On April 3, 1989, the Michigan Wolverines won their first ever NCAA basketball title, defeating Seton Hall 90-89 in overtime.

March Madness may have been canceled, but we can look back fondly at this day in history, the day the Michigan Wolverines, with a substitute head coach, rolled to their first ever NCAA hoops title, shocking the world.

The 1989 squad ended the regular season third overall in the Big Ten, behind Indiana and Illinois. The Wolverines were ranked tenth in the college basketball polls.

Just before the tournament started, Athletic Director Bo Schembechler stunned the team when he fired head coach Bill Freider, after he announced he would be taking the head coaching job at Arizona State following the season.

Giving the now famous quote, "a Michigan man is going to coach a Michigan team," Schembechler elevated assistant coach Steve Fisher to the head job.

Behind the red hot shooting of Flint native Glen Rice, Michigan rolled to wins over Xavier and South Alabama to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Rice would set a tournament record for points scored with 184 in the six games.

The team then upset North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen, and ripped Virginia 102-65 to make the Final Four, played at Seattle's Kingdome.

In the semi-final, Sean Higgins hit a clutch put back with three seconds as Michigan upset Illinois to make the championship game.

In the title tilt, Michigan and Seton Hall went to overtime in a wild contest which featured 33 lead changes. Michigan's Rumeal Robinson was fouled by the Hall's Gerald Greene with just three seconds left in overtime, a call that was very controversial (watch the video)

Robinson calmly sank both free throws to seal the title for the Wolverines, their first and only national basketball championship, 80-79.

Fisher went on to lead the Wolverines to two more championship games in the Fab Five era (1991 and 1992) before moving to San Diego State, where he retired in 2017 with a 64 percent winning percentage.

 

 

More From The Game 730 WVFN-AM