Michigan makes it a double on final fours

Michigan is a grand educational institution, but for the next week, forgive Wolverines fans if one plus one equals four.

As in Final Four and Frozen Four.

With the basketball's team 58-54 victory over Florida State on Saturday and the hockey team's 6-3 victory over Boston University on Sunday, Michigan has accomplished a rare double-dip. For just the sixth time in the history of the Division I two championships — basketball dating to 1939, hockey to 1948 — a school will send teams to both the Final Four and Frozen Four in the same year.

And get this: Our fair state owns the monopoly on that club's membership.

Michigan also made both in 1964, 1992 and 1993, and Michigan State accomplished it in 1999 and 2001.

It's a tough feat to pull off, in that there's not much overlap in college hockey powers and basketball behemoths at the same university. Not many schools even carry both sports. Because of that, in hockey, many Division I schools in hockey are Division II in basketball.

The basketball team in San Antonio and the hockey team in Saint Paul, Minn., will try to pull off the first-ever double national championship. Michigan's hockey team won the championship in 1964, but none of the other nine teams — five in basketball, four in hockey — claimed the title in those years.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

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