40 fires, 2 arrests in Ann Arbor after Michigan basketball title
Thousands swarmed South University to sing songs, recite chants and climb lamp posts and trees. They took down a parking meter. Couches were burned.
Most of the thousands of students who flooded the streets of Ann Arbor on Monday night, April 6, weren't even alive to see the University of Michigan's men's basketball team win its last basketball championship in 1989. So after Monday night's win, they celebrated like they had been waiting their whole lives for this moment. The Michigan Wolverines defeated the Connecticut Huskies , 69-63, in the national championship game in Indianapolis on Monday — a perfect ending to an iconic season, followed by only slight chaos from fans back in Ann Arbor.
Thousands of fans swarmed South University, Ann Arbor's college nightlife hot spot, where they sang songs, recited chants and climbed lamp posts and trees. They even took down a parking meter. Fireworks lit the sky.
No serious injuries or incidents were reported during the post-game celebrations, according to Ann Arbor police, but two people were arrested on unspecified charges, several street signs were damaged and the city's fire department put out over 40 fires — including burning couches. The chaos was predictable — setting furniture ablaze has become the norm in the college sports world. It was a similar scene of wild joy in Ann Arbor after Michigan's football team toppled Washington to win the national championship in 2023 .
Then, Ann Arbor officials put out 21 fires. And like Monday night, there were no serious injures reported. Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press.