The Fab 5

Book excerpt: Webber, Rose, Howard, Jackson, King. Five names. Five players who epitomize the greatness of Michigan basketball. Five players who helped set a game on its head, and who revolutionized how players dressed, talked, played, and competed. Yet, aside from a photo archive and some stored banners, one would be hard-pressed to find any information on the Michigan Fab Five. Through painstaking research, two turbulent years of NCAA basketball come to life, told through the lens of perhaps the greatest recruiting class to ever suit up for one college basketball program: the Michigan Fab 5. The crown jewel of Steve Fisher's long and storied coaching career, the five talents came from Michigan, Texas, and Illinois. As they converged on Ann Arbor, their undeniable talent ushered in a new era of college basketball. The images--a combination of press materials, memorabilia, and photographs from the Bentley Library archives at the University of Michigan--work in concert with the written words of historians Hannah Harshe and M. Earl Smith to provide a glimpse into the heart and soul of basketball's first modern revolution.