Presented by BBSI BOISE.
This Day In Sports…April 3, 1989:
A year after Boise State fell to a talented young Michigan team in their tense first round NCAA Tournament matchup, the now senior-laden Wolverines win it all—nipping Seton Hall in overtime 80-79 in the national championship game. The victory completed a dizzying three-week stretch that began with Michigan coach Bill Frieder jumping ship to Arizona State. He’d be replaced by assistant Steve Fisher, who would later build a powerhouse Mountain West program at San Diego State. It was the Wolverines’ first and still only national championship despite four subsequent appearances in the final.
Four of the five Michigan starters who prevailed against the Broncos in 1988 returned that following season, and all four would go on to the NBA: Glen Rice, Terry Mills, Loy Vaught and Rumeal Robinson. Rice was the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, setting a new scoring record with 184 points over the six games, a standard that still stands today. He would then embark on to a 15-year NBA career.
Both the Wolverines and Pirates were No. 3 seeds in the tournament. Seton Hall breezed through, taking down Duke by 17 points in the Final Four. Three of Michigan’s five wins going into the title tilt were decided by five points or less. So when the Wolverines trailed by three in the OT with less than a minute left, there was no panic. Mills connected on a turnaround jumper to pull UM within one at 79-78. Then, after a defensive stop, Seton Hall was whistled for a controversial foul, and Robinson made both free throws to seal it with three seconds left in overtime.
Fisher, who just turned 80, had been a Michigan assistant for seven years before getting his sudden shot. During the final week of the regular season, Frieder accepted the ASU but intended to stay with the Wolverines through the NCAA Tournament. Michigan AD Bo Schembechler said no. Schembechler named Fisher as his permanent coach a week after the title, and that’s when Fisher hired Brian Dutcher as his assistant head coach. Dutcher, of course, followed Fisher to SDSU and replaced him when he retired eight years ago.
The 1989 NCAA Tournament marked the second time that first and second round games were hosted by Boise State. Arizona and UNLV emerged from the Boise bracket to advance to the Sweet 16. The Rebels, one year away from winning the national championship, were assigned to Boise, and their opening game was ironic. Five days earlier, Idaho had beaten Boise State in the Big Sky championship game at the Pavilion, and the Vandals were sent right back there in the Big Dance. Despite a solid defensive effort by Idaho, UNLV got the better of it 68-56.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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