Only one "Fab Five"

After reading the book about the Fab Five I started to think about other college basketball teams who
have had something similar. Last year the Kentucky Wildcats had three freshmen who all went to the
NBA after one year. The Ohio State Buckeyes a few years ago had three freshman play a lot of minutes
but only two left for the draft after one year.
Well it is very unlikely that we will ever see something like the Fab Five again there is one rule that
needs to be kept to increase the chances of it happening. I believe it is important that the NBA keep its
current rules of not allowing high school players to skip college for the NBA. There are many reasons
this is a good rule but I will focus on its impact on creating another “Fab Five.” By requiring players to
spend at least one year of college you are making sure that the best players in the country are a part of
college basketball. Star players are only planning on staying one year so many will look to join the top
programs so they have the best chance of being seen and also winning a national championship. It is
then possible that a group of freshman could come together like the Fab Five.
Whether college basketball sees another “Fab Five” or not the legacy of Michigan’s freshman will stay
for years to come. I personally would like to see it happen…as long as it is not with the Buckeyes or the
Spartans!

Any other scandals?

The scandal involving Michigan's basketball program was enormous in the media. Everyone knew about it, mostly because the Fab Five was so popular, that everyone knew about them and didn't really understand how Michigan recruited all these freshmen together. It was such a big deal when they finally found out some of the players were paid during their time at Michigan.
But was that the only college basketball scandal? No. Michigan's scandal was the first large scale scandal and was the first major paying of players. There were some before Michigan like at Boston College in the 70's when some players were paid $2,500 a game. There has also been many since. John Calipari, now the coach at Kentucky, has been involved in many allegations for illegal recruiting in the 2000's. He has been known for getting the highest recruits in the country, but afterward has been found out that people have paid them to come. One of the worst one was at Baylor a few years ago. A player who had done many wrong things and should have been easily been suspended was kept by the coach and paid to stay.
These have all been bad and some could say are worse then Michigan's scandal, but none will ever be more televised or as big of deal as the Fab Five scandal.
To see the five worst college basketball scandals go to - http://www.docsports.com/current/worst-college-basketball-scandals.html

The forgotten man

While the Fab Five grabbed the headlines in the early 90's, there were other members of that team that played important roles. The freshman did not all start the first game played at Michigan but rather were slowly introduced in to the starting line up. The big question became when coach Fisher would have all 5 freshman on the court when the game began. That moment came a few weeks in to the season. The last player removed from the starting line up to be replaced by a freshman was James Voskuil from Grand Rapids Calvin Christian. He was a member of the national championship team in 1989 and had a earned a spot in the starting line up for the 1991 season. Even though he no longer started, James kept a positive attitude and still made contributions to the team. The book only touched this topic briefly, and didn't make a big deal about him even though he was the key bench player for him.
James nephew Tom is a good friend of mine and as a result I have met James and have talked to him briefly about his time with the Fab Five. He has shared some stories and gave me information about the players that would be hard to find anywhere else. My brothers recently played a recreation league game against James which was pretty cool for them! I admire the fact that James hung in there after being replaced and managed to do well enough to earn a contract to play professional basketball in Europe for several years.

What happened after the "Fab Five" - Juwan Howard

Juwan Howard's All-American junior season is one of the few things during that time period of Michigan basketball not to be taken away because he was not directly involved in receiving large amounts of money during the scandal. He left after that season and was drafted fifth overall. Several different teams got this versatile big man on their team, because he was traded a few times. He had an All Star appearance within his first two seasons and was playing really well. The first player to receive a contract greater then $100 million was none other then Juwan. He's becoming a older, slower veteran who has struggled as of late. He's now entering his 17th NBA season, mostly in hopes to get a ring before he retires because he joined the superstars of the Miami Heat. Although he doesn't start but still plays a role and his age. Juwan has three kids and is married. To see his NBA stats you can visit - http://www.nba.com/playerfile/juwan_howard/career_stats.html

Love em or hate em!

The Fab Five had a style of play that got the attention of all who watched them play. The players were flashy, vocal, showy, and very demonstrative. When they entered a gym, they were there to play hard, have fun, and impress all in attendance. There was playful taunting and lots of trash talk that went on and their goal seemed to be to get in the heads of their opponents. It often worked! If you were a fan of the University of Michigan, you most likely loved the Fab Five's enthusiasm and confidence. If you were not a fan, you mostly despised them and viewed them as cocky and bad for the game. They were often booed at opposing arenas and the press was not very kind to them. Even coaches of teams they played had harsh words for them and on occasion encouraged rough, physical play that could possible cause injury to them. No matter what your opinion of the team was, you knew who the Fab Five was and wanted to see them play as you knew what they were doing was never seen before and likely will never be seen again.

What happend after the "Fab Five" - Jimmy King

Jimmy King was a very big part of the team, and very highly recruited out of high school. He was a high school All-American. A bright future in basketball looked certain for him especially after his "Fab Five" years. He stayed all four years at Michigan, where he outplayed Ray Jackson when it was just them two left. The Raptors picked him up in the second round of the NBA draft. He played one season with them, then got traded to the Mavericks where he was released shortly after. Like Ray Jackson, he played in the CBA and  had good seasons there. After a couple more years of trying for the NBA he stopped, and quit playing professionally after 2001. In the recent ESPN documentary about the Fab Five, Jimmy stated that he thinks he was the best player never to pan out in the NBA. Jimmy now works for the ESPN network as an analyst.

Basketball fashion changed forever

The Fab Five introduced a new form of fashion to the game of basketball. Before the Fab Five walked onto the court at Michigan for the first time, players wore the traditional short shorts, high white socks, and usually white sneakers. The uniforms fit snugly and did not really attract a lot of attention. Things changed forever because of the Fab Five. The main change was the shorts they wore. They were huge! The shorts looked like they were several sizes too big for the players and nothing like it was ever seen before on the court. In addition, the players wore black socks and black shoes. This too was never done and at first glance many thought the new look was hideous. It didn't take long for the look to catch on and within weeks other teams copied the look. The old style uniforms soon looked old fashioned and faded away.
To this day, if you go in to any gym around the country,you will see that the Fab Five changed the look of basketball. All teams, high school, college and professional, now wear uniforms modeled after theirs. Even the uniforms our very own Eagles wear are a direct result of the change in fashion 20 years ago.