- 1 day ago
UNC deserved a lot more respect than only being known for winning because of a timeout
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
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00:21Hi everybody, I'm Brian Kenney and welcome to ESPN Classics Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame.
00:25A series that takes a fresh look at sports personalities who are remembered largely for their mistakes, controversial moments, or
00:32questionable decisions.
00:33On this show, we demand an action seen as one of sports' biggest bonehead moves.
00:38April 5th, 1993, Michigan trailed North Carolina by two points late in the NCAA championship game.
00:45Chris Weber, yes, now you probably know, rebounded a free throw, and after dribbling down court, the sophomore All-American
00:51called a timeout with 11 seconds to go.
00:53The problem was, the Wolverines were out of timeouts.
00:57Michigan was given a technical, North Carolina hit two free throws, and the game was basically over.
01:01Dean Smith had won his second national title.
01:04Over the next half hour, we'll count down the top five reasons you can't blame Weber for Michigan's loss.
01:09But first, let's take a look at the circumstances that led to the Fab Five's doom in the Superdome.
01:20Chris Weber and the Fab Five were part of a cultural phenomenon in America.
01:25Rose, baseball pass to Weber.
01:27Can he catch it?
01:27He does.
01:28One step.
01:28Slams it through with the right hand.
01:30Oh, did Weber fly for that ball?
01:32They were like a rock band.
01:33They were the Beatles of college basketball.
01:35And people just couldn't take their eyes off them.
01:38Drives on Bailey.
01:39To the hole.
01:40Slams it through!
01:40The better we got, the more exposure we got, the better we played, the more the country fed into it.
01:49Rebound Rose off.
01:50And it's a buzzer.
01:52Dealing Rose wins it.
01:53We came in with bald heads, black socks, baggy shorts, dunking on everybody, you know, and laughing and having fun.
02:02That, I think, was part of the novelty of the Fab Five that people like.
02:12Midway through the 1991-92 campaign, Michigan head coach Steve Fisher decided to start a squad so young that none
02:20of the players had yet put two semesters together.
02:23But they had talent and attitude, and they played with an electric quality.
02:28I think that basketball fans were so drawn to Chris Webber and the Fab Five because it was something fresh
02:40and new.
02:41We had never seen the spectacle of five freshmen without a care in the world competing on that level.
02:49That door, Weber hits the basket!
02:51Oh, my!
02:52We were cocky and we were ready.
02:54You know, we're not scared, so, you know, it's you against us, and that was just the best feeling.
03:00And a steal by Ray Jackson to Weber.
03:03It was showtime.
03:03Oh, it was showtime!
03:05You could see a lot of arrogance and cockiness in their games to where they knew that they were one
03:11of the best teams in the country, if not the best.
03:13We changed the game to the point where now, no, we don't have to wait until tomorrow to have success.
03:18We can have success right now.
03:19We don't shock the world! We don't shock the world!
03:23After finishing the rest of the game, the freshman entered the NCAA tournament as a sixth seed and proceeded to
03:32outgun and outrun the competition.
03:35Michigan's won! Michigan's won! They're going to the national title game!
03:39Although they lost to Duke in the final by 20 points, Weber and company turned college basketball up a notch
03:45in the public consciousness.
03:46What the Fab Five did for Michigan in 92, probably one of the most underrated achievements in the history of
03:54college basketball.
03:57It's an amazing thing that they had enough maturity that freshman year to get all the way to the championship
04:03game.
04:03By the time they started the second season, y'all expected they would win.
04:12Voted number one in the preseason, the Fab Five were 31-4 after eliminating Kentucky in the NCAA semifinals.
04:24Only North Carolina stood between them.
04:29Carolina, we knew it was going to be a tough matchup, but we felt we would have a chance to
04:33overpower them.
04:34It was our turn. Last year was, okay, it was just the warm-up.
04:38We got there. We know what it takes to get there. Now let's win it.
04:45Led by the athletically gifted Weber, the Fab Five, which included Jawan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson,
04:54pulled even with the Tar Heels midway through the second half.
04:57The belt has been knocked away by King. This will tie the score for Michigan's play-off by Jimmy King.
05:03And with a little less than four minutes remaining, the Wolverines had a one-point advantage.
05:08Drops it off to Montauk for the top behind Jawan Howard. What a play by the Tar Heels.
05:15Down by two. With 20 seconds left, Weber rebounded Pat Sullivan's missed free throw.
05:21Rebound Weber. Weber covers it up. They're down to 8-0.
05:26I just wanted to get the ball in, and I kind of hesitated past, almost past the J-Rose. It
05:33could have been a travel there.
05:34Weber brings it down court. They wanted to travel.
05:36So when he finally turned around and saw me to throw me the ball, George Lynch reacted to the pass.
05:43So when he didn't throw the pass, he pump-faked the pass. He traveled. They didn't call it.
05:48Weber to the right side with Phelps on him. Weber in the corner.
05:51And now he's called what? Michigan can't take a timeout. They don't have a timeout.
05:56I had a hot flash. Like, oh my God, what did he do? Just what did he do?
06:02And within a matter of three or four seconds, the same look I had on my face, like, oh, it
06:09finally hit Chris Weber.
06:11It's a technical foul on Michigan. They took a timeout.
06:15I felt it.
06:17They had it in the intro.
06:19Line at the team.
06:23He told us that we had no more timeouts left.
06:26And, um, unfortunately, the timeout was called.
06:31It was real tough to swallow. I remember a lot of frustration.
06:37A technical foul was levied against Weber.
06:41Donald Williams made both free throws, and the Tar Heels went on to win 77-71.
06:47North Carolina is the 1993 NCAA champion.
06:52In the gloomy aftermath, the Fab Five's main man blamed himself for the loss.
07:00He was called a timeout. We didn't have one.
07:02That probably cost us the game.
07:07He was the leader of that team.
07:09He should have responded and been able to know that they didn't have any timeouts left.
07:13That was almost symbolic of what that team was.
07:17So much hype, so much glitz, so much fashion, and yet in the critical moment, the defining moment, he doesn't
07:26know how many timeouts are left.
07:27You can blame Chris Weber because he called the timeout, and they didn't have any timeouts left.
07:33And the blame falls to the guy that put his hands into a tee that night.
07:38No matter what Chris Weber does in basketball, everybody's going to remember he called the timeout when they didn't have
07:43one.
07:47But there's so much more to this.
07:51Michigan was behind.
07:53When Weber called the timeout, the Wolverines trailed 73-71.
07:59He shouldn't be blamed.
08:01North Carolina was ahead at that point.
08:04This is Michigan's last possession.
08:06They're dashing down the floor, trying to get a final shot off, hoping that they can tie the game or
08:12win it.
08:12People think that that was the reason why they lost the ball game.
08:16That if we wouldn't have called a timeout, we probably would have won.
08:18But that's not true because who would have said we would have scored?
08:21It didn't surprise me that they didn't get a shot off.
08:2520 seconds left in a game.
08:2818, 19-year-old kids who must execute something.
08:33The advantage goes to the team that's ahead.
08:37Our final best of the rest, the bench.
08:40According to Weber and at least one Tar Heel, someone on the bench was telling him to call a timeout.
08:46Chris said he heard somebody holler timeout.
08:49So as he's pushing the ball, time running down, national championship game, you know, he makes the call.
08:55I heard a timeout.
09:04So in a situation like that, I probably would have called a timeout too.
09:09So Chris Weber is hearing timeout, timeout, and he's hearing it come from the Michigan bench, and he just instinctively
09:14calls timeout.
09:15He never should have been in that situation.
09:19Welcome back.
09:20Let's begin our countdown with reason number five.
09:25The ghost of Fred Brown.
09:28Some attribute Weber's mistake to the curse of the Superdome.
09:32If you're a superstitious person, then yeah, you could look at it and say, you know, it's really the ghost
09:37of Fred Brown that got into Chris Weber.
09:40It's like Brown reached over with some sort of poltergeist-like thing.
09:45And, and visited Weber in 1993 was first spun by Brown on the very same court in New Orleans.
09:53With seven seconds left in the 1982 national title game, Georgetown trailed North Carolina by a point.
10:02The last, no, two episodes ago was, why Fred Brown wasn't to blame for such and such.
10:14How would he go and absolve Fred Brown for his thing and then blame him for somebody else's mistake over
10:22ten years later?
10:26Doesn't make sense.
10:28Then the fickle finger of fate reached out and touched the Hoyas point guard.
10:33Fred Brown looking.
10:35Oh, way to worthy!
10:36Worthy five!
10:37The Tar Heels are going to win the national championship!
10:42For believers in the metaphysical, Weber's missed call 11 years later was caused by Cajun voodoo in the Big Easy's
10:50Dome.
10:51He takes a timeout.
10:52Technical foul.
10:52They're out of playbouts.
10:53Technical foul.
10:54Technical foul on Michigan.
10:57They're out of timeouts.
10:58What are the chances that Dean Smith would come into that building twice in his career and clin-
11:06The opposing player makes an unconscionable play at the exact moment when the game is decided.
11:13I don't know whether it's which-
11:18Dean Smith's two great championships and they both took place in New Orleans.
11:23The Tar Heels have won the national championship right where they won it 11 years ago.
11:32Very strange, odd things happen there.
11:34And the fact that it happened twice in the same city, in the same building, is one of the oddest
11:39coincidences in college sports.
11:40You could almost put a chalk outline on the court at where Weber had his timeout.
11:46And not far away from that, you'd have another body, chalk outline of Freddie Brown as he was making that
11:52pass to James Worthy.
11:53But that's just coincidence.
11:56Next.
11:57And against same North Carolina, Dean Smith coached him.
12:01Amazing.
12:04One down, four to go.
12:06Here is reason number four.
12:09Chris Weber.
12:10He was Michigan's leader, not only in the regular season, but in the tournament.
12:16I think clearly on the court, with his enthusiasm and incredible talent, that Weber was the guy that really, the
12:23show revolved around.
12:25Weber to the right side, finger rolls it up and in.
12:28I think the Michigan team fed off of Chris Weber's energy and intensity.
12:36You woke up.
12:37You knew you were in trouble.
12:39Howard strikes the drive.
12:40Scoops to Weber.
12:41Weber has slammed.
12:42Weber has 20.
12:46As Michigan's top scorer in the NCAA tournament, Weber kept his team close in the final by scoring 23 points,
12:53grabbing 11 rebounds, and blocking three shots.
12:57Chris Weber, obviously, if he's not on that team, they ain't playing in that game.
13:02And they're certainly not that close late in the game against a great team like North Carolina.
13:06Weber steals the ball.
13:07Weber off to the races.
13:08Here we go.
13:09Chris goes in.
13:10Slams it through.
13:11Weber with the steal and dance.
13:13Chris was a very, very valuable player to our team.
13:17He played an outstanding game.
13:19Without him on the court, we wouldn't have had a chance of beating Carolina at all.
13:23Now we go to Weber.
13:24Slams it through.
13:26I just remember Chris being fantastic in that game.
13:29You know, making some unbelievable post moves, unbelievable plays.
13:40I mean, he couldn't stop him getting rebounds, trying to motivate his team.
13:44He was doing everything for them.
13:45Dumps it down low to Weber.
13:46Weber up for the slam dunk.
13:48If it weren't for the display of basketball Chris Weber put on as we marched through the season and into
13:56the tournament, we wouldn't be talking right now.
14:01That play didn't cost us a game.
14:03I think that, you know, if it wasn't for the performance of a Chris Weber, we probably wouldn't have been
14:06this far.
14:07You don't get to that position without Chris Weber.
14:10You don't get to the last 20 seconds of the national championship game if Chris Weber hasn't been your guy
14:16for four months.
14:18What a great, great player.
14:20Look at all the games that he was involved in that they did win.
14:24So to blame Chris Weber for that particular game, I think is very unfair.
14:34Two reasons down, three to go.
14:36Here is reason number three.
14:39Steve Fisher.
14:41It was the Michigan head coach's responsibility to make sure his timeouts remained.
14:47If Chris Weber called a timeout, regardless of what he says or I say, I'm the guy that should have
14:58made certain that everybody knew.
15:01If I would have known we didn't have any timeouts left, I wouldn't have called a timeout.
15:04So, like I said, obviously I didn't know.
15:07The coach should shoulder some of the blame in that situation.
15:11Your five guys on the court have to know what the timeout situation is.
15:15With 46 seconds left, Michigan called its last timeout.
15:20Now, during that timeout, I remember specifically, as the guys were running out on the court, and you have to
15:26remember, there were 70-some thousand people in the Superdome, and all you could hear the whole game was just
15:32this dull roar.
15:33Fisher said, guys, no timeouts.
15:36As they're running on the floor.
15:37So, whether the players heard it or not is anybody's guess.
15:42Weber, front court, Michigan out of timeout.
15:45Any time a player makes a mistake like the one Chris Weber made that night.
15:50Technical foul on Michigan.
15:52They're out of timeouts.
15:54You can say that the point wasn't made forcefully enough to him in that huddle, before that possession, that we
16:03don't have any timeouts left.
16:05Don't call one.
16:06I thought we knew it, but apparently it didn't get communicated to the degree that it has to, because otherwise
16:16he would not have called a timeout.
16:18The blame does belong with the coach.
16:20He may have told Chris Weber there were no timeouts left, but he didn't emphasize it and give it the
16:28importance that it obviously deserved.
16:32Have we begun to change your mind yet?
16:34If not, take a look at reason number two.
16:37The North Carolina defense.
16:39The Tar Heels pressed, trapped, and harassed Michigan from the opening tip.
16:44And when the game was on the line, it was defense that forced Weber's mental lapse.
16:49Defense was our calling card, more so than offense.
16:53Down inside, Jawan Howard, blocked from behind by Lake.
16:56Carolina plays great help defense.
17:00That's why they were able to trap.
17:02That's why they were able to get people in uncomfortable situations.
17:04That's why they were able to get Chris Weber in the situation he was at the end of the game.
17:10The Tar Heels kept Michigan off balance most of the game.
17:13In the first half, they forced the Wolverines into ten turnovers.
17:17The double team is coming.
17:19They cause Rose to pick up his dribble.
17:20Throws it across court and out of bounds.
17:22Carolina forces the turnover.
17:24That was one of the trademark characteristics of a North Carolina team, particularly in being able to double the ball
17:32and then overplay the outlets.
17:35During crunch time, Dean Smith's troops smothered the Michigan guards, leaving Weber to make something happen.
17:42Carolina begins with pressure, overplaying defense.
17:46And they forced Chris Weber to bring the ball up the court.
17:49When Chris got that ball, as soon as he came down, he just had that look in his eyes.
17:55Like, he wanted to get rid of it.
17:57There was no one open, and he was trapped.
17:58We jumped out.
18:00You know, we forced him to travel, and the referee missed the call.
18:03I don't think I saw anybody that was open.
18:06If it was someone else to pass it to, I would have passed it to him.
18:09He didn't make the pass.
18:10He kept it in his hand.
18:11He kept pushing it up the sideline.
18:13And we stress in practice that, you know, the out-of-bounds lines is an extra defender.
18:18So here's Weber going down the right side in front of the Michigan bench.
18:20And George Lynch and Derek Phelps have him caught in the dark, dark hole of a double team.
18:27He's basically got no other option except to call timeout or to throw up a prayer.
18:32Either way, he's trapped.
18:33Either way, Carolina wins the game.
18:35I really believe we'd gotten the ball anyway with a five-second count and won the game.
18:40Blame Carolina for running its system to perfection.
18:45They trapped Chris Weber.
18:47They forced Chris Weber into making this mistake.
18:51So it's their fault.
18:52It's not Chris's.
18:55And welcome back.
18:57You've seen reasons number five through two.
18:59Now, just when you thought you might have enough to make up your mind,
19:01here is the number one reason why you can't blame Chris Weber.
19:07It never happened.
19:09According to the NCAA,
19:11he ended up getting it to a championship game.
19:14None of that stuff ever happened
19:16because his name and the accomplishments of that particular team
19:19were erased from the annals of college basketball history.
19:23In fact, they almost didn't exist.
19:25From the 1992 NCAA tournament through the 1993 season,
19:30the Fab Five are nowhere to be found.
19:33In Chrysler Arena, it did not happen
19:35because there's no banners for those great Michigan Fab Five teams.
19:38It gets worse.
19:40Weber's entire college career was tainted
19:42when it was revealed in a federal courtroom in 2002
19:45that booster Ed Martin had paid Weber
19:48and three other Wolverines on other teams
19:51a total of $616,000.
19:55It comes down to a booster
19:57who essentially was accused of providing illegal benefits
20:03to Chris Weber, among others.
20:06There's a shadowy figure named Eddie Martin
20:09that was associated with the Michigan program
20:11and had an impact on the Michigan program
20:13for a number of years
20:15and ultimately cost the program dearly.
20:17They have left their mark on Michigan.
20:20Obviously, the events that have unfolded here today
20:23have tainted that history,
20:25and that's why we're removing them from the record book.
20:27That's why we're taking the banners down.
20:29It was a tragedy, in a way,
20:31and it took a lot of the luster off of that team.
20:35Let me say that when we delete those wins from the records,
20:40we no longer won those games.
20:42By default, the other team won those games.
20:45I guess maybe Chris Weber and others
20:47wish that the memory of that infamous moment
20:50could be wiped out as easily as the NCAA wiped out the records.
20:54So now, in the record books at Michigan,
20:57I don't think the Fab Five ever really existed.
21:01So, there was no Fab Five,
21:03so there was no Chris Weber,
21:05so there was no error,
21:06so how can you blame him?
21:07The game didn't happen?
21:08I was there.
21:10Maybe it didn't.
21:11It was just a bad dream on Bourbon Street.
21:16Well, there you have it.
21:17The top five reasons you can't blame Chris Weber
21:20for Michigan losing to North Carolina
21:21in the 1993 NCAA final.
21:25Shed some new light on that painful blunder.
21:28I'm Brian Kenney.
21:29Thanks for watching.
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