The 1996–97 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team represented the University of Michigan in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1996–97 season. The team played its home games in the Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference. Under the direction of head coach Steve Fisher, the team finished tied for sixth in the Big Ten Conference. The team earned an invitation to the 1997 National Invitation Tournament where it emerged as champion. The team was ranked for sixteen of the eighteen weeks of Associated Press Top Twenty-Five Poll, starting the season ranked ninth, peaking at number fourth and ending unranked, and it also ended the season unranked in the final USA Today/CNN Poll. The team had a 3–4 record against ranked opponents, including th