Robinson lauds Michigan's 1989 team, not the Fab Five

DETROIT - Rumeal Robinson took Michigan basketball to its greatest height, hitting the overtime free throws against Seton Hall that won the 1989 national championship.

Less than a decade after the All-America guard left for the NBA, the program sank to horrific depths, crushed by the Ed Martin scandal and the resulting NCAA sanctions.

"I followed it, but the thing people have got to understand, it's almost like the baseball steroids issue," Robinson told the Detroit Free Press this week as part of a wide-ranging interview before the 1989 team's Saturday reunion at Crisler Arena. "Everybody in college was doing something of that nature. You bring in alumni and don't want them to help? [The NCAA] didn't understand the good they could do."

Robinson, 42, out of the NBA for 12 years and in real-estate development, in many ways defends the Fab Five, but he doesn't have a soft spot for their coach, Steve Fisher, and thinks they receive more attention than a more deserving team -- the '89 champs.

Robinson's take on:

The Ed Martin scandal: "That got a lot of attention. At the end they got to take down all the accolades they got and worked hard for, but it wasn't like they were using steroids. Somebody helped out somebody with some money.

"The NCAA may need to give some money for the players."

Fisher, an assistant elevated for the NCAA tournament in 1989 after Bo Schembechler fired Bill Frieder because he planned to leave for Arizona State after the season: "When I signed at the University of Michigan, I signed to play for Bill Frieder. Fisher was just an assistant who got the job and the opportunity to win a championship. Fisher did what he was able to do."

Fisher's firing in 1997, in part, because Martin (a Detroit booster but not an alum) provided money to several Wolverines: "Knowing Steve Fisher, I don't think he knew anything about any of that. He wouldn't put himself in that position. Coach Frieder, now he might have. Frieder cared a little bit more than Fisher.

"You got nine pros and none of them left school early? If you're taking care of players the right way, you understand the process to make it work. Otherwise, a player's got to go out and look for help, it's going to happen" like with the Martin scandal.

Robinson did not hesitate when discussing his era in college basketball, but he also was cautious about being specific about himself and his teammates.

Robinson, from Cambridge, Mass., missed his freshman season because of academics, played two seasons for Frieder and his senior year for Fisher, who declined an invitation to Saturday's reunion. Robinson said it was hard to fault the coaches who pushed the NCAA rulebook's edges.

"Coaches need to keep their jobs," he said. "How do you compete against Duke? How do they get those players? Have you been to Durham? Who wants to go there? If you can get them and be successful and your program can go forward, you can do well.

"Coaches have a lot of pressure to recruit the best players, and they have to turn to alumni for help. Alumni can't help their school? I guess you've got to draw the line somewhere."

The Fab Five -- Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson -- arrived two years after Robinson's departure. They drew massive national attention and became the most famous team in Michigan basketball history. Robinson, though, laid out a clear distinction between that group and the one that included Glen Rice, Terry Mills, Loy Vaught, Mark Hughes and Sean Higgins.

"The Fab Five was a great team that did a lot of creative things, made people realize things, and win games," Robinson said. "But look at the players. We had nine players go pro. You can call it the Fab Nine.

"At the end of the day, you've got to win, baby; you can't come in second. C-Webb, Jalen, those guys were great, but you've got to win. You can't go back. It's not like the pros where you have 15 years and have the opportunity to win. You have four years."

The Fab Five lost in the NCAA championship game as freshmen (to Duke) and sophomores (to North Carolina).

When Robinson travels, he said the 1989 team -- which beat Seton Hall, 80-79 -- was the one remembered for success.

"It doesn't matter where I go, they remember that Michigan team," Robinson said. "That Michigan team might have been one of the best basketball teams ever."