0

0

0

0


16 - Tipoff '94 - Thursday, November 17, 1994


Meet the Wolverines

30

1.0

Maceo Baston
6-9, 210, C/F, Fr.
44
Chris Fields
6-5, 225, F, Jr.
Y
Ada Jones
6-5 220 F, Fr.
Neal Morton
6-9, 200, C/F, Sr.

Travis Conlan
6-5, 190, G, Fr.
Dugan Fife
6-2, 175, G, Jr.
} _;.Y1 .24
Jimmy King
6-5, 200, G, Sr.
Makhtar Ndiaye
6-8, 230, C, So.

3'.
Bobby Crawford
6-3, 185, G, So.

21

Ray Jackson
6-6, 225, F, Sr.
Willie Mitchell
6-7, 200, F/G, Fr.
Olivier Saint-Jean
6-7, 200, F, So.
G w Career
record:
123-45

EVAN PETRIE/Daily
King's athletic ability has been aparent throughout his career at Michigan.

"The media will bring you up
just as easily as it will bring you
down," King says. "It doesn't
bother me. I kind of use it as
motivation. I mean, we get a lot of
publicity so what more could you
ask for?"
Lesson No. 6: A penny saved is a
penny earned
And they have gotten publicity.
From newspapers to magazines to
television to a Mitch Albom's book
devoted entirely to them, the Fab
Five were, and for that matter still
are, an extremely marketable
commodity.
Before the Fab Five arrived at
Michigan the university was
making just over one million dollars
a year in licensing. Last year the
total was over $6 million. Recently
the athletic department inked a deal
with Nike that is worth between $6
and $7 million dollars, due largely
to the Fab Five.
The question arises: Should the
athletes see any of that money?
"There are a lot of factors that
go into that but I hope that the
NCAA definitely looks into it and
hopefully changes the rules so
college athletes can be paid," King
says. "The school is making so
much money off of you going to the
Final Four, selling jerseys and all
the apparel that they sell. And that's
because (fans) see the athletes on
TV, whether it's football, hockey,
track or whatever."
Lesson No. 7: Cape Diem
If there is anything that King has
learned from his fellow Fab Fivers,
it is that there is a time to move on.
However, he's got some unfinished
business to take care of first.
King says he never considered
leaving after last season because
there was too much at Michigan
that he still wanted to accomplish.
He badly wants to win a Big Ten
title and a national championship -
something the five vowed to do
before leaving college.
Three are already gone. Would
King gloat if he were to win the
championship the others never
could?
"I guess I could say 'We got the
rings finally.' But the ring would be
theirs also because I feel like
they're still a part of this team."
This year is a big one in the
career of Jimmy King. He's out of
the shadow of Rose, Webber and
Howard, and if he's going to
achieve his dream of joining those
three in the NBA, he'll have to do it
this year.
King is not focused on the
future, though. He says he has
dreamed of playing professional
basketball all of his life, but he's
concerned about now.
"(The NBA) is a year off from
now," King says. "It's definitely in
the back of my mind, but I still have
goals that I want to accomplish here
as a senior at Michigan."
Apparently the "old man" isn't
ready to stop learning.

'You can always
gone someplac+
average 20 pol
1'd rather be on
two Final Fours
the Fab Five an
never made me
someplace else

23
Maurice Taylor

32

1993-94 Results
Michigan
Nov. 26 Georgia Tech* 80
Nov. 29 Cleveland State 84
Dec. 1Tulane 84
Dec. 4 Tennessee-Chattanooga 97
Dec. 6 Detroit-Mercy 78
Dec.:11 Duke 63
Dec,.20 Central Michigan 86
Dec. 28 Auburn@ 102
Dec. 30 Arizona@ 95
Jan. 3 Boston 111
Jan. 5 Michigan State 75
Jan. 8 atlIowa 71
Jan. 13 Ohio State 86
Jan. 16 at Indiana 72
Jan. 20 at Minnesota 58
Jan. 23 at Illinois 74
Jan. 29 Wisconsin 79
Feb. 1 at Purdue 63
Feb, 5 at Michigan State 59
Feb. 8 Indiana 91
Feb. 13 at Ohio State 72
Feb. 16 Iowa 89
Feb. 19 Minnesota 72
Feb. 22 Illinois 79
Mar.. at Wisconsin 58
Mar. 6 Purdue 94
Mar. 9 Penn State 81
Mar. 12 at Northwestern 93
Mar. 17 Pepperdine% 78
Mar. 19 Texas% 84
Mar. 25 Maryland% 78
Mar. 27 Arkansas% 68
* Tipoff Classic at Springfield, Mass.
@ Fiesta Bowl Classic at Tucson, Ariz.
6 NCAA tournament

Opponent
70
71
69
86
60
70
44
81
119
84
64
70
75
82
63
70
75
62
51
67
70
76
65
70
71.
95
72
97
74
79
71
76

game with 7.3 seconds on the clock.
Against Duke a month earlier,
however, he was nowhere to be
found.
According to King, there have
been games when he has simply
thought too much and reacted too
little to what's been going on
around him.
"There are a lot of times where I
would second guess a shot," King
says. "And if you think about a
shot, it's automatically a missed
shot. I was thinking too much about
my shot, and I think that's the main
thing that hurt me - thinking 'Is
this a good shot or a bad shot?' It
wasn't anything that the coaches
put on me, it was just added
pressure that I put on myself.
"I've just had to get into my
mind to stop thinking and start
being a player."
Fisher admits that King's
outside shooting has been less than
dependable at times, but disagrees
with the knocks that King has
taken.
"He's got pretty good statistics
for his career," Fisher says. "But
people say that he's not shooting
the ball as well as they think he
should or he is not doing this or not
doing that, all centered around
scoring. Often that's all the average
fan looks at - (coaches) don't."
In fact, while he was mired at
the bottom of the scorer's sheet last
season against the Blue Devils, he

did lead the team in rebounds with
eight.
Lesson No. 5: What goes up must
come down
Much of the criticism that King
has received has come from the
media, which have always had a
love-hate relationship with the Fab
Five.
In 1991 the press loved them. In
1992 it hated them.
"Our freshman year we were all
so highly touted, and everyone had
an interview request and everyone
put us on a pedestal because we
were all freshmen making a run in
the tournament and beating teams
that were favored," King says.
"Then our sophomore year
everything turned around and we
were all of a sudden the bad guys,
just like that."
Much like Rose had to while he
was here, King has had to deal with
media criticism about his life off the
court as well as on it.
Last February King, along with
Jackson and walk-on Chris Fields,
were arrested for shoplifting beer
from a local party store.
The three pleaded no contest and
were sentenced to community
service.
The incident made headlines
across the nation and all three were
suspended for the Wolverines Feb.
5 game at Michigan State.
King, however, refuses to let
what is written affect him.

Jerod Ward

Steve Fisher

6-9, 230, C/F, Fr. 6-9, 215, F/G, Fr. Head coach