The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1531518
40 THE WOLVERINE ❱ FEBRUARY 2025 But as always, Tschetter did his home- work. "It was honestly just his vision for how he wanted to play," Tschetter said. "He wanted to play super-unselfish, team basketball. Not necessarily have one go-to player. Spread the love. Play a fast, new style of basketball. And it came down to the character standpoint. In do- ing my homework with people who had played for him and been around him, no one had one bad thing to say about the guy. That's obviously super important, when I'm committing to come back, to have that level of trust." He committed fully, to the point that he welcomed in players — including standout junior forward Danny Wolf — who'd give Michigan minutes that other- wise might have gone to him. That's just part of the deal, Tschetter said, without a hint of regret or angst. "Our program always talks about sac- rifice," Tschetter explained. "What our program is always going to be about is sacrifice. Obviously, bringing in a player of Danny's caliber, I had to sacrifice. But at the end of the day, it's about how many dubs [W's] we can put in the left-hand column. I knew that I would have oppor- tunities, whether through foul trouble or things like that. I'd do whatever I can to help the squad win — locking up on D, hitting a shot. "Coach May was pretty clear with me, and up front, about who they were try- ing to get in the recruiting process, who they wanted to bring in. There was zero plotting, or anything like that. His level of being up front and the trust he built was high level." Tschetter has repaid the trust placed in him by solid contributions all around. Averaging 15.1 minutes a game through Michigan's 13-3 start, he posted 6.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per contest. He's among the team's best in field goal percentage (52.2), three-point percent- age (38.5) and free throw efforts (85.0). He also brings instant energy to practice and game situations, standing out as a difference maker when it comes to focus and fire. FROM BEIJING TO BOZEMAN Tschetter's 21 years on the planet have taken some interesting turns along the way. His dad, Garth, worked for IBM, and that took the Tschetter family to Bei- jing during his fourth- and fifth-grade years. That's a long way from Stewart- ville, Minn., in many respects. In retro- spect, the Michigan basketball veteran embraced the adventure and looks back fondly on it. "It was an insane experience," he said. "It's actually funny. When we were out in L.A., one of my favorite foods from when I lived in Beijing was soup dump- ling. They make them really well in L.A., so I was eating a lot of those, and chat- ting it up with some of my friends from Tschetter, who put in the work this offseason to transform his body, is among the team leaders in field goal percentage (52.2—4th), three-point per- centage (38.5—4th, at least 20 attempts) and free throw percentage (85.0—2nd, at least 15 attempts). PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS