 Previously Mitch Albom had chronicled the Fab Five in a book entitled Fab Five : Basketball , Trash Talk , The American Dream , and Fox Sports had attempted to review the group . The press regarded this as the first complete recounting of the fabled group . Rose describes this film as " almost like the Bible of the Fab Five Story " . An ESPN commentator describes the five players as the greatest incoming college basketball recruiting class ever . He notes that they were presented to the world as the embodiment of what was wrong with college sports because they wore revolutionary baggy shorts and black socks and blasted hip @-@ hop music while talking a lot of trash . The film documents the " formation , rise , scandal and epilogue of the team " . It documents the 1991 – 92 and 1992 – 93 teams , the University of Michigan basketball scandal , and related off the court issues such as hate mail . Forbes notes that the legacy of the quintet , which includes successive appearances in the championship game of the NCAA Men 's Division I Basketball Championship , was overshadowed by the scandal , which necessitated the removal of Final Four banners and vacating of games . The film is noted for presenting the inside story a group of players who the contemporary media derided as thugs and villains , while enterprise rode them as a multimillion @-@ dollar merchandising juggernaut . 
