It had been nearly a decade since Cazzie Russell set foot in Crisler Center.
That changed on Saturday, Feb. 14, as the Michigan basketball great used crutches to walk the sideline – directly underneath where his jersey hangs in the rafters – and take his courtside seat next to the Wolverines’ bench.
From there, he had a stellar view of U-M’s domination of UCLA, as the Wolverines outscored the Bruins, 46-18, in the second half of an 86-56 victory.
At halftime of the 11th consecutive sellout at Crisler, Michigan celebrated Russell and his teammates on the 1966 Big Ten championship team.. Although it was Russell’s first time in Ann Arbor in nine years, it was by no means his first look at this year’s group, which improved to 24-1 overall and 14-1 in Big Ten play ahead of Monday’s likely ascension to No. 1 in both polls.
The 81-year-old Russell lives in Florida but has kept his eye on the Wolverines, deep in the heart of SEC country. A two-time consensus All-American (1965-66), he led U-M to the Final Four in 1964 and 1965. He has seen most iterations of U-M hoops and, as he told the Free Press on Saturday, he feels this squad coached by Dusty May has what’s necessary to cut down the nets in Indianapolis this April.
“They have the depth and the coaching, I think, to make it [all the way],” Russell said. “I don’t want to be premature but I mean they’ve got to be considered a real threat to win it all. Look at the depth, the games they’ve played, the great comeback they had the other night at Northwestern – I mean, I’m praying they do.”
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Despite keeping up with the Wolverines, this weekend was the first time in a while he could get a look at U-M’s most modern facilities. He used to sit on steel benches when he played at Yost Field House but, as he noted with a laugh, the film room now is like a “movie theater.”
He and his fellow 1966 champions spent time with the current team on Friday, sitting in on a film session said he was impressed by the scouting report’s depth was, calling it a “blessing” to get to watch.
“Met with coach yesterday, talked to some of the players,” Russell said. “I’m just impressed with the depth of the team, how each player has bought into the system, it makes a big difference.”
Although he doesn’t have a favorite player, he said he was particularly impressed with Aday Mara. On Saturday. the 7-foot-3 center had nine points, eight rebounds, three blocks and, perhaps most impressively, Three assists.
Russell said he likes Mara’s passing skills. Then, he took it a step further, comparing them to those of one of the all-time greats.
“I watched the game the other night. … He reminded me of Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] when he started shooting the hook near the baseline, so he couldn’t get a double-team,” Russell said. “That’s smart coaching there. So looking at a lot of things, I like the depth inside and out.
“I think what impresses me the most is even though the game has been revolutionized by the 3, they still have an inside and outside game, which is really great.”
Crisler Center’s nickname is “The House Cazzie Built” and one of the all-time U-M greats couldn’t help but laugh when asked how he liked how his home is holding up. Instead, he talked about just how close he was to never coming to Ann Arbor – as a recruit from Chicago, he was all but locked in to playing at Cincinnati.
“I was actually headed to another university, but by the grace of God, I toured here at Michigan,” he said. “I had three teams left, hadn’t heard from Michigan, so I called and said, ‘Why haven’t I heard from you?’ and they said, ‘We were told you were no longer interested.’
“I came up, made a visit, they never showed me the inside of Yost, but [Bill] Buntin was my host, I really kind of liked coach [Dave] Strack and the atmosphere he was talking about. I’m just really grateful I had a chance to play here and get to come back.”
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What legend Cazzie Russell thinks about this Michigan basketball team
Reporting by Tony Garcia, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
