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Chris Webber and a couple of other guys left the basketball program trashed and it hasn't recovered after 10 years. That is the real irony. Pelinka may be shady, but he has never done anything to bring sanctions against the university.
Could UMich have won that national championship if CWebb didn't call that time out? I don't know but I do know I would love to have had the chance to find out and Pelinka was one of the few who robbed the team and school of that.
You can say CWebb and the guys left the program in shambles but if you want to wash the athletic director, the department and the school clean of the responsibility, I don't think that's fair to CWebb and the guys, either. The ugly truth is virtually all programs cheat, to one degree or another. To quote Sir Charles: "if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying..." it's just Billy Martin got caught that made situation what it is.
Sure, the sanctions might have had major impact on recruiting, but so did the fact Brian Ellerbe couldn't recruit to save his own life (Tommy Amaker as well to a certain degree). After repeated deep runs Tom Izzo and the Spartans had in the late 90's, there really was no way anyone at UMich could do anything to turn the tide, sanctions or not, just like when MSU had a nice run from Magic to Steve Smith and then the tide turned in the Wolverines' favor when Glen Rice, Terry Mills and the guys arrived on the scene.
I totally understand your point of view in your 2nd post because no matter what, what CWebb did was wrong and should not be condoned (even though it'll continue to exist). At the same time, I think guys like Rob Pelinka and Dugan Fife really should get the heat they deserve for messing it up on the court for UMich as well.