Going back to the early 1990s, Michigan basketball had one of the greatest teams ever orchestrated that became known as the ‘Fab Five’. The 1991 Wolverines’ recruiting class just may be the best class to ever walk thru the door at any university — ever.
The Wolverines started five freshmen in the 1991-92 season: Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson, Chris Webber, and Juwan Howard. During both seasons all five players played together, Michigan reached the NCAA Championship game twice, but lost both times to Duke and North Carolina, respectively.
But because Webber took money from a booster, which was illegal, the Wolverines were forced to vacate both Final Four banners.
In today’s day and age, NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) is a real thing and student-athletes are getting sponsorship deals for money, while other athletes are flat out getting paid from boosters at universities
Former Michigan basketball legend, Jalen Rose, was on the Draymond Green Show to discuss basketball, and the topic of the Fab Five was brought up. Green asked Rose what he thought about the banners still being down at Crisler Center since kids are getting paid — like Webber was back then — in today’s college world. Rose doesn’t care about the banners, but he wants to see Michigan do something to immortalize what the Fab Five has done.
“That’s a Michigan thing at that point, not an NCAA thing,” said Rose. “Because they can do it right now. For whatever reason, it just hasn’t happened. Now that Juwan (Howard) is leading the program, I have faith that it will happen. But to be honest, since we didn’t win it, I don’t really care about those banners. I feel like there should be one banner with all of our numbers on it. Like, retire our numbers. Or give us a statue or something — truly immortalize what we’ve done.”
Michigan should truly immortalize the Fab Five !! 〽️〽️〽️〽️〽️ pic.twitter.com/G7eISDoO4x
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) February 28, 2023
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