2006: STAR-LEDGER: Michigan remains in Rose

Thursday, March 30, 2006 -- NEW YORK -- As the Michigan Wolverines walked off the floor Tuesday night after beating Old Dominion in the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament, there was former Fab Five leader Jalen Rose standing in the tunnel, hugging each player as he came off the floor. Rose expects to be there tonight, too, along with fellow Wolverine Maurice Taylor, to watch their former school play in the final against South Carolina. For even if Michigan refuses to recognize them, they still recognize Michigan. Despite being expunged from the record books and having their championship banners unceremoniously stripped from the Crisler Arena rafters (by the University itself, no less) for NCAA violations, Rose and Taylor still root for the Wolverines. "Time heals all wounds," Rose said. "I'm Maize and Blue all the way through. I'm very committed to the program." Rose was not directly implicated in the scandals of the 1990s and his records are clean. But Taylor was one of four players whose personal accomplishments and records have been "vacated," and an asterisk appears next to their names in the Michigan record books. Taylor isn't allowed on campus to watch a game for another six years, but he can come to Madison Square Garden to watch them tonight -- and despite the lingering insult, he says he will. "We're loyal," Taylor said. "That's the difference. We're loyal." Though accused by Ed Martin, a Detroit-area booster, of accepting money, Taylor denies any wrongdoing. Martin also accused Rose's teammate Chris Webber, as well as Louis Bullock and Robert Traylor of taking money. "I didn't do anything wrong," Taylor said. "But we had a lot of notoriety and most of us were from Detroit and we had our own style. They wanted to distance themselves from us to avoid getting more penalties from the NCAA. We feel like the way they handled it was a smack in the face." On Nov. 7, 2002 -- one year after Tommy Amaker left Seton Hall for the Wolverines -- and after several years of scandals scarred its reputation, Michigan levied heavy sanctions on itself, in part to avoid heavier penalties from the NCAA. It prohibited itself from participating in postseason tournaments for two years, and in a painful decision for so many alumni and fans, vacated all victories associated with those two eras. So, those famous Fab Five teams that reached consecutive NCAA Finals in 1992 and '93? It never happened. The banners came down and all records were expunged, not only for the two Final Fours, but also for the 1997 NIT champion that Taylor played on. "I've never seen a team go through what we've had to go through, and 10 years after the fact," Rose said. "They're basically trying to erase us from memory. But you can't do that." In all, 112 victories were erased, while Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman commented: "This is a day of great shame." Taylor, who averaged 14.4 points and 7.4 rebounds in the '97 NIT, said that shortly after the announcement he received a letter from the University informing him of the penalties and instructing him not to set foot on the campus. "We still feel like it's our school," Taylor said. "No matter what the university says, it's what we say. We are linked because (we went) to school there and no one can take that away from us." Part of that link is a third Knick, Jamal Crawford, who spent one season at Michigan before turning pro. Crawford had his own troubles there, being temporarily suspended for an alleged violation, which was later dropped before he was reinstated. (The Knicks are one of only two teams that have three players from one university -- the Clippers have three former Duke players). One person who has made it easier for Rose and Taylor to continue supporting the Wolverines is Amaker. The coach has reached out to all the stigmatized players. "He contacted all of us and said he would love to have us back involved with the program," Taylor said. "He's the first guy (to reach) out to us in any way." Rose, who plays in a summer league with Wolverine point guard Daniel Horton, is still a frequent visitor to the Michigan campus. His Jalen Rose Scholastic Endowment provides a scholarship to a Michigan student each year, and he regularly attends football and basketball games, refusing to acknowledge the official line that he did not make two Final Four appearances. So, even if the record books say there were no Final Fours and there are no banners to prove it, Rose knows what he did, and so do the people he sees on campus and at the Garden rooting for his Wolverines. "I'm loved and adored," he said. "Loved and adored, and the feeling is mutual." BY DAVID WALDSTEIN Star-Ledger Staff