3. The Fab Five era at Michigan
One of the most controversial scandals in college basketball history surrounded the Fab Five era at the University of Michigan. The Fab Five, for those who aren’t familiar, was a class of five super talented freshmen who all committed to the Wolverines in 1991.
Michigan eventually put all five of the star freshmen, headlined by Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, and Juwan Howard, into the starting lineup and the Wolverines took off. The Fab Five made it all the way to the national title game in 1992 and 1993, losing both contests, including the infamous 1993 showdown with North Carolina where Webber forgot how many timeouts Michigan had, resulting in a game-icing technical foul.
Webber left for the NBA following that game, with Rose and Howard doing so the year after, and it seemed like the Fab Five era would simply be an era of spectacular promise unfulfilled in Wolverines’ history. Things changed, however, during a recruiting visit by Mateen Cleaves in 1996.
Cleaves was riding in a car driven by Maurice Taylor, a current Wolverines’ player, and it got into an accident. The police investigation ended up linking Taylor to Michigan booster Ed Martin, who had hosted some players and recruits at a party involving drugs, alcohol, and strippers.
Martin was eventually found to have paid four Michigan players, including Webber, hundreds of thousands of dollars while they were at the school and offered various benefits to others. Michigan self-imposed a litany of penalties, including vacating the entire 1992-1993 season and removing the banners from their Final Four appearances from the Fab Five era, and Webber wasn’t allowed to associate with the school until 2013.