Chris Webber's Championship Morning

The morning after Michigan cut down the nets, Rich called Chris Webber to celebrate like alums do. What followed was a long, generous conversation about the Fab Five, Dusty May, Yaxel Lindberg, and the way great programs pass the torch.

Webber opened by talking about the Final Four altcast he and his Fab Five teammates did during Michigan's win over Arizona. He said it was prophetic, that they were like dorm kids again with Juwan Howard breaking down X's and O's, Ray Jackson being the youngest by a year and change, Jalen and Jimmy hanging in. The late-night dinner ran until 6:30 in the morning. Webber admitted he used to handle that kind of night better.

The current Michigan team resonated with Webber because they reminded him how great programs actually work. Brandon McCoy announcing his commitment from Sierra Canyon during the altcast was the kind of cultural pass-off Webber said schools often screw up. He made the point that Michigan's choice not to honor the Fab Five legacy for years broke the cultural continuity purist fans care about. Dusty May shouting them out when no one asked him to told the new recruits the culture was back.

On Yaxel Lindberg, Webber cut against the popular take that his quiet national title game hurt his stock. Webber argued the opposite. Lindberg could have gone for 20 to prove himself to critics. He didn't. His selflessness told a bigger story about the kind of pro he'll be. Webber has been consulting teams on draft evaluations for years. He said the intangibles, the gamer instinct, the selflessness, matter as much as the skill. Lindberg has both.

Rich took the swing on Dusty May. Sixty-four and thirteen in two years with a championship in his back pocket. The Bo Schembechler of Michigan basketball if he stays put. Webber agreed. He called May a throwback to the Bobby Knight era, which checks because May was Knight's student manager at Indiana. Webber praised May's willingness to withstand lean years, his cultural intelligence, and the fact that he invested in NIL seriously when Michigan finally committed to it.

Asked where this team ranks in Michigan history, Webber refused to rank. The only two teams in the conversation, he said, were the 1989 team and this one. Eighty-nine did it first without any of the modern support. This team took that standard and moved it forward. That's what great programs do.

Webber closed with the Fab Five point made cleanly. They never got to raise a banner. They still resonate three decades later. Rich told him the current swag, Webber in a Jump Man tee with the Michigan M, was why kids like McCoy want to follow the path.

Rich signed off by asking who won the NBA title the last time Michigan cut down nets in 1989. Chris Webber asked him who won the championship. Rich told him. The answer, of course, was the Detroit Pistons.