Michigan Fab Five (5)
The Michigan Fab Five (sometimes naturally written as Fab 5) is the name given to the University of Michigan basketball team that started five star freshmen players while the 1991-1992 college basketball season and then the same five players in their sophomore seasons. All five members played in the 1991 McDonald's High School All-American game together and were all ranked as top 100 high school basketball prospects with four of the five members being top ten basketball recruits. The five members were:
Chris Webber (#1 ranked basketball prospect)
Juwan Howard (#3 ranked basketball prospect)
Jalen Rose (#6 ranked basketball prospect)
Jimmy King (#9 ranked basketball prospect)
Ray Jackson (#84 ranked basketball prospect)
The Fab 5 roster never won a Ncaa Tournament national championship but did play in two finals games suffering losses to Duke in March of 1992 and North Carolina in March of 1993. The final game the Fab Five played together is best known for the occasion when Chris Webber calls timeout in the final moments but because his team is already out of timeouts when the ask is made a technical foul is assessed against the University of Michigan. The now infamous Chris Webber Michigan timeout incident directly contributed to Unc defeating the Fab Five in the championship game.
Much has been written about the heritage of the Fab Five together with a best-selling book by sports journalist Mitch Albom naturally titled The Fab Five: Basketball Trash Talk the American Dream. While at the University of Michigan the focus revolved around the talent of the players and the attitude they brought to the court in terms of their swagger, baggy shorts, and arrogant antics. In many respects this group of five players that were assembled in Ann Arbor, Michigan played a large role in ushering in a teenage hip hop culture into the game of basketball.
With regards to the group heritage of Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson the five players will eternally be connected together with single attentiveness given to their Nba success (or lack thereof) and the Fab Five scandal that tarnished their images.
Fab Five Scandal
The fab five scandal is also referred to in University of Michigan circles as the Ed Martin scandal because the circumstances primarily revolved around an affluent booster by the name of Ed Martin. The six year investigation was a collaboration animated the United States agency of Justice, Irs, Fbi, and Ncaa surrounded by others. The investigation fulfilled, that Ed Martin began giving cash and gifts to prospects as far back as the 1980s and that among the illustrious players he influenced was top hope and Fab 5 member Chris Webber whom Martin began illegally courting when Webber was in middle school. After first attempts at denying any wrong doing Webber eventually found himself painted into a projection where his only choice was to confess. Finally the enTire process was vetted and penalties were enforced against Ed Martin, previous players involved, coaches, and the University of Michigan which was sanctioned by the Ncaa in such a manner that previous victories and time to come post season eligibility was forfeited.
Fab Five in the Nba
Ray Jackson was the onlf Fab 5 member not to make it to the Nba. Each of the other four members played at least some Nba basketball. Interestingly the degree of expert basketball success these once very touted prospects enjoyed was well expected by the order in which they were initially ranked as college prospects while their senior seasons of high school.
Ray Jackson - #84 high school recruit: never played a Nba game
Jimmy King - #9 high school recruit: played two seasons in the Nba
Jalen Rose - #6 high school recruit: 13 year Nba occupation with no all-star game selections
Juwan Howard - #3 high school recruit: 16 year Nba occupation (still active as of 2/10) with one all-star game selection
Chris Webber - #1 high school recruit: 15 year Nba occupation with five all-star game selections
None of the Fab Five players ever won a Nba Championship.
Conclusion
With Juwan Howard, the final active player, in the twilight of his occupation the sun is very close to setting on a animated story that has been almost 20 years in the making. After diving into the first few layers of data animated onlookers are often left request themselves anyone happened to Ray Jackson who is the least known member of the Fab Five.
As it turns out despite a lengthy government investigation Ray Jackson was found to have never received any illegal compensation from University of Michigan boosters like Ed Martin. After being cut by the Knicks and later the Pistons in the mid-1990s Jackson later reminisced in a 2007 interview with Yahoo Sports that it took him a long time to become comfortable with the fact that he was the only member of the Fab Five unable to make it to the Nba. Now living in Austin, Texas Jackson is involved with a not-for-profit that helps children, manages a animated company, and says he is happy with his life.
To look at the full spectrum that is the Fab Five is to analyze the lives of men that have been under intense scrutiny for decades. The stories of the Fab Five animated successes, failures, potential, scandal, and animated on are aspects that all readers can quote to as being part of their own lives.
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