We'd typically be in the middle of the best four-day stretch on the sports calendar. If the NCAA Tournament hadn't been canceled, Michigan would have played its first-round game on Thursday or Friday.
With that in mind, let's look back on the Wolverines' most memorable first-round games of all time. While it's a subjective endeavor, the goal was to find exciting games that are hard to forget.
(Note: Michigan’s first eight NCAA Tournament appearances were not considered, as the field had not yet grown to six rounds. Those games will be considered for Michigan’s best games of the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, etc. That is partly the reason for the recency bias.)
5. Temple, 1992
The Fab Five’s first postseason game, played in Atlanta. Michigan, the 6 seed, trailed late but got the win, 73-66, behind 19 points from Jalen Rose.
The Owls, led by old-school coach John Chaney -- who, the next season, would make known his disapproval of Michigan’s brash youngsters -- got 17 points from current Temple coach Aaron McKie.
The Wolverines would beat 14 seed East Tennessee State two days later, then top Oklahoma State, Ohio State, and Cincinnati to reach the national championship, where they lost to Duke.
4. Pepperdine, 1994
“Blue almost Waves goodbye to tourney,” read the headline in The Michigan Daily. Michigan, a 3 seed, opened in Wichita, Kansas, against the Pepperdine Waves. The Wolverines led most of the game but Pepperdine took a two-point lead late in the second half. Juwan Howard’s basket tied it with 19 seconds left, and Pepperdine’s shot at the buzzer was blocked.
Michigan won the overtime period 10-6 for a 78-74 victory. Howard finished with 28 points and nine rebounds, helping to overcome Michigan’s 20 turnovers.
The Wolverines went on to beat Texas and Maryland to reach the Elite Eight, where they fell to eventual national champion Arkansas.
3. Tennessee, 2011
This one is different from the others on the list. Michigan won by 30 points.
But that's the main reason this game was so memorable. The 8-9 games are supposed to be competitive. Michigan dominated from start to finish, with Stu Douglass' dunk off a behind-the-back pass from Darius Morris the exclamation point in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Seven Wolverines scored between eight and 14 points in the 75-45 win. Future pro Tobias Harris was the only Volunteer in double figures in what would be Bruce Pearl’s last game at Tennessee.
It's also worth remembering that, earlier in the season, Michigan was 1-6 in the Big Ten, but finished at .500 to earn a bid. Just making the Tournament, after missing the year before, was an accomplishment, though it didn't lessen the sting of a two-point loss to top seed Duke in the second round.
2. Clemson, 2009
Michigan had not played in the NCAA Tournament in 11 years. There was doubt as to whether the Wolverines would even get a bid. They did, sneaking in as a 10 seed in John Beilein's second season in Ann Arbor.
They drew Clemson in Kansas City, Missouri, and the game went down to the wire. Behind 23 points from Manny Harris, including a clutch basket late, Michigan won 62-59. Clemson’s 3 at the buzzer was way off the mark.
Michigan had not just ended its Tournament drought, it had won a game. The season would end two days later against Blake Griffin and 2 seed Oklahoma.
1. Oklahoma State, 2017
The first game of the 2017 NCAA Tournament did not disappoint, as two potent offenses were on display in Indianapolis. Michigan, the 7 seed, made 16 3-pointers. Derrick Walton Jr. scored 26 points as he and Jawun Evans (23 points) traded baskets all afternoon.
The result: a 92-91 Michigan victory, after Evans hit a meaningless -- to non-gamblers at least -- 3 at the buzzer. Oklahoma State finished first in the country in offensive efficiency; Michigan finished fourth.
The Wolverines, coming off a Big Ten Tournament title, were playing as well as any team in the Tournament. They’d upset 2 seed Louisville in the second round before falling to Oregon in a Sweet 16 heartbreaker.
Honorable mention: Fairleigh Dickinson, 1985; Boise State, 1988; Xavier, 1989; Illinois State, 1990
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