The Wolverine

June-July 2019

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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12 THE WOLVERINE JUNE/JULY 2019   INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS FIVE YEARS AGO, 2014: The Sac- ramento Kings made Nik Stauskas the eighth player taken in the 2014 NBA Draft June 26 in Brooklyn, N.Y. Staus- kas, one of the best shooters John Beilein ever brought to Ann Arbor, added playmaking to his repertoire as a sophomore, setting himself up to leave Michigan after two seasons. The Kings, one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA, needed the marks- manship they figured Stauskas could provide. "As much as I've expanded my game over the past couple of years, shooting is definitely the thing I do best," Staus- kas explained. "I take pride in that I feel like when I get my feet set and I get a good look at the basket, there are not many people in the league who can knock down shots like I can. "I'm looking forward to bringing that skill set to Sacramento." The Kings were anxious to see Staus- kas paired with Ben McLemore, a shooter from Kansas taken in the draft a year earlier. "We'd like to see them together," Sacramento general manager Pete D'Alessandro noted. "Nik is such a playmaking type of a combo guard that we could see them on the floor together at times." The 6-6 Stauskas averaged 17.5 points per game in his final season at Michigan en route to earning Big Ten Player of the Year honors. 10 YEARS AGO, 2009: Work con- tinued progressing on the $226-mil- lion Michigan Stadium project. Work- ers moved for ward construc ting massive structures on either side of the bowl, set to hold a new press box, luxury suites and other amenities for future football Saturdays. There remained ongoing concerns about seat sales, given the nation's sharp economic downturn in 2008, coincid- ing with one on the football field for the Wolverines. Still, officials at Michigan remained confident that U-M football, over the long haul, would prove a big enough draw to warrant all the changes. The work wasn't to be completed until shortly before Michigan's 2010 opener with Connecticut, but was already tak- ing shape well enough to reveal a dra- matically altered skyline around The Big House. 25 YEARS AGO, 1994: Juwan Howard became the No. 5 pick in the 1994 NBA Draft, going to the Wash- ington Bullets June 29. Howard, who helped lead Michigan to national championship game appearances in 1992 and '93, and the NCAA Tourna- ment's Elite Eight in '94, gave up his last season of eligibility at Michigan to go pro. The first of the Fab Five to commit to Michigan, Howard was all smiles don- ning a Bullets cap and walking to the podium upon hearing his name called by league commissioner David Stern. "It was hard," Howard said on the TNT broadcast, about leaving Michigan. "You've got to make big changes in life. There are times when you have to make big decisions. "That was a big decision for me, and now it's time for me to move on with my life. The people at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor are going to miss me, and I'm going to miss Ann Arbor. But I'm still going to go back and treat it like home for me." — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY When Nik Stauskas (with commissioner Adam Silver) was selected eighth overall in the 2014 NBA Draft, it marked the Wolverines' highest draft pick since Jamal Crawford also went eighth in 2000. PHOTO COURTESY ASSOCIATED PRESS

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