Published Feb 1, 2019
A Comparison Of U-M's Recent Achievements To The Rest Of Basketball's Elite
Austin Fox  •  Maize&BlueReview
Staff Writer
Advertisement

What head coach John Beilein has accomplished during his time at Michigan has been nothing short of incredible, and the statistical evidence backs that notion up.

The program first reached an elite level under his leadership during a three-year span from 2011-12 through 2013-14, when the Wolverines won the Big Ten regular-season title two of those three years, were victorious in eight NCAA Tournament games, and made an appearance in the 2013 National Title Game.

After taking a bit of a step back the following two years (2014-15 and 2015-16), Beilein's Wolverines have once again returned to an elite level, and are perhaps on a more impressive run now than the one we saw during the aforementioned three-year span.

The recent highlights include back-to-back Big Ten Tournament titles in 2017 and 2018 (with the possibility of a third straight this season), an appearance in the 2018 National Title Game, a program-best 17-0 start this year, and 34 victories in the last 36 games.

Unsurprisingly, Michigan now stands among college basketball's very best since 2016-17 in almost all of the sport's highest achievements.

The 10 Best Power Conference Teams (Ordered by Overall Record) Since the Start of the 2016-17 Season
TeamRecordTournament WinsFinal FoursRegular-Season TitlesConference Tournament Titles

Villanova

85-12

7

1

1

2

Kansas

78-18

7

1

2

1

Michigan

79-21

7

1

0

2

Virginia

73-15

1

0

1

1

Duke

75-19

4

0

0

1

Kentucky

75-20

5

0

1

2

North Carolina

75-22

7

1

1

0

Arizona

73-21

2

0

2

2

Purdue

72-21

4

0

1

0

Michigan State

68-23

2

0

1

0

The only two Power Conference clubs who have racked up a better overall record than Michigan since the 2016-17 season tipped off have been Villanova (85-12) and Kansas (78-18).

However, it should also be noted that a few Mid-Major programs have put together a better mark than U-M during that span — such as Gonzaga (89-9), Cincinnati (79-14) and Nevada (77-16) — but obviously don't square off against the same kind of competition on a weekly basis that Power Conference clubs face.

No team in the country has won more NCAA Tournament games than the Wolverines' seven since 2017, with Villanova, Kansas and North Carolina being the only other three squads who have matched Michigan's total.

The Maize and Blue have also won the Big Ten Tournament each of the past two years, and will attempt to make history this March by becoming the first league member to ever win three in a row.

The only accomplishment missing for the Wolverines on the chart above is a regular-season championship.

Beilen's last regular-season crown came in 2014, but the Maize and Blue will have a decent chance to end that five-year drought this year — they are currently tied with MSU atop the conference standings (at 9-1), and will face the Spartans on Feb. 24 and March 9.

Prior to Beilein's arrival in 2007-08, Michigan had not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1998, and had not won a Big Ten regular-season championship since 1986.

When each streak was all said and done, the NCAA Tournament drought lasted 10 seasons and the conference title drought 25, and yet Beilein was able to end both within his first five years on the job.

---

• Talk about this article inside The Fort

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @Balas_Wolverine, @DrewCHallett and @Qb9Adam.

• Like us on Facebook