Fab Five: Shorts, not Panties!

Remember those days? Those days when shoelaces were fat and Michael Jackson… Sorry, I mean those days when shorts perfectly fitted their product description and even better fitted their wearer’s thighs. Must have been the 80s. Well, it was the 90s. Back then, in college basketball everyone – from massive 7-foot Center to tiny 6-foot Guard – wore shorts that resembled more those tight undies than basketball shorts as we know them today.

At this point it is probably most suitable to grant proven poet Ice Cube seven words to sum up the whole dilemma. „Dudes were just wearing panties out there“, is what Mr. Friday had to say about the early 90s college basketball fashion sense. However, as Cube points out, that was before a certain group came along, before five Freshmen basically turned the whole NCAA upside down.

Off went the Domino

It all started with Juwan Howard, a McDonald’s All American, the third highest ranked prospect in the country, committing zu the University of Michigan. Off went the domino. Howard convinced Chris Webber, another McDonald’s All American, America’s then top prospect, that there was no better place to play college ball than Ann Arbor. With those two the Wolverines had laid a pretty solid foundation. Yet they weren’t finished.

There still was this other guy from Detroit, a certain someone whom Webber had known since they both were 12 years old. There still was Jalen Rose. Of course, a McDonald’s All American in his own right, of course among the best talents in the country (#5), and of course soon to be committing to the University of Michigan.

Now think. Out of the five best talents in the whole US of A, the Wolverines had just recruited three. Well, they had also already recruited top-10 prospect Jimmy King (#9) and top-100 prospect Ray Jackson (#84). With that in mind, it doesn’t come as a surprise that to this day people speak of those young Wolverines as the best group ever recruited.

Streetstyle to the Hardwood

Even before they had hammered down a single slam dunk, before they had given a single no-look assist, before they had hit the first ridiculous jumper, people spoke as highly of those five guys, of the Fab Five, as one could possibly speak. But it was not only their on-court potential that made the public go crazy, it was the off-court appeal, that really separated the Fab Five from their peers.

They brought streetstyle to the hardwood. Having grown up in some of the roughest areas of the United States, they did not care about etiquette or political correctness. And they absolutely disliked those panties they were supposed to wear. So they just helped themselves. When picking his first ever Michigan uniform, Jalen Rose just grabbed the biggest short he could find – a short, by the way, that was supposed to be worn by a Center.

Because, you know, playing well wasn’t enough, the Fab Five wanted to feel comfortable. They wanted „shorts like Michael Jordan wears with the Bulls… but longer.“ (Howard). And that’s what they got. They got their own little revolution. A revolution that had only just started. With their long shorts, shaved heads, with the black socks fitting the black shoes and their trash talk, the Fab Five introduced an element, that college ball had never seen before.

Proving them Wrong

They were wild. Like a huge wave crushing everyone who’s stupid enough to try and ride it. Their combination of great talent and non-conformist behavior quickly made the young Wolverines the biggest attraction in the country. Yet they didn’t play all together at the same time until December. February 9th was the day, from which on they started together on a regular basis.

It took the five Freshmen some time to convince coach Steve Fisher, but they earned his trust. They proved that there was no better option for Michigan than unleashing its full talent on their opponents. And yet it wasn’t all just milk and honey. Not everyone liked what Coach Fisher was doing. Not everyone liked to see five young black guys, basically from the streets of Chicago, Detroit and Texas, representing the University of Michigan. Not everyone liked the way they represented the Wolverines.

Letters were sent to coach Fisher, telling him to stop the madness. Telling him, that what the five Freshmen were doing, was a disgrace to the university. But no one gave in. The Wolverines continued their path and did so in impressive fashion. In their first ever Elite Eight they beat Ohio State, to whom they had lost badly twice that season. With that win they had made it to the Final Four. In their first season ever. They had proven all the doubters wrong. They had proven, that they were not just some noisy show-offs who’s play on the court couldn’t keep up with their mouths. The Fab Five were for real, as they say.

After that win against Ohio State that feeling culminated. They were pumped. Walking back to the locker room, Juwan Howard spotted a camera and gave the people what they wanted (Hey, Jalen Rose). Remembering a meeting with the great Muhammad Ali, Howard turned to the camera and shouted the words, Ali had given them to take along: „We’re gonna shock the world“, Howard shouted. „I told you, were gonna shock the world.“

Tough Losses

The Fab Five indeed had shocked the basketball world. And they weren’t finished. A win over Cincinnati gave Michigan the chance to play the opponent they despised the most. Their almost natural opposite. The – to them – dark side of the force. Reigning champion Duke. And during the first half, it sure looked like the young Wolverines could shock the world yet again. They held on to the Blue Devils who had Christian Laettner and Grant Hill on their roster, going into the break with a one-point lead. But once the second period started, Duke came out running. They overwhelmed Michigan’s inexperienced Freshman, in the end, winning by a land slide.

The Fab Five had suffered their first big loss. But as things go, sometimes, in order to come back stronger, you just have to learn the bitter taste of defeat. And the Wolverines came back stronger. The following year, they again made it to the championship game, this time facing North Carolina. This time, they hung in there, holding their chances high until the final seconds. Until Chris Webber made a costly mistake. With 11 seconds to play, down by two, Webber got trapped in the left corner and called timeout. The problem: Michigan did not have any timeouts left. So Webber got charged with a technical, UNC went to the line and in the end clinched the game.

It’s a sequence that kind of haunts Webber to this day. But nevertheless, that year, with the first over-all pick in the NBA draft he was picked by the Orlando Magic and got immediately sent to Golden State, being the first member of the Fab Five leaving Michigan to play in the Association. Jalen Rose (Denver) and Juwan Howard (Washington) followed in 1994, Jimmy King (Toronto) in 95. Only Ray Jackson never made it to NBA.

For Webber, his move to the pros was part of leaving everything that had happened in that championship game against UNC behind. It was part of a separation process. He even kind of separated himself from the four guys, he had been brotherly close with in the years past. But, that was the truth: Michigan was the past.

Yet the investigations around the University of Michigan basketball scandal brought C-Webb right back to the campus. Those investigations circled around players having gotten loans and presents from a guy called Ed Martin, thereby undermining their status as amateurs. After many years and trials Webber finally plead guilty to having received a certain amount of money. Webber had to be disassociated with the school for 10 years, his achievements as a Wolverine were vacated as well as the Fab Five’s two appearances in a championship game. So, in the books of the University of Michigan, there is not much left.

A Revolution that Matters More than LeBron

Then again, records, trophies, awards, that’s not what the Fab Five were about. As Jalen Rose put it in the 2011 ESPN documentary, the Fab Five had started a revolution from day one. A revolution that made them the most iconic college team ever. A revolution that turned college basketball, as it had been known, upside down. A revolution that made teams finally get rid off those tiny shorts. A revolution that, to this day, associates every single member with that one legendary team.

Or as Juwan Howard put it a couple of years back, when he was still playing in the NBA: “I play for the Miami Heat. I play with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade. I play with Chris Bosh. But they don’t say: ‘That’s Juwan Howard from the Miami Heat’. They say: ‘That’s Juwan Howard from the Michigan Fab Five’.”