The 1992–93

Michigan Wolverines men's basketball The Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team is the College basketball, intercollegiate men's basketball program representing the University of Michigan. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in NCAA Division I, Division I of the Nationa ...

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 1992–93 season. The team played its home games in the

Crisler Arena Crisler Center (formerly known as the University Events Building and Crisler Arena) is an indoor arena located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the home arena for the University of Michigan's men's and women's basketball teams as well as its w ...

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 ...

Steve Fisher, the team finished second in the Big Ten Conference. Although the team compiled a 31–5 record during the season, the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

has adjusted the team's record to 0–4 due to the

University of Michigan basketball scandal The University of Michigan basketball scandal, or the Ed Martin scandal, concerned National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) rules violations resulting from the relationship between the University of Michigan (or Michigan), its men's bask ...

. The team earned an invitation to the

1993 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1993 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 18, 1993, and ended with the champi ...

where it was national runner up. The team was ranked for the entire eighteen weeks of Associated Press Top Twenty-Five Poll, starting the season ranked first, holding the number one position for three weeks and ending ranked third, and it ended the season ranked fourth in the final USA Today/CNN Poll. The team had an 8–5 record against ranked opponents, including the following victories: December 28, 1992, against #20

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

88–73 in the Rainbow Classic at the Blaisdell Center, December 29 against #5

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

79–78 in the Rainbow Classic, December 30 against #2

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

86–74 in the Rainbow Classic, January 7, 1993, against #9

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

80–70 at

Mackey Arena Mackey Arena is located in West Lafayette, Indiana. Part of the Purdue University campus, it is home to the university's basketball teams, and occasionally hosts home games for the volleyball and wrestling teams. The arena opened in 1967 as a repl ...

, February 2 against #25

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

73–69 at the

Breslin Student Events Center The Jack Breslin Student Events Center is a multi-purpose arena at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. The arena opened in 1989, and is named for Jack Breslin, MSU alumnus, former athlete and administrator, who first began pus ...

, February 7 against #19 Purdue 84–76 at

, March 2 against #15

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

82–73 at Crisler Arena, April 2 against #2 Kentucky 81–78 (OT) at the Superdome in the

. The team had rotating

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 ...

s on a game-by-game basis, and

Chris Webber Mayce Edward Christopher Webber III (born March 1, 1973), nicknamed "C-Webb", is an American former professional basketball player. Webber played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), with the largest portion of his career sp ...

earned team

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

. The team's leading scorers were Chris Webber (690 points),

Jalen Rose Jalen Anthony Rose (born January 30, 1973) is an American sports analyst and former professional basketball player. In college, he was a member of the University of Michigan Michigan Wolverines, Wolverines' "Fab Five (University of Michigan), Fa ...

(555 points), and

Juwan Howard Juwan Antonio Howard ( ; born February7, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously served as the head coach ...

(524 points). The leading rebounders were Webber (362), Howard (267), and

Eric Riley Eric Riley (born June 2, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round (33rd pick overall) of the 1993 NBA draft. Riley played for the Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Los Ange ...

(169). During the season the team set a Big Ten Conference record for single-season

blocked shot In basketball, a block or blocked shot occurs when a defensive player legally deflects a field goal attempt from an offensive player to prevent a score. The defender is not allowed to make contact with the offensive player's hand (unless the def ...

s (193) that would last until 2000. During the season, the team won the Big Ten Conference statistical championships in rebounding and rebounding margin with at 40.9 average and 7.6 average margin in conference games, respectively. The record-setting team also led the conference in average blocked shots (5.0).

led the Big Ten in rebounds with a 9.7 average in 18 conference games and 10.1 average in 36 overall games. The team surpassed the 30-win total by the 1989 team with 31 victories and was the winningest team in school history, until being matched by Michigan's 2012–13 team and later being surpassed by its 2017–18 team. For the second year in a row, the team set the school record for single-season team blocks with 193 in 36 games, surpassing the 182 in 34 games set the prior year. The record would stand until 2007. Four players surpassed Jalen Rose's single-season minutes played record set the prior season. Rose set the new and current single-season record of 1234. King played 1174 minutes, while Webber and Howard contributed 1138 and 1135, respectively.

Regular season

Michigan returned its top nine scorers and began the season ranked number one in the country by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

. Michigan lost its second game of the season in a rematch with

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

Schedule

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NCAA tournament

Michigan was given the #1 seed in that year's West Regional and played their first and second-round games at the

McKale Center McKale Memorial Center is an athletic arena in the southwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. As the home of the university's Wildcats basketball team of the Big 12 Conference, it is primari ...

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

. They defeated Coastal Carolina in their first game and then were taken to overtime by #9 seed

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

before escaping with a victory. The Wolverines moved on to the

Kingdome The Kingdome (officially the King County Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Industrial District, Seattle, Industrial District (later SoDo, Seattle, SoDo) neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. O ...

for the regionals. The sub-regional had been littered with upsets, as the #12, #13, and #15 seeds had all won in the first round. Michigan drew #12 seeded

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

and won, then faced

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

for the second consecutive year (having defeated them as a #6 seed the year before) and beating them 77–72 to join

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, and

in the Final Four in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. In their national semifinal at the Superdome on April 3, the team defeated Southeast Regional winner

81–78 in overtime. In the

championship game A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...

at the Superdome on April 5, the Wolverines lost to East Regional winner

77–71. Michigan's final possession of the game went down as one of the most memorable moments in college basketball history. With twenty seconds to go and Michigan trailing by two and out of timeouts, Chris Webber rebounded a missed free throw. Confused as to what to do next, Webber thought about passing to Jalen Rose but did not and took a step without dribbling the basketball. The officials did not see the travel, however, and Webber headed upcourt where North Carolina was set up in a half court trap defense. Webber ran directly into the trap and was double teamed in the corner. He could not break the double team to pass the ball, and called for a timeout that the Wolverines did not have. By rule, Michigan was given a technical foul for calling the extra timeout and North Carolina was given two free throws and possession of the ball. North Carolina made their free throws, then added two more when Michigan was forced to foul again after the change in possession. The team established numerous NCAA records for

three-point field goal A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or triple) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two ...

s 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 ...

: fewest single-game three-point field goals made in a final four (0 vs.

on April 3, 1993, in an

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

) and fewest single-game three-point field goals attempted (4 vs. Kentucky). The 0 three-point field goals made surpassed the team's previous record of 1 made against

the year before in the

1992 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1992 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 19, 1992, and ended with the champi ...

Later developments

In 2002, the Wolverines vacated their entire 1992–93 season, including their tournament appearance, in the wake of a major scandal involving many years of improper payments from a major booster to several former players, among them Webber.

Statistics

The team posted the following statistics: : * Denotes players whose individual records, awards and other honors have been vacated due to NCAA and U-M sanctions

Rankings

Awards and honors

* Chris Webber, All-America selection (vacated as a result of the scandal) * Rob Pelinka, Walter Byers Scholar (top male scholar-athlete in all NCAA sports; not vacated)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Five players from this team were selected in the

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1992-93 Michigan Wolverines Men's Basketball Team Michigan Wolverines men's basketball 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, ...

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons