Fab Five (University of Michigan)

The Fab Five during their sophomore year at Crisler Arena. From left to right, Jimmy King, Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Ray Jackson Juwan Howard.

The Fab Five was the nickname for a 1991 University of Michigan men's basketball team recruitment class that is considered by some to be "the greatest class ever recruited." The class consisted of Detroit natives Chris Webber and Jalen Rose, Chicago native Juwan Howard, and Texas high school basketball stars Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. At first, only three of the freshmen started for the 1991–92 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team. Although they all played when the season opened on December 2, 1991 against the University of Detroit, they did not all play at the same time until December 7 against Eastern Michigan and did not start regularly until February 9, 1992. In that first game starting together as a regular unit, the five freshmen scored all the team's points against Notre Dame. They started as a unit in all but one of the remaining games for the season. They reached the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship games as both freshmen and sophomores, while starting a combined 304 of a possible 350 man-games.

As students,they helped to bring a popular "Hip Hop" style to the game with their trash talk and by imitating Michael Jordan of the NBA , wearing longer, baggier gym shorts and shaved heads. They also wore black athletic shoes, and black athletic socks. Their controversial antics on the court garnered much attention from the media. The group's popularity as college basketball players has been enduring. They are the subjects of The Fab Five, which was the highest rated ESPN films documentary ever produced, were one of the featured teams in two of the highest rated NCAA Men's Basketball Championship games ever played, and were a marketing juggernaut whose merchandise sales even dwarfed those of the 1989 NCAA tournament champion 1988–89 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team.

Player	G	Pts	Reb	Ast	Blk	Stl
King	130	1,542	538	354	45	187
Jackson	125	1,262	579	300	42	119
Rose	102	1,788	477	401	29	119
Howard	100	1,526	749	202	56	79
Webber	70	1,218	702	166	174	103

Source: ESPN

In the documentary, Jackson noted that this was a special era for Michigan Wolverines athletics. During the 1991 NCAA Division I-A football season, Desmond Howard won the Heisman Trophy playing for the 1991 Michigan Wolverines football team. Also, the 1991–92 and 1992–93 Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey team reached the Frozen Four in the same two springs (1992 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament & 1993 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament) that the basketball team went to the championship game. In addition, the basketball team had won the championship two years before the Fab Five arrived on campus.

Originally, the players rebelled against the moniker and attempted to give themselves the nickname Five Times' (written 5X's). As high school players all five members of the Fab Five were rated in the top 100 of high school prospects in 1991, and four were in the top ten. Chris Webber was ranked #1, Juwan Howard was ranked #3, Jalen Rose was ranked #6, Jimmy King was ranked #9, and Ray Jackson was ranked #84. All but Jackson participated in the McDonald's All-American Game in 1991.

In the elite eight round of the 1992 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, Michigan earned a rematch against a Jimmy Jackson-led Ohio State Buckeyes team that had beaten them twice during the regular season by double digits. Michigan won the rematch as all but two Wolverines points were scored by the Fab Five. Despite their talent, they never won a championship. They reached the NCAA championship game as freshmen in 1992 and again as sophomores in 1993. They lost to Duke 71–51 in the 1992 title game and lost 77–71 to North Carolina in 1993, a game which is remembered mostly for Chris Webber's costly "timeout", which resulted in a technical foul as Michigan had no timeouts remaining.

Webber earned second team All-Big Ten Conference recognition in 1992 and first team recognition in 1993. Howard an honorable mention in 1992, second team selection in 1993 and first team selection in 1994. Rose was a third team selection in 1993 and first team selection in 1994. King was an honorable mention selection in 1993 and 1994 as well as a third team selection in 1995. Jackson was an honorable mention selection in 1994 and second team selection in 1995.

Four of the five members went on to play in the NBA. Ray Jackson was the only player of the five to never suit up in the NBA. Jimmy King played two seasons. Juwan Howard was a one-time NBA All-Star and is the only member still active (as of the 2010–11 NBA season). Jalen Rose emerged as one of the top small forwards between 1999 and 2003, leading the Indiana Pacers in scoring the year they won the Eastern Conference (2000). Chris Webber was a five-time NBA All-Star and is the only one of the five expected to get nominated and possibly inducted into the Hall of Fame. No member of the Fab Five has ever won an NBA Championship.

Chris Webber

Main article: Chris Webber

After graduating from Detroit Country Day School, where he led his team to three MHSAA basketball titles and won state and national high school Gatorade Player of the Year awards and McDonald's All-American Game MVP, Webber attended the University of Michigan for two years. Chris Webber had drawn attention from colleges all around the world because of his dunks in 7th grade AAU basketball.

On April 5, 1993, at Michigan's second consecutive NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship game, Webber infamously called a time-out with 11 seconds left in the game when his team, down 73–71, did not have any remaining, which resulted in a technical foul that effectively clinched the game for North Carolina. That season, Webber was a first team All-American selection and a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award and Naismith College Player of the Year. These awards and honors have been vacated due to University of Michigan and NCAA sanctions related to the University of Michigan basketball scandal.

Webber was the first of the Fab Five to leave school, doing so after his sophomore year. He was drafted #1 overall by the Orlando Magic in the 1993 NBA Draft, but was traded on draft night to the Golden State Warriors for Anfernee Hardaway. He played with five teams over his fifteen year career and had his #4 retired by the Sacramento Kings, with whom he spent a majority of those years. He is now an analyst for TNT. Webber holds NBA career averages of 20.7 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game, 4.2 assists per game, and 1.4 blocks per game. He was selected to the NBA All-Star game five times during his fifteen year NBA career.

Jalen Rose

Main article: Jalen Rose

The son of former NBA player Jimmy Walker, Rose first appeared on the basketball radar as a star at Southwestern High School in Detroit; he can even be seen at a high school All-American camp in the documentary film Hoop Dreams. Rose attended the University of Michigan where the Wolverines reached two NCAA Finals games in 1992 and 1993, finishing as national runners up both times. Rose was a part of Wolverines coach Steve Fisher's legendary 1991 recruiting class. He led the Fab Five in scoring his freshman year averaging 17.6 points per game and set the school freshman scoring record with 597 total points. Aside from being the most outspoken of the Fab Five, Rose was also their point guard and leader. During his career, he racked up over 1700 points, 400 rebounds, 400 assists, and 100 steals. Of the players called before the grand jury (Robert Traylor, Webber, Rose, Maurice Taylor, and Louis Bullock), he was the only one not listed as having received large amounts of money.

Rose left Michigan after his junior year and was drafted by the Denver Nuggets in the 1994 NBA Draft. He played most of his career with the Indiana Pacers and was a key member of the teams that went to three consecutive Eastern Conference Finals in the late 1990s and the 2000 NBA Finals Pacer team. He finished his career in 2007 with the Phoenix Suns and is now an analyst for ESPN.

Juwan Howard

Main article: Juwan Howard

Howard had a successful career at Chicago Vocational Career Academy and can be seen playing in the high school basketball documentary Hoop Dreams. He left Michigan after his junior year and was taken fifth overall in the 1994 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets, for whom he played until 2001. Although the Fab Five final four appearances were later forfeited, he was not among the players called before the grand jury (Robert Traylor, Webber, Rose, Maurice Taylor, and Louis Bullock).

As previously noted, Howard is the only member of the Fab Five that is still playing in the NBA and has played for eight teams in sixteen seasons. He was a member of the Portland Trail Blazers in 2009–10 and is a member of the Miami Heat for the 2010–11 season and played in the 2011 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, which the Heat lost. Howard has played for eight different NBA franchises including the Washington Wizards, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, Charlotte Bobcats, Trail Blazers, and Miami Heat. He holds NBA career averages of 13.8 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game, and 2.3 assists per game.

Jimmy King

Main article: Jimmy King

King was a starter for teams that reached the tournament four times. Before this, he was a high school All-American basketball player at Plano East Senior High School in Plano, a city north of Dallas, Texas. Although the Fab Five final four appearances are forfeited, he was not among the players called before the grand jury. King and Ray Jackson were the only two members of the Fab Five that did not leave school early for the draft, staying with Michigan for their entire four years of eligibility.

King was selected in the second round (35th overall) in the 1995 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors. He played in a total of 64 games in two seasons with the Raptors and Denver Nuggets, made one start for the Raptors in 1996. King played for the Quad City Thunder(a CBA team)for most of his career. King retired with a career average of 4.5 points after the 1996–97 season.

In a phone interview on The Jim Rome Show on November 30, 2006, Jimmy stated he was currently working as a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch on Wall Street. During the 2008–09 Michigan Wolverines season, King served as a radio color commentator.

Ray Jackson

Main article: Ray Jackson

Ray Jackson was part of the famed Fab Five. Although the Fab Five Final Four appearances are forfeited, he was not among the players called before the grand jury (Robert Traylor, Webber, Rose, Maurice Taylor, and Louis Bullock) in the University of Michigan basketball scandal and was not found to have received large amounts of money.

Perhaps the least known of the Fab Five, Jackson was not drafted into nor did he play in the NBA. He was cut in preseason by the New York Knicks before the 1995–96 season and cut by the Detroit Pistons before the 1996–97 season. He was drafted in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) by the Grand Rapids Hoops as 35th pick overall in the 3rd round in 1995.

While with the Hoops, he received the 1995–96 CBA Rookie of the Year Award.

In a February 10, 2007 article on Yahoo Sports, Jackson says that: "It took me a long time to get over the fact that I was the only one that didn't make it to the NBA from the Fab Five, but I'm over it because I'm back home and I'm happy with what I'm doing with my life."

Jackson now lives in Austin, Texas where he runs a moving company and Rise Up Inc., a not-for-profit organization that assists children socially, educationally and on the basketball court.

University of Michigan basketball scandal

Main article: University of Michigan basketball scandal

Today their legacy has been significantly tarnished in the wake of the University of Michigan basketball scandal, that involved a host of NCAA rule violations that occurred both during and after their time at the university. In the wake of the scandal the University of Michigan voluntarily vacated several wins and many of the Fab Five's achievements. Notably, Chris Webber was indicted on five charges, including obstruction of justice and lying to a federal grand jury, for having misrepresented his relationships with a booster heavily involved in the scandal.

Stats

Season

Name

GP

GS

Min

Avg

FG

FGA

FG%

3FG

3FGA

3FG%

FT

FTA

FT%

OR

DR

RB

Avg

Ast

Avg

PF

DQ

TO

Stl

Blk

Pts

Avg

1991–92

Jalen Rose

1991–92

Chris Webber

1991–92

Juwan Howard

1991–92

Jimmy King

1991–92

Ray Jackson

Season	Name	GP	GS	Min	Avg	FG	FGA	FG%	3FG	3FGA	3FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	OR	DR	RB	Avg	Ast	Avg	PF	DQ	TO	Stl	Blk	Pts	Avg
1992–93	Chris Webber	36	36	1138	31.6	281	454	0.619	27	80	0.338	101	183	0.552	155	207	362	10.1	90	2.5	102	4	105	49	90	690	19.2
1992–93	Jalen Rose	36	36	1234	34.3	203	455	0.446	33	103	0.32	116	161	0.721	37	113	150	4.2	140	3.9	82	1	113	43	15	555	15.4
1992–93	Juwan Howard	36	36	1135	31.5	206	407	0.506	0	2	0	112	160	0.7	94	173	267	7.4	69	1.9	99	3	92	21	14	524	14.6
1992–93	Jimmy King	36	36	1174	32.6	148	291	0.509	37	92	0.402	57	88	0.648	58	101	159	4.4	110	3.1	75	2	84	57	19	390	10.8
1992–93	Ray Jackson	29	26	657	22.7	105	213	0.493	2	13	0.154	50	79	0.633	46	72	118	4.1	67	2.3	78	3	53	27	10	262	9

Season	Name	GP	GS	Min	Avg	FG	FGA	FG%	3FG	3FGA	3FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	OR	DR	RB	Avg	Ast	Avg	PF	DQ	TO	Stl	Blk	Pts	Avg
1993–94	Jalen Rose	32	32	1154	36.1	220	477	0.461	55	155	0.355	141	192	0.734	53	129	182	5.7	126	3.9		2		38	6	636	19.9
1993–94	Juwan Howard	30	30	1048	34.9	261	469	0.556	1	7	0.143	102	151	0.675	95	175	270	9	71	2.4		5		44	21	625	20.8
1993–94	Jimmy King	29	29	932	32.1	139	284	0.489	29	87	0.333	51	79	0.646	49	63	112	3.9	76	2.6		3		44	12	358	12.3
1993–94	Ray Jackson	31	31	931	30	136	277	0.491	7	34	0.206	75	110	0.682	74	121	195	6.3	82	2.6		5		35	11	354	11.4

Season	Name	GP	GS	Min	Avg	FG	FGA	FG%	3FG	3FGA	3FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	OR	DR	RB	Avg	Ast	Avg	PF	DQ	TO	Stl	Blk	Pts	Avg
1994–95	Ray Jackson	31	31	1040	33.5	177	370	0.478	24	78	0.308	113	146	0.774	64	99	163	5.3	93	3	89	2	115	33	10	491	15.8
1994–95	Jimmy King	31	31	1059	34.2	168	388	0.433	28	109	0.257	93	137	0.679	48	107	155	5	90	2.9	72	0	94	58	5	457	14.7