, as many players will probably leave for the NBA. Oh well. Unlike schools like Duke or Kansas, we can't be assured that there will be a championship caliber team every year. They emerge like the cicadas--roughly every seventeen years.