Still twenty years later, Chris Webber is trying to escape his infamous timeout with 11 seconds left in the 1993 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship game, down 73-71 with no timeouts left against North Carolina. The timeout led to a technical foul and clinched the championship for North Carolina.
Webber has tried to disassociate himself as far as possible from Michigan basketball since the play happened. Along with Ed Martin, Webber is responsible for the banners the ‘Fab Five’ earned and their wins being vacated. He was the only one not to be apart of the ‘Fab Five’ documentary, and hopefully he will have a change of heart and not be the only one not cheering on the Wolverines in the championship game Monday night.
Jalen Rose, Ray Jackson, and Jimmy King are already locks to be at the game. Juwan Howard currently plays for the Miami Heat and is expected to be at the game. That just leaves Webber to be with his former teammates that formed one of the greatest and most famous groups of college basketball players ever.
The arrival of Webber with the other four players would mean so much to Michigan basketball and college basketball as a whole. Exactly twenty years since the timeout, Michigan is back on top and they deserve Webber to cheer them on.
Webber’s busy schedule is not a factor in this case. He lives in Atlanta, so not taking a quick drive to the stadium would almost be a slap in the face to the school.
Of all the players in the ‘Fab Five,’ Webber is the most famous with the best NBA career. King and Jackson are the least noticed of the bunch, yet they will be rooting their school on with no questions asked and no hate for not being as recognized.
At some point Webber has to get over what happened at Michigan. Fans have blamed his for the fall of Michigan basketball for lying to a grand jury in the Ed Martin case, but this game is a giant eraser for Webber. The success of Michigan basketball this year should give Webber a breath of fresh air for the fans to thank him for the good he did playing for the Wolverines.
This game is bigger than Chris Webber. There is a Jalen Rose, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King, and Juwan Howard that are involved in this. Even bigger than the ‘Fab Five’ is players like Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr., Glenn Robinson III, and Mitch McGary that deserve respect from Webber.
The rise back to the top for Michigan basketball should be an honor for Chris Webber. If he decides to not show up for the championship game, he is just digging a bigger hole for himself.
The ‘Fab Five’ made Michigan basketball and there is no doubt these players on the Michigan basketball team looked up to them. They now have the chance to do something Webber and the ‘Fab Five’ could not do, and the grand-daddy of them all for college basketball would not be right without the reunion of the ‘Fab Five’ and these Wolverines coming together.
Michigan and Webber both need to apologize to each other for years of disgruntlement. The stage is set for the two to rekindle.
Hear Jalen Rose on the Webber situation below.
Categories: Sports
Life's A Ball 
Leave a Reply