It's Time To Hang The Banners

Michigan's Fab Five forever changed the game of basketball, and now it's time to honor them.

They were, and still are, the greatest recruiting class in the history of college basketball.  

In 1991, Detroit natives Chris Webber and Jalen Rose joined Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson as part of Michigan's stellar recruiting class.  The talented and controversial group would eventually become known as the 'Fab Five', becoming the first team in NCAA history to compete in a national championship game with an entire starting lineup of true freshman. 

The Fab Five were the biggest attraction in college athletics during the early 90's, dominating their opponents on the court and playing with a never-before-seen style of swagger and cockiness that drew both praise and criticism from those within the Michigan fan base itself.  Their immense talent coupled with the trash talk, the baggy shorts, the black socks and black shoes created one of the most marketable groups in the history of college athletics.

Oddly enough, the Fab Five were never able to claim a Big Ten championship or win a national championship - though they did make back-to-back appearances in the national championship game in 1992 against Duke and again in 1993 against North Carolina.

Beyond the talent and the style, the Fab Five are also known their role in a scandal that all but erased their legacy at the University of Michigan.

It was discovered in the late 90's that several members of the Michigan Basketball program had received payments from Booster Ed Martin.  Among those who took payments were Maurice Taylor, Robert Traylor, Louis Bullock and Chris Webber.  For his part, Webber initially denied taking payments from Martin before eventually admitting to taking payments during the legal process.

As a result of Webber's role in the Ed Martin scandal, the Fab Five would see any and all record of their achievements at the University of Michigan vanish.  Their wins were vacated, their names and achievements erased from the record books.  Additionally, the basketball program was placed on four years of probation, four years of postseason eligibility and would lose one scholarship each year for the four-year probationary period.  The NCAA would also require the University of Michigan to distance itself from those who were found guilty of taking payments, leading Webber to be banned from any association with the University until 2013.

The scandal surrounding Ed Martin and the Michigan Basketball program was unfortunate, but the fallout from the scandal was the direct result of the NCAA's grip on student athletes and the false premise of 'amateurism' - which no longer exists as of July 1, 2021. Now that the NCAA has adopted the new NIL guidelines, college athletes are finally permitted to profit from their name, image and likeness.  Put simply, college athletes can now accept payments.

With the new guidelines in place, many former college athletes are asking for the NCAA to revisit various punishments handed down due to impermissible payments - and one of those players is Chris Webber.

Ummmmmmm soooo …whoever has the key please hit me up. I need that key.. you know… the one to the secret room with the Banners…

— Chris Webber (@realchriswebber) July 1, 2021

Webber, like so many other athletes who faced the same fate, has a point.

Due to the old rules surrounding 'amateurism', the NCAA was able to profit off of the backs of student athletes for decades, while the athletes themselves were unable to share in those profits.  In fact, the Supreme Court recently sided with student athletes in a decision while slamming the business model of the NCAA.

Here's what justice Brett Kavanaugh had to say about the NCAA and its grip on student athletes.

"To be sure, the NCAA and its member colleges maintain important traditions that have become part of the fabric of America—game days in Tuscaloosa and South Bend; the packed gyms in Storrs and Durham; the women’s and men’s lacrosse championships on Memorial Day weekend; track and field meets in Eugene; the spring softball and baseball World Series in Oklahoma City and Omaha; the list goes on. But those traditions alone cannot justify the NCAA’s decision to build a massive money-raising enterprise on the backs of student athletes who are not fairly compensated. Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. And under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different. The NCAA is not above the law."

Given the new NIL guidelines and fact that the NCAA's business model of preventing players from earning profits has been rebuked by the Supreme Court of the United States, it would seem to be a worth-while exercise to examine any/all punishments handed down by the NCAA due to impermissible payments under the guise of 'amateurism'.

In short, it's time to hang the banners.