The Michigan 1993 team has ascended to our 10th-ranked all-time team following a thrilling 70-66 win over UConn 2023 to claim our third tournament title in the Value Add Basketball Game rankings. With this victory, Michigan joins an exclusive group of only three undefeated teams out of our 234 all-time Great Teams in the game. (For more on the free Value Add Basketball Game, visit this link on Pudner Sports).
Before diving into the recap of this unforgettable simulated championship game and updating our top 20 all-time teams, I’d like to take a moment to make the case that Michigan’s 1991-92 and 1992-93 squad is one of the top 10 dynasties in the history of college basketball, despite finishing as runner-up in both of their title appearances. Despite the fact that we early posted that UConn's back-to-back March Madness performances the last two years are the best ever besides UCLA, we still only had them as a 3-point favorite because the Fab 5 is that good.
My criteria for a college basketball "dynasty" is that you make the title game at least two times in a three year stretch. No matter how impressive a team is for one dominant run, you need to make it all the way back to the title game to validate, since making the title twice is mathematically much harder than winning the title once. So lets start with the list of 21 dynasties.
Michigan’s Legacy: A Case for the Top 10 from Among Hoops 21 Dynasties
| 2 title games in 3 yrs | 1st yr | Last yr | Games | titles | Faced another dynasty? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma St. | 1945 | 1946 | 2 | 2 | no |
| Kentucky | 1948 | 1949 | 2 | 2 | no |
| Kansas | 1952 | 1953 | 2 | 1 | no |
| La Salle | 1954 | 1955 | 2 | 1 | LaSalle |
| San Francisco | 1955 | 1956 | 2 | 2 | San Francisco |
| California | 1959 | 1960 | 2 | 1 | Ohio State |
| Ohio St. | 1960 | 1962 | 3 | 1 | California and Cincinnati |
| Cincinnati | 1961 | 1963 | 3 | 2 | Ohio State |
| UCLA | 1964 | 1973 | 9 | 9 | no |
| North Carolina | 1981 | 1982 | 2 | 1 | no |
| Georgetown | 1984 | 1985 | 2 | 1 | no |
| Duke | 1990 | 1992 | 3 | 2 | Michigan |
| Michigan | 1992 | 1993 | 2 | 0 | Duke |
| Kentucky | 1997 | 1998 | 2 | 1 | no |
| Duke | 1999 | 2001 | 2 | 1 | no |
| Florida | 2006 | 2007 | 2 | 2 | no |
| Butler | 2010 | 2011 | 2 | 0 | no |
| Kentucky | 2012 | 2014 | 2 | 1 | no |
| North Carolina | 2016 | 2017 | 2 | 1 | Villanova |
| Villanova | 2016 | 2018 | 2 | 2 | North Carolina |
| UConn | 2023 | 2024 | 2 | 2 | no |
On that basis, there is obviously one unquestioned dynasty - I'd argue the greatest in all of sports - in the UCLA teams that won 9 titles in 10 years from 1964 to 1973. And then there are 20 other dynasties listed above to consider for 2nd greatest. The argument against the Michigan Fab 5 from the 1992 and 1993 March Madness runs is simple, they are the only of the dynasties besides Butler to not win a title.
I believe the argument for Michigan’s 1993 team as one of the top 10 dynasties of all-time is much more compelling. In all sports you consider not only the result of the games but the level of competition faced, and I contend Michigan had the toughest path in the history of college basketball to try to win titles those two seasons. Consider:
a. Their Strength of Schedule was ranked 1st and 3rd toughest in the entire nation both years - I would argue the Fab 5 those two years played the toughest schedule in the history of college basketball and yet they made the title game both times.
b. In 1992, Michigan’s Fab Five, still freshmen, played in one of only two title games since 1961 that featured two dynasties from the list above against each other (the other was the more recent Villanova win over UNC). And that game was against a Duke team at its peak playing as one of only four colleges in history to play in 3 straight title games and this was their 3rd featuring a senior team that had been through three tournaments against the Fab 5 freshmen.
c. In Michigan’s second year, their semifinal matchup was one of the toughest in NCAA history. The Wolverines faced Kentucky in a game played in SEC territory (Louisiana) against a Kentucky team that had dominated its competition, winning by an average margin of 95-64 over seven games in the SEC and NCAA tournaments. This Kentucky team was so dominant by the end of the season that in a rematch against a Tennessee team that had beaten them earlier in the season they won 101-40. The fact that Michigan won an overtime game in that setting against that team in that setting could be the most difficult win in Final 4 history, so of course they had nothing left for the final against a UNC team coming off an easy semifinal win and still almost pulled off the title.
The Value Add Basketball Title Game: Michigan vs. UConn
In a gripping Value Add Basketball Game championship, UConn 2023 mounted another comeback after avoiding elimination with a 15-0 run to close out a game. They rallied once again from a double-digit deficit to take a 62-61 lead with 2:07 remaining. But Chris Webber answered with back-to-back trips to the basket, drawing fouls on UConn’s Jordan Hawkins and scoring five straight points, including a crucial free throw, to give Michigan a 66-62 lead.
With time running out, UConn pulled star center Adama Sanogo off the court in favor of an extra 3-point shooter, Joey Calcaterra. They adopted the game strategy of having the opposing roll only include three dice without the 20-sided dice, forcing turnovers or fouls to extend the game and give themselves a chance to tie with a 3-pointer. Michigan seemed particularly vulnerable to this strategy due to their only two significant weaknesses:
- Free-Throw Struggles: Michigan’s five key players all shot between 55% and 70% from the line, and by this point, they had made only 8 of 14 free throws. That meant the 20-sided due would need to be somewhere between 1-11 and 1-14 even if they avoided the turnover and sent a player to the line.
- Turnovers: Michigan had committed 20 turnovers heading into the final possession, which gave UConn a glimmer of hope.
But Michigan avoided a turnover on their final possession, getting the ball to Juwan Howard—who, along with Jason Rose, is a 70% free-throw shooter. Howard calmly made both free throws to push Michigan’s lead to 68-62. UConn’s Hawkins hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 68-65, and the extra possession created by the intentional "turnover or foul" strategy automatically creates one extra final possession for both teams kept the game alive.
With the clock ticking down, Michigan’s unexpected hero emerged: Rob Pelinka. Yes, the same Rob Pelinka who’s now known as a sports agent and lawyer. While most people know Pelinka from his work with LeBron James and his role as the Lakers’ GM, in our game, he’s usually only involved in the first five possessions. However, due to Jimmy King’s foul-out, Pelinka was called back into action.
The beauty of this was that Pelinka’s stamina (15) allowed him to return to the court without having to adjust every die roll by one against him as happens when a player who is out of Stamina must return to the court. When the ball found Pelinka, his 43 roll on the 11-66 die was crucial. Had he not been in the game, this roll would have resulted in a turnover, giving UConn a chance for one final 3-pointer to force overtime.
Instead, Pelinka was able to convert a 2-point basket, giving Michigan a 70-65 lead. UConn’s Tristen Newton hit a free throw to bring it to 70-66, but a missed second free throw was grabbed by Howard, who secured his 14th rebound of the game and sealed Michigan’s victory.
Key Stats from the Title Game:
- Points: Chris Webber – 26 (Newton led UConn with 19)
- Rebounds: Juwan Howard – 14 (Sanogo led UConn with 8)
- Steals: Ray Jackson and Webber – 2 each
- Blocks: Webber – 7 (UConn’s Sanogo – 3)
- Halftime Score: 30-30
Despite being whistled for 21 fouls and committing 20 turnovers, Michigan dominated the boards, out-rebounding UConn 48-28. Their three key rebounders—Eric Riley, Chris Webber, and Juwan Howard—helped Michigan maintain an edge, while UConn’s rebounding was much weaker outside of their two dominant centers, Adamo Sanogo and Donovan Clingan.
Final Thoughts
The 1993 Michigan Wolverines were more than just a talented team—they were one of the most resilient and hard-fought squads in NCAA history. While certainly our kenpom-like ratings based on the results of games determined by dice rolls are not proof of how good a team is. For example, DePaul's team with Terry Cummings and Mark Aquirre pulled the biggest upset of our 304 games, vs. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's UCLA team, to knock the Bruins way down from our preseason ranking of 3rd all-time based just on the cards. However, we believe its reasonable to put the Fab 5 anywhere between our preseason ranking of 18th all-time and current ranking of 10th if considering how a team performs over the course of consecutive seasons.
Ironically, our www.kenpom.com-like ratings after plugging in the championship score gave both Michigan and the UConn team they had just beated a +11.7 rating, meaning they calculated as 11.7 points better than the "average" great team in the game. We gave Michigan the 10th spot based on the head-to-head and UConn still managed to calculate less than 1 point ahead of Villanova 2018 (+10.9) for 12th place all-time s the top two Big East teams in the game.
This list of all 234 teams and 304 game results are on this google sheet.
| Rk | Pre | School | Year | W | L | Score | Allow | KenPom | Pre | SoS | Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals or Ave | 304 | 304 | 72.7 | 72.7 | 0.0 | -0.4 | 0.8 | Best player & any other all-time 100 | |||
| 1 | 1 | UCLA | 1972 | 6 | 0 | 72.0 | 62.0 | 17.7 | 18.0 | 3.8 | Bill Walton #64 |
| 2 | 51 | Kansas | 2008 | 5 | 1 | 74.7 | 56.0 | 14.5 | 3.0 | 0.3 | Mario Chalmers |
| 3 | 17 | Kansas | 1997 | 5 | 0 | 76.8 | 62.4 | 14.2 | 8.0 | 0.0 | Paul Pierce #50 |
| 4 | 6 | Ohio St. | 1960 | 2 | 1 | 84.0 | 76.3 | 13.3 | 11.0 | 6.0 | Jerry Lucas #72, John Havlicek #29 |
| 5 | 7 | Indiana | 1976 | 3 | 1 | 71.3 | 59.8 | 12.8 | 11.0 | 0.3 | Scott May |
| 6 | 4 | Duke | 2001 | 3 | 1 | 78.3 | 72.5 | 12.6 | 13.0 | 4.5 | Shane Battier |
| 7 | 14 | Houston | 1968 | 3 | 1 | 73.0 | 63.8 | 12.6 | 9.0 | 5.3 | Elvin Hayes #41 |
| 8 | 12 | North Carolina | 1982 | 5 | 1 | 68.8 | 65.0 | 12.3 | 10.0 | 7.2 | Michael Jordan #1, James Worthy #59 |
| 9 | 15 | North Carolina | 2005 | 3 | 2 | 72.2 | 64.4 | 11.9 | 9.0 | 4.8 | Sean May |
| 10 | 18 | Michigan | 1993 | 6 | 0 | 71.7 | 59.7 | 11.7 | 8.0 | -2.2 | Chris Webber #65 |
| 11 | 8 | Connecticut | 2023 | 5 | 1 | 74.8 | 64.7 | 11.7 | 11.0 | -0.8 | Adama Sanogo |
| 12 | 22 | Villanova | 2018 | 7 | 2 | 79.4 | 70.3 | 10.9 | 6.0 | 2.0 | Mikal Bridges |
| 13 | 5 | Kentucky | 1996 | 2 | 1 | 72.0 | 69.3 | 10.6 | 13.0 | 3.7 | Antoine Walker |
| 14 | 52 | Baylor | 2021 | 2 | 2 | 86.0 | 78.5 | 10.1 | 3.0 | 7.0 | Jared Butler |
| 15 | 23 | San Francisco | 1956 | 3 | 1 | 73.0 | 63.5 | 9.6 | 6.0 | 1.5 | Bill Russell #4 |
| 16 | 53 | Connecticut | 2004 | 5 | 2 | 74.7 | 66.0 | 9.4 | 3.0 | 1.6 | Ben Gordon |
| 17 | 30 | Virginia | 2019 | 4 | 1 | 72.6 | 65.4 | 9.4 | 5.0 | 5.0 | Kyle Guy |
| 18 | 2 | Kentucky | 2012 | 4 | 2 | 72.2 | 65.7 | 9.1 | 16.0 | -2.5 | Anthony Davis #53 |
| 19 | 24 | Gonzaga | 2017 | 3 | 3 | 69.8 | 63.0 | 8.6 | 6.0 | 3.7 | Nigel Williams-Goss |
| 20 | 9 | Cincinnati | 1960 | 1 | 2 | 72.3 | 78.0 | 8.5 | 11.0 | 11.7 | Oscar Robertson #12 |
| Rk | Pre | Upset, out of 20 | Year | W | L | Score | Allow | KenPom | Pre | SoS | Player |
| 32 | 3 | UCLA | 1967 | 2 | 1 | 83.0 | 87.0 | 6.8 | 14.0 | 1.7 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #3 |
| 23 | 10 | Duke | 1992 | 1 | 2 | 73.7 | 70.3 | 8.3 | 11.0 | 2.3 | Christian Laettner |
| 42 | 11 | UNLV | 1991 | 1 | 2 | 72.7 | 76.3 | 5.3 | 11.0 | 3.3 | Larry Johnson |
| 67 | 13 | Florida | 2006 | 5 | 3 | 74.4 | 72.0 | 2.5 | 10.0 | -4.1 | Joakim Noah |
| 30 | 16 | North Carolina St. | 1974 | 2 | 1 | 72.0 | 72.7 | 7.6 | 9.0 | 5.0 | David Thompson |
| 58 | 19 | Michigan | 1989 | 0 | 2 | 70.5 | 78.5 | 3.5 | 8.0 | 6.5 | Glen Rice |
| 64 | 20 | North Carolina | 1998 | 2 | 1 | 80.7 | 83.7 | 2.8 | 8.0 | -0.3 | Vince Carter |
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