Ed Martin, the eminence grise of Michigan basketball in the 80's and 90's, and whose generous support of Chris Webber, Robert Traylor, etc., placed the Wolverines in the NCAA doghouse, has died at the age of 69. His death, in all likelihood, will short-circuit any efforts to expand on the self-imposed punishment of Michigan, which earlier this season agreed to not accept an invitation to the NCAA tournament for the transgressions unearthed by a grand jury investigation of C-Web. This also complicates the on-going prosecution of Webber, who faces several charges of perjury before the grand jury, where Martin was to be the star witness.
Although I don't condone lying to a court of law, even if it's about something as trivial as receipt of booster payments or oral sex, the notion that Michigan would even consider sitting out the tournament this year for activities that date back to 1988, when several of the starters on this year's team were toddlers, is madness. Maybe the university thought back in October that the punishment (which also includes forfeiting hundreds of victories from the Fab Five era) might impress the NCAA, so it had nothing to lose. After all, no one expected Michigan to do anything this year, especially after they lost their first six games. Now that Michigan is tied for the conference lead, and the star witness against them is dead, they might reconsider that earlier decision.
