The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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40 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2020 Michigan Basketball Floridians Are Rare Michigan regularly draws football talent out of the skill-rich reservoir of Florida. The Wolverines haven't seen nearly as much migration in basketball from the state where sophomore Colin Castleton spent his formative years. In fact, there have been only three Wolverines from the Sunshine State over the past 20 years of Michigan basketball. Here's a look at the last three Floridians to play for the Maize and Blue, and how they fared in Ann Arbor: • Ricky Doyle, Cape Coral (2014-16) — Doyle competed for two seasons at Michigan before transferring to Florida Gulf Coast. His freshman year, he started 19 games, playing in 31 and missing only one contest due to illness. He aver- aged 5.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game at center, then performed in all 38 Michigan games his sophomore year, averaging 3.8 points and 2.0 rebounds per contest. He started 11 of Michigan's first 13 games, then moved to a backup role. • Tim Hardaway Jr., Miami (2010-13) — Hardaway played a key role in Michi- gan's 2013 run to the national championship game, as a first-team All-Big Ten performer and team captain. He averaged 13.9 points and 3.8 rebounds that season, his third and final with the Wolverines. Hardaway scored 1,532 points in his Michigan career, averaging 14.3 per game while racking up 440 rebounds and 225 career assists. He left for the NBA with a year of eligibility remaining, becoming a first-round pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. • Reed Baker, Naples (2006-07) — Baker spent a year on the Michigan ros- ter, averaging 8.4 minutes in 28 games played, with two starts. In his first start, against Army, he scored a career-high 19 points to go with a career-best four rebounds. An 80 percent free throw shooter at U-M, the guard transferred and finished his career at Florida Gulf Coast, where he averaged double-digit points his final three years. — John Borton tive — 'The next time you're doing it, you're doing it perfect.' "He likes to teach all the time. He's in there helping you out. If you did something wrong, he'll pull you to the side while the drill is still going on and tell you what you need to do, so when you get back in there, you're not mess- ing up or lost. He's really hands on, and everybody appreciates it." His greatest area of early emphasis for Castleton didn't come as a shock, or even a backhand to the lip. Howard stressed ruggedness, along with the finer points of post play. "The area he pushed me the most is that toughness factor," Castleton said. "That's the big thing he instilled in me. He said at the next level, every guy is tough, every guy is competitive and wants everything just as bad as you. He's taught me to be tough, and that's a mindset. "But from a basketball standpoint, it's a lot of little things — footwork around the basket, being strong. There are a lot of things he's taught me that go a long way. He has so much knowl- edge." Knowledge goes a long way. Knowl- edge, combined with a steel jaw, goes even farther in the Big Ten. "I try not to have a label of being soft," Castleton said. "There are guys out there who have that label. I want to be aggressive." Around Simpson, Matthews, Teske, Howard and others, the sophomore is putting down a firmer foundation in that essential area. "Just being around guys who em- brace toughness all the time and coaches teaching it in practice every day — just throughout life, you've got to be tough," Castleton said. "Not just on the basketball court. We use anal- ogies in life. There are bumps in the road, things you don't expect. You've got to take the hit and keep moving on. It's the same thing on the basketball court. There are a lot of physical guys, and you've got to be able to take hits. "The blood, sweat and tears you put into the game — that's the part people don't like, but it comes with it. You've got to embrace it." EMBRACING THE PROCESS Castleton absorbed the freshman anonymity, although he showed some flashes later in the year, scoring a ca- reer-high 11 points against Nebraska at the end of February. He dealt with Tim Hardaway Jr. served as a team captain and earned first-team All-Big Ten accolades while helping the Wolverines advance to the 2013 national championship game. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL