One ‘Fab Five’ wins gold, so ex-Duke star Bobby Hurley takes a jab at the other
Hours after the U.S. women's gymnastic team lived up to its "Fab Five" nickname with a dominant gold-medal-winning performance, former Duke basketball star Bobby Hurley used its victory to take a jab at some former rivals.
[Photos: Team USA basketball]
Hurley wryly noted that the gymnastics "Fab Five" now had one more championship than their basketball predecessors ever won.
Hurley's zinger, of course, is referencing the famed Michigan basketball team that lost to Duke in the 1992 NCAA title game and North Carolina the following year. No member of that quintet won a championship at the NBA level either until an aging Juwan Howard rode the coattails of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami last season.
That the bad blood between Michigan's Fab Five and the 1992 Duke team still exists two decades later is partially due to a documentary Jalen Rose produced earlier this year on the legacy of that Wolverines squad.
[Related: First Lady Michelle Obama has hugs for Team USA]
Rose admitted he and his teammates "hated everything [he] felt Duke stood for" and said he felt Duke didn't recruit black players like him. Hurley fired back days later on "The Dan Patrick Show," noting that Duke recruited Chris Webber and that some of the anti-Duke vitriol in the film might have been a result of the Blue Devils' 3-0 record against Michigan during that era.
"We would've welcomed [Webber] with open arms," Hurley said. "Jalen, on the other hand, I can understand why we didn't recruit him. He might have a tough time hitting the floor because he wasn't taking my spot."
Rose, now an analyst at ESPN, has wisely tried to stay out of a war of words with Hurley. His only response to the former Duke guard's crack on Tuesday? A congratulatory tweet to Michael Phelps subtly noting that the most decorated Olympian in history is a fellow Michigan alum.
More London Olympics coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Ridiculously tall guy adjusts height to get into shot with queen (VIDEO)
• What causes rowers to go deaf during races
• Report: Kobe Bryant's wife mad for shirtless picture at Team USA party
