Former Duke standout Thomas Hill has watched the recent ESPN documentary on Michigan's Fab Five "about 10 times." And each time Hill came away with the same conclusion.
Hill heard the scathing comments made by former Fab Five forward Jalen Rose, who said he felt like Duke "only recruited black players who were Uncle Toms." Rose also said: "I hated Duke and I hated everything Duke stood for. Schools like Duke didn't recruit players like me."Hill cringed at those words, but was left with one underlying thought. "What I'm taking from what [Rose] said is that he was jealous of us," Hill said Thursday. "He was jealous of the Duke guys, like most people are."It sounds to me like he wishes he was recruited by Duke. I strongly believe that. If Duke would have offered him a scholarship, he would have gone to Duke."Hill, who graduated from Lancaster High School on the outskirts of Dallas in 1989 and attended Duke in 1989-93, played on the Blue Devils' national championship teams in '91 and '92. Hill said it's "very insulting" for him to hear Rose criticize the Duke program and the African-American players who went there, such as himself, without getting his facts right."I grew up with kids like Jalen Rose where the perception was if you go to these schools, or if you do these things or hang out with these kind of people, you're perceived as a certain kind of person," Hill said. "That, simply put, is ignorant."It's coming from a place of ignorance not knowing the facts or not knowing what's really going on. Just watching it, he was speaking from a teenager's perspective. I don't know if he necessarily feels that way now -- he never clarified himself -- but just those comments were pure ignorant."The Fab Five recruits -- Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King and Rose -- started for Michigan as freshmen and sophomores when the Wolverines reached back-to-back NCAA Tournament championship games. Michigan lost to Duke in the 1992 NCAA final and to North Carolina in the 1993 championship game.In addition to condemning Rose's comments, Hill also took exception with what King said in the documentary. Hill knows King, a 1991 Plano East graduate, didn't grow up in the inner city."The comment Jimmy King made about him being from the inner city, it's misleading, it's fraudulent," Hill said. "That's the thing that's potentially damaging to people like him, to the black folks who saw that."When he was one of those guys getting in front of a camera talking about 'us five inner city kids,' that's misleading. What Jimmy King said was very, very, very, very troubling. It's like he's living a lie is the way I took that."Hill, who is working on a book about his experience at Duke, said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski recruited a certain type of player who had high character to match exceptional basketball skills. And one of those players he recruited was Webber."Chris Webber was recruited and wanted to come to Duke, and I distinctly remember his visit," Hill said. "When they talk [in the documentary] about this kid being a thug and all that, I was like, 'You've got to be kidding me.' That's a complete joke."Coach K had him on that [Duke] campus for a reason. He fit the profile of the player he wanted to coach. Period. End of story."Hill also disputed that the Fab Five were the first college basketball players to wear baggy shorts and black shoes, a trend that is a part of today's professional and college basketball culture."First of all, Larry Johnson [while at Nevada-Las Vegas] wore baggy pants and they also wore blacks shoes," Hill said. "In the game we beat them in the [1991 NCAA semifinals], they had long shorts and all that."[Michigan] made it to the NCAA championship game two years. That's unprecedented. That's a great thing. But all in all, they were following [UNLV, in wearing baggy shorts and black shoes]. Vegas was already doing it. Michigan was not pioneers with the baggy shorts thing."A real estate developer in the Dallas area, Hill applauded Rose for being the executive producer of the Fab Five documentary, and he praised the Fab Five for what they were able to achieve. But he also noted that the Fab Five could have truly been trailblazers had they taken their talents to an historic black college."They could have really made some history if they would have gone that route," Hill said. "If they go to an all-black school, it changes the landscape of college basketball, and historical black colleges are now making money and hitting their bottom lines."But it's really a lot of irony with what they're talking about and how they're taking shots at guys like us.... Michigan wasn't Grambling."Hill, who has a degree from Duke in black American history, said he's used to his alma mater being a lightning rod. He compares Duke to the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees in that they all have a history of winning and irking people along the way."A lot of times it's always about 'we hate Duke, we hate Duke,' but in reality, man, we're good guys," Hill said. "We're guys that you want your kids to grow up to be like."I love when people don't like you because you're successful. That means you're doing something right.''Dwain Price, 817-390-7760Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
