Okay, so I’ve been wanting to really dive into the history of Michigan basketball uniforms, like, really get into it. I figured, what better way to do that than to try and track down photos and descriptions of every. single. one. So I started, you know, simple.
I started with Google Images, obviously. Typed in “michigan basketball uniforms history” and stuff like that. Got a bunch of random stuff, some cool older photos, some modern ones, but nothing really organized.
Then I dug into some fan forums. Places with names like “MGOBlog” and “The Wolverine.” Figured the die-hards would have some good info. And they did! Found some threads where people were debating the shades of maize over the years, or arguing about which jersey was the best. It was cool, but still kinda scattered.
Trying to get organized
- Made a spreadsheet. Yeah, I’m that guy. Columns for year, manufacturer, home/away, key features, notes, photo link (if I had one).
- Started sorting. Tried to group things by era. Like, the Cazzie Russell era, the Fab Five era, the Beilein era, etc.
- Got frustrated. So many gaps! Especially in the earlier years. Hard to find good quality photos of some of those older jerseys.
I hit the online archives of some newspapers. The Michigan Daily, for example. Found some old game recaps that sometimes mentioned uniform details. Like, “The Wolverines debuted new blue road uniforms tonight…” That sort of thing. It was like detective work!
I even tried to find old media guides. Figured they might have team photos or descriptions of the uniforms. No luck so far, but I’m still looking. I might have to actually go to a library or something. Crazy, I know.
My goal is to put them into order,and make a real cool time-line of Michigan basketball unifroms.
The whole process is still very much a work in progress. It’s messy, it’s slow, but it’s also kinda fun. I feel like I’m uncovering a little piece of history with each photo I find, each description I read. And hey, if I ever actually finish this thing, I’ll have the ultimate Michigan basketball uniform resource. Now I just need to keep * anyone is reading this and has an old photo,hit me up!
