Michigan better on floor than on field
On the Michigan basketball clock, it has been 360 days since Ohio State last defeated the Wolverines.
Ann Arbor would like us to stop right there. To think of Michigan as a basketball school. The Maize and Bluebloods. And why not? The Wolverines are 16-1 and ranked No. 3 in the AP poll after beating the Buckeyes on Sunday.
It’s not like UM hoops is a one-hit wonder, either. Since the 2012-13 season the Wolverines have played in two NCAA Tournament national championship games, two other Sweet 16s and one Elite Eight.
Impressive stuff. But it can’t end there. There is the matter of a football clock, which in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center reads: 3,377 — the number of days since the Wolverines last defeated the Buckeyes, on Nov. 26, 2011.
Unfortunately for Michigan, there is more disappointment on the football timeline than just Ohio State. Since 2007, when Lloyd Carr retired as UM’S football coach, the Wolverines are 9564 (.597) without a Big Ten title.
That Basketball School Up North, meanwhile, is 277-132 (.677) since John Beilein arrived in 2007-08 and Juwan Howard took over before last season. Over that stretch the Wolverines won one conference regular-season title outright (2014) and shared another (2012).
Given the lopsided records between the two biggest money-making sports, clearly Michigan should be thought of as the Kentucky of the Big Ten. Strong on the floor. Suspect on the field.
Among millennials, it might already be the case. That is not entirely new. The Fab Five of the early 1990s put UM basketball on par with its football in terms of national recognition.
But the lack of success by Michigan’s football program — no Big Ten championship since 2004 — has allowed roundball to push the oblong ball into the background. Football has not disappeared, but these days it is known more for its histrionics than its distinguished history. Jim Harbaugh’s antics, following the disasters that were Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke, have turned football into something of a sideshow.
To take the temperature of the Wolverines’ fanbase, I turned to my go-to Michigan Man, former UM wrestler Matt Stout.
“As a Michigan alum, it was nice knowing going into the game on Sunday that Michigan actually had a chance to win,” said Stout, a Columbus lawyer who coaches wrestling at Upper Arlington. “Unlike football this fall, where any rational Michigan fan rejoiced when The Game was canceled, because of the anticipated butt-kicking the Buckeyes were going to lay on the Wolverines.”
Stout, 49, has no problem calling Michigan a basketball school.
“The reality is that for most Michigan alums and fans, all of the excitement around Michigan athletics right now comes from basketball, not football, and it has been that way for several years,” he said. “Michigan basketball is an elite program and has been one since 2013. Michigan football hasn’t sniffed real success since the first term of W’s presidency.”
Coaching has allowed UM basketball to eclipse football. Beilein was a magnificent hire, and Howard this season deserves to be considered for national coach of the year. By comparison, UM football coaches have woefully underperformed for more than a decade.
For more of a national perspective, I reached out to Bill Bender of The Sporting News.
“In the last decade, the Michigan basketball program is everything the football team wants to be,” Bender said. “The Wolverines win Big Ten championships, compete for national championships and have an almost identical record to Ohio State since 2010.”
Michigan is 267-110 (.708) since 2010, while Ohio State is 265-108 (.710). (One could make the case that the Buckeyes are both a football and basketball school, but let’s table that discussion for another day).
Bender, who grew up in Lancaster and lives in Pickerington, put the brakes on billing basketball as the Ohio Statemichigan rivalry of choice.
“Basketball is more competitive, but football always will be more compelling,” he said. “Sunday’s matchup was great, but did it match the drama of ‘The Spot’ in 2016? I don’t think so.”
Then again, it depends on whom you ask. Michigan fans are at the point of choosing “actually have a chance” over compelling theater. Basketball even offers them a strong chance. Michigan is not exactly Kentucky, but Big Blue Nation of the North has a nice ring to it in Ann Arbor. roller@dispatch.com @rollercd