The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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APRIL 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 61 ❱ WHERE ARE THEY NOW? He recruits you, and you do so well, and then you get on campus, and you just lose focus a little bit. I think I needed that. I needed my mom and my dad to come up here and sit down and have that conver- sation, so I can refocus and go on to help this team do what we all sought out to do, which is win a national championship." Burke's stellar career at Michigan saw him accomplish nearly all of those goals, helping lead the team to a national run- ner-up finish in 2013, along with winning National Player of the Year and Big Ten Player of the Year honors. The traits that made him a star were apparent early, even with some of the ups and downs. "You know when I understood what we had?" Beilein said. "[Stu Douglas and Zach Novak] came to me after a few open gyms … and they said, 'That dude's re- ally good, Coach. I mean, he's really good.' And they had just played with Darius Morris, who was at that time playing with the Lakers, playing next to Kobe [Bryant]. "So, I think I saw that, and then there were moments in practice. He looked like a freshman, and then other moments where he looked like a pro." Burke nearly declared for the NBA after his freshman season, though, and it was a process to get him on board with the idea of returning for one more year in Ann Arbor. "I really wanted to go to the NBA after my freshman year," Burke admitted. "And I hid it from Coach B for a long time. Coach B always told us, 'Four years, men, put your bags down.' And his intentions were always good; he was building something. That's every coach's dream. Coaches don't want guys just coming in and leaving. "And my intentions weren't bad, that I wanted to be one-and-done. It's hard to explain. When you're 18, 19, you see a name on that board, and you're just like, 'Hey, I'm right.'" Eventually, Burke and Beilein had a conversation that reframed the decision. If he was going to return, it was going to be for the pursuit of something bigger than himself. "Once I sat back, had that conversation with them, made the decision to come back, I can't be the same Trey Burke next year," Burke said. "Coach Beilein said, 'Well, what do you want? What would you want to come back?' National cham- pionship. I want to be in that game. "You can't just say those words and not mean it. I feel like a lot of teams say that, but we had just had a first-round exit my freshman year. It was a sour taste in my mouth." As Burke grew into more of a leadership role, Beilein found himself simplifying the way Michigan played offense. With a point guard capable of creating opportu- nities on nearly every possession, some- times the best strategy was simply letting him operate. "My playbook shrunk quite a bit during that time," Beilein said. "Just give a high ball screen, get out of the way. There are a lot of calls sometimes. I do remember we're playing at Illinois. We had one play, I forget what it was called, maybe fist up. And we ran it every play of the second half. I mean, every play. We were up by 20 or 30, but we ran it every play in the sec- ond half. And Mitch [McGary] was either getting rebounds, or Nik [Stauskas] was hitting a jump shot, or Trey was scoring the ball." With Burke's number now enshrined in the rafters forever, he wants to be remem- bered as someone who helped set a foun- dation and pushed the program forward. "I want them to think about the mind- set that I carried every day on that court," he said. "I want them to think about me as a winner. And someone who really helped change and turn this program back around to relevance." And as Burke reflected on the journey that began when he first stepped onto campus as an 18-year-old point guard still learning how to handle the freedom of college life, one feeling kept rising above the rest. Since leaving Michigan, he said, he hasn't found anything quite like it. "This is super close to the heart for me, to be able to come back and get my flow- ers," Burke said. "Since I've left Michigan, I have not found something like that. The highest currency out here is love. I think we need to give more love to each other. "And that's what I'm feeling right now, so much love." ❏ ❱ The Trey Burke File Michigan Accomplishments: Big Ten Freshman of the Year (2012) … First-team All-Big Ten, Big Ten Player of the Year, Bob Cousy Award, Consensus first-team All-American, National Player of the Year (2013). Professional Accomplishments: No. 9 overall pick in 2013 NBA Draft (Utah Jazz) … NBA All- Rookie first team (2014) … Third-team All-NBA (2018) … 10-year NBA and G League career … Current member of Astros de Jalisco in Mexico. They Said It: "I used to encourage everybody that if you want to be an NBA player, act like you're here for four years. We'll drive you to the airport if you're an NBA player. We had no problem going pro, but that's the mindset you need. We didn't want people who came here as a waypoint. This had to be a destination, and then they could get to their dreams." — John Beilein He Said It: "I think [the Kansas win in the Sweet 16 exemplifies] the type of team that we had. Resilient, never giving up. Down 10 points with 2 minutes and 40 seconds left. No one wants to be in that situation. … We never stopped believing, and I say this all the time. Everyone talks about the shot, but it's all of the small plays before the shot. … Everything had to just be one step at a time." — Burke Burke led Michigan to a national runner-up finish in 2013, along with winning National Player of the Year and Big Ten Player of the Year honors. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL