Education
Traylor was a McDonald"s All-American the same year as Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter and Paul Pierce. He attended the. Standing 6 feet 8 inches (203 m) and weighing in excess of 300 pounds, he joined a frontcourt for the Wolverines that included Maurice Taylor and Maceo Baston. That year he broke a backboard while dunking in a game against Ball State.
Traylor helped lead the Wolverines to the 1997 National Invitation Tournament title, and was named the tournament"s most valuable player.
His junior year was his best, as he averaged 16.2 points and 10 rebounds while leading his team to the inaugural Big Ten Tournament championship and second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament as a three seed.
Traylor was one of the former Michigan players whose ties to booster Editor Martin roiled the program During his freshman year, Traylor broke his arm in a car accident while out with teammates and recruiting prospect Mateen Cleaves (who ended up going to rival Michigan State).
That accident triggered a six-year investigation into the Wolverine program Martin, who died in 2003 at 69, pled guilty in 2002 to conspiracy to launder money and told federal prosecutors he took gambling money, combined it with other funds and lent $616,000 to Traylor, Chris Webber and two other Wolverine players dating to when they were still in high school.
Traylor received three years" probation.
Due to National Collegiate Athletic Association violations connected to the case (principally the compromising of the amateur status of Traylor, Webber and Taylor), Michigan withdrew from consideration for the 2003 National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, lost scholarships and was placed on probation.
The school also vacated the records of every game in which Traylor played from its record book Traylor also had to surrender his Most Valuable Player award for the 1997 National Institute of Technology, as well as his Most Valuable Player award from the 1998 Big Ten tournament. Murray-Wright High School in Detroit, where Traylor played high school basketball, voluntarily forfeited its entire 1994-1995 season (Traylor"s senior season).