Ann Arbor, Mich. ? More misery for Michigan basketball. The Wolverines were barred from the next postseason and put on 3 1/2 years’ probation by the NCAA Thursday for a booster’s payments to players dating to the Fab Five era.

The team also will lose one of its 13 annual scholarships for four years, beginning in 2004-05.

The case stems from an investigation involving now-deceased Michigan booster Ed Martin, who said he paid players, including current Sacramento Kings star Chris Webber.

“This is one of the most egregious violations of NCAA laws in the history of the organization,” NCAA Committee on Infractions chairman Thomas Yeager said. “The reputation of the university, the student-athletes and the coach as a result of the basketball team’s accomplishments from 1992 through 1998 were a sham.”

Michigan held itself out of NCAA Tournament play last season, and the NCAA infractions committee called the university’s self-imposed penalties “meaningful” but not enough. The Wolverines were barred from the NCAA Tournament and NIT next season, but the Big Ten can decide whether to allow the school into the league tourney.

“We have always accepted responsibility for the concerns raised by the NCAA and by the infractions committee in its report,” Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman said. “We own the wrongdoing, and we own the responsibility.”

She said the school would appeal the postseason ban.