The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/666058
INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Time to Recognize Important Era By Michael Spath Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson arrived in Ann Arbor 25 years ago come September. While a few still harbor discon- tent — largely with Webber alone for the consequences that would befall this program, including an NCAA postseason ban, the vacating of wins and ban- ners, and the black cloud that hung over Michigan for a decade — a statute of limitations has been reached. Michigan basketball is what it is today because of the Fab Five, for better and for worse, but we've been focused on the latter for the past 20 years. It's time to celebrate all the excitement, joy and success they brought to the program. The Fab Five were revolutionaries, changing the way the game was played. Everyone remembers the swagger and bravado, but what they should also re- call is just how talented the five were, combining for 58.6 points per game their rookie years and 67.3 points per game their sophomore seasons. They ushered in an era where more responsibility was given and expected of freshmen. Today, the one-and-dones (players that leave after their first year) dominate the college basketball landscape, transforming programs over night into championship contenders. That formula may not be ideal for the basketball purists, but it is the present- day standard and hoops fans can trace that back to the Fab Five. Who else can say they have impacted not just a decade or two decades, but a quarter- century of NCAA basketball? Banners can be pulled down and wins vacated, but wiping history from the record books isn't that easy because we all experienced it. We experienced the youthful exuberance, the joyful competition, the black socks, shaved heads, starting five and the two unparalleled NCAA championship runs. It's time to stop pretending that didn't happen and applaud the Fab Five for what they were — transcendent. Remember The Reality By John Borton Michigan basketball fans experienced one heck of a time from the fall of 1991 through the spring of '93. They witnessed arguably the greatest basketball recruit- ing class of all time explode onto the campus with an intoxicating rush to two straight NCAA championship games. The program, and its fans, spent the following decade-plus with a nasty hangover. Michigan's NCAA scandal of the 1990s — involving extra benefits, illicit relation- POINT ❙ COUNTERPOINT SHOULD MICHIGAN BASKETBALL HONOR THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE FAB FIVE?