Michigan Wolverines 1988-1989 Retro Basketball Shorts, 1989 Title Season

Bill Frieder's Wolverines came into the 1988-1989 season fresh off a Top 10 ranking, and the roster backed up the hype: six future NBA players, Glen Rice among them. Rice averaged close to 26 points and 6 rebounds that year and walked away as Big Ten Player of the Year.

A 21-6 regular season was only the setup. The night before the NCAA Tournament, Michigan athletic director Bo Schembechler fired Frieder once word got out that he planned to leave for Arizona State afterward. In stepped Steve Fisher.

Fisher, the same coach who would later put the Fab Five together, took over the #3 seed and won his first two tournament games against Xavier and South Alabama. Two more wins, over #2 North Carolina and #5 Virginia, booked a Final Four spot.

Conference rival Illinois was waiting there. The Flyin' Illini had beaten Michigan twice already that season, but this one went to the Wolverines, 83-81.

Rumeal Robinson then stepped to the line in what many rank among the best championship games ever played and sank 2 free throws for an 80-79 win and the national title.

"I made up my mind to put it on my shoulders, and take the last shot. I didn't want to pass off. I got fouled, and thank God I made those." -Rumeal Robinson

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