1975–76 Michigan Wolverines Men's Basketball Team
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The 1975–76 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team represented the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
in intercollegiate
college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...
during the 1975–76 season. The team played its home games in the Crisler Arena in
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...
, and was a member of the
Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...
. Under the direction of
head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...
Johnny Orr, the team finished second in the Big Ten Conference. The team lost to all four ranked opponents it played during the regular season. However, the team earned the third of four consecutive
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...
invitations, and it defeated the first three ranked opponents that it faced in the tournament. Wayman Britt served as team
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
, and Rickey Green earned team
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. As a team, it led the conference in scoring offense with an 85.8 average in conference games as well as in
field goal percentage Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Although three-point field goal percentage is often calculated separately, three-point field goals are included in the gene ...
with a 52.1%. The team began the season ranked sixteenth and peaked at ninth, where it finished the season in the Associated Press Top 20 Poll. It was ranked for a total of 16 out of 17 weeks during the season. The team also ended the season ranked ninth in the final UPI Coaches' Poll. That season, Hubbard set the current school record for single-season rebounds by a freshman of 352. The team set a new school record by totaling 2753 points over the course of the season. The record would last for eleven seasons. The team set the school single-season total assist record of 600. On January 12, 1976, the team began a 22-game
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winning streak against that continued through a November 30, 1977, victory over . This surpassed the 17-game streak from December 1, 1964 – January 29, 1966, and stood as the longest home winning streak in school history until a 24-game streak that started on January 5, 1985. In the 32-team 1976 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Michigan reached the championship game by winning the Midwest region. In so doing they defeated the 74–73, the
Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...
80–76 and the 95–88. Then in the
final four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...
, the team defeated the previously unbeaten Rutgers Scarlet Knights 86–70 before losing in the championship game to the unbeaten
Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the demonym for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...
86–68.


Regular season

The team set the school record by totaling 2753
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during its 32-game season. The record lasted until 1987. The team also set the school record for
field goal percentage Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Although three-point field goal percentage is often calculated separately, three-point field goals are included in the gene ...
(.510, 1138-for-2231), which would last for five seasons.


Schedule

1975-76 Overall: 25-7 Big Ten: 14-4 (2nd) Postseason: NCAA (Midwest) (Final Four; Runner-up) Head Coach: Johnny Orr Staff: Bill Frieder & Jim Boyce Captain: Wayman Britt Home Arena: Crisler Arena (13,609) (1) Michigan Invitational, Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Arena) (2) Las Vegas Holiday Classic, Las Vegas, Nev. (L.V. Convention Center) (3) NCAA Tournament, Denton, Texas (North Texas Coliseum) (4) NCAA Tournament, Louisville, Ky. (Freedom Hall) (5) NCAA Tournament, Philadelphia, Pa. (The Spectrum)


Statistics

The team posted the following statistics:


Rankings


NCAA tournament

*Midwest **Michigan 74, Wichita State 73 **Michigan 80, Notre Dame 76 **Michigan 95, Missouri 88 *Final Four **Michigan 86, Rutgers 70 **Indiana 86, Michigan 68


Awards and honors


Team players drafted into the NBA

Seven players from this team were selected in the
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.


References

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Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
Michigan Wolverines men's basketball seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
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