The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/201975
some points. "The other job for the guy who has been here is to teach the other guy, be big brother. As Stu [Douglass] did for Trey, Trey did for Spike, you go on and on and so forth. You're taking advantage of him, the young guy, because he doesn't know what you know yet." That also applies to the 6-6, 200-pound Irvin, though teammates say last year 's Mr. Basketball has shown no fear in going toe to toe with his more experienced teammates. Like Hardaway, Irvin was more of a perimeter scorer early in his high school career before expanding his game. He's been aggressive in attacking the rim and will play significant minutes this season. The program is in a different place than when Hardaway Jr. first arrived, assistant Jeff Meyer noted, and Irvin won't have to be one of the primary scorers from the get-go. He is similar to the New York Knicks rookie in many ways, however. "In a lot of ways Zak Irvin is a Tim Hardaway prototype," Meyer said. "Tim brought a focus in every practice, a competitive edge in every drill as a freshman. He never took a drill off. He was really hard on himself if he wasn't achieving standards and expectations, even though I kept saying to him, 'This is not a game of perfect; it's a game of action.' "Zak's self-expectation level is also very high. He's done a really good job of embracing the whole idea that there are two key areas for any freshman, starting with valuing possessions. For us, the deal breaker is if you turn the ball over, you're not going to play. Zak has worked through that. He's had low turnovers in our scrimmages. And then it's embracing the team defense concept. It's not about guarding my man as much as it is, It's the ball that scores. Can my teammates trust me in the gaps on the help side? Zak is there. He's been really, really good at picking up our team defensive principles." The duty to pick up the slack for Hardaway as a defensive stopper, though, might fall on sophomore Caris LeVert. Beilein essentially challenged the 6-6, 185-pounder at his media day press conference in saying he expected LeVert to excel on that end of the floor. LeVert showed flashes of his skills last year, proving too valuable to redshirt. He came up biggest in a Final Four win over Syracuse, hitting two triples in the first half and scoring eight points off the bench in a 61-56 victory. He's added 10 pounds and spent as much time as anyone in the gym over the summer preparing for the encore this year. "He and Nik [Stauskas] invested, stayed here for both the spring and summer sessions to work on their games," Jordan said. "That guard spot will be fun. The group as a whole has a lot of versatility and some creativity. We can have some fun as a staff." LeVert is a good enough ball handler that he could play some point when the Wolverines play bigger, perhaps when they're looking for a defensive stop. The length on the floor could create matchup prob-