We wrap up the Fab Five with the No. 2 player on our offseason list of ranking the best players between Michigan’s 1989 and 2026 national titles with the legendary Chris Webber. It was a tight race between Webber and our No. 1 overall player because no Wolverine since that 1989 team entered college with more talent and also carried his team to consecutive National Championship appearances.
No. 2 – C Chris Webber – Score: 205.7
Solidifying the historic Fab Five recruiting class was Webber. He was the state of Michigan’s Mr. Basketball, the Naismith Prep Player of the Year, and the McDonald’s All-American Game MVP. He was the crown jewel of a team loaded with freshman talent, and he was the player who made the Fab Five feel unprecedented on the court.
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That’s because he made a massive impact right away. All the other Fab Five members were given time to grow into their roles, but Webber was expected to be a superstar from the moment he stepped on campus, and he delivered. As a true freshman, he started all 34 games and led the team in rebounds and blocks while finishing second only to Jalen Rose in points.
It all came together during the Wolverines’ NCAA Tournament run that made the Fab Five famous. Five starting freshmen, with Webber being the best player in a Cinderella-like postseason performance for Michigan. In the Round of 32, he had a then-career game against East Tennessee State, scoring 30 points, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking four shots while shooting 12-for-15 from the floor.
But the Elite Eight was when everything changed. Ohio State was the region’s No. 1 seed and was headlined by Jim Jackson. Webber played 43 minutes in a 75-71 overtime thriller and put up 23 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks. This was the turning point into what was to come for the Fab Five because Webber was the best player on the floor, leading a team full of freshmen in an Elite Eight win over the No. 1 seed in the region.
Webber followed that with a double-double against Cincinnati in the Final Four and Duke in the National Championship. He solidified himself as one of the top players in all of college basketball, earning National Freshman of the Year. The entire Fab Five would return as sophomores, something that feels very distant from the one-and-done era we are in today.
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But it wasn’t just Webber coming back — it’s that his dominance went to another level. His scoring jumped from 15.5 points to 19.2 points per game while shooting an absurd 61.9 percent from the field. He led the team in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, and was a consensus First-Team All-American.
In the NCAA Tournament, Michigan fell behind by 19 points early against UCLA. But Webber wouldn’t allow that to be the end of his collegiate journey. He finished with an astounding 27 points and 14 boards as the team came marching back in an 86-84 overtime win. It was the greatest comeback of the Fab Five era.
Maybe the best game of his career came against the Kentucky Wildcats in the 1993 Final Four. Webber finished with 27 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks in an 81-78 overtime win that sent the Wolverines to their second consecutive National Championship appearance. Kentucky actually had the lead, 78-77, in the final minute, but Webber’s go-ahead layup with about 40 seconds left was the difference.
Finally came the National Championship vs North Carolina. It could have been serendipitous for the Wolverines to return after being smoked by Duke the year before and win it all, but fate had a different idea.
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Webber’s career was filled with shining moments, but the one he will be remembered most for was, unfortunately, not the brightest. The Wolverines trailed 73-71 late. Webber grabbed a rebound, appeared to travel with no whistle, and brought the ball up the floor. North Carolina trapped him; Webber called a timeout, but the Wolverines had no timeouts remaining, resulting in a technical foul that sealed the Wolverines’ fate.
What’s forgotten in the story is Michigan wouldn’t have even been in that position if it weren’t for Webber. He was the West Region’s Most Outstanding Player, dominated Kentucky, and was spectacular in a 23-11 performance in the National Championship. If Michigan won that game, the exact performance might be remembered as the crowning achievement of one of the greatest two-year careers in both Michigan and college basketball history.
It’s the beauty and agony of sports: one moment, good or bad, can define a legacy. What it doesn’t do is erase two phenomenal seasons, the cultural impact of the Fab Five, nor the way Webber himself changed the face of college basketball with versatile big men becoming the norm in the game today.
