Michigan Basketball: John Beilein’s top 6 NCAA tournament wins at U-M

Michigan basketball won 20 NCAA tournament games during the head coaching tenure of John Beilein and here are the six that meant the most.

When people say that John Beilein is the greatest head coach in the history of Michigan basketball, it’s pretty hard to argue against it.

Beilein is the all-time leader in wins for Michigan basketball with 244 and he’s second in school history with Big Ten victories at 110. He led the Wolverines to the national championship game twice, a Big Ten regular-season title outright in 2014, a shared title in 2012 and of course, back-to-back Big Ten Tournament titles in 2017 and 2018.

His resume is unmatched and it’s hard to believe that less than a year ago, he was the Wolverines head coach. Things have changed a lot in the past year. Beilein went to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers and was let go, while Juwan Howard has proven to be a capable replacement.

However, the Beilein era will always mean something extra special for Michigan basketball fans. He was the guy that started the revival. He got Michigan back to the Final Four, heck, first, he got the Wolverines back to the NCAA tournament, which he did nine times.

In eight of those nine trips to March Madness, Michigan won at least one game. Five times, the Wolverines won at least two and three times they won at least three.

The only thing missing was that elusive national championship that Michigan has missed out on four times since winning back in 1989, falling in the title game in 1992, 1993, 2013 and 2018.

Someday, Michigan will hopefully cut those nets down again, and maybe Howard will be the man to do lead U-M to the promised land. But Beilein made that idea possible again and with that in mind, here are the top six NCAA tournament wins for the Wolverines during his tenure.