There were two days in Juwan Howard's life that he chose Michigan. Both ended in tears.
The first was almost exactly 29 years ago, when he rose and got dressed in his grandmother's place on the south side of Chicago. She told him to wear something nice, because "you're gonna talk to those reporters."
Howard chose a rayon shirt and tan slacks. He smelled breakfast cooking and his grandmother's cigarette smoke. He hugged her as he headed off to high school and promised himself that when he made the NBA one day, he would buy her a big house.
Hours later, he chose the University of Michigan as the place he would play college basketball, becoming the first member of what would come to be known as the Fab Five. Cameras clicked. Journalists took notes.
And that evening, Juwan came home from practice to gathered neighbors and shocked expressions, and he burst through the door and saw his relatives weeping.
His beloved grandmother had collapsed from a massive heart attack. She was dead before they reached the hospital.
"Noooo!" Juwan screamed.
He cried for hours.
