The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/262939
Michigan Has Featured Some Strong Leaps As mid-February arrived, Nik Stauskas' scoring surge from his freshman to sophomore seasons couldn't be missed. He averaged 11.0 per game as a rookie, and in the absence of now NBA rookies Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., bumped that average up to a lofty 16.7. Stauskas would really need to turn on the jets, though, to match the greatest spring forward taken by a Wolverine over the past 20 years. That honor belongs to one-time John Beilein point guard Darius Morris, who averaged 4.4 points per game as a rookie, blending in with veterans Zack Novak and Stu Douglass. Morris' second season proved his breakout as well. He not only ran the show from the point guard spot, he averaged 15.0 points per game — a bounce of 10.6 each time out over his freshman year — before leaving early for the professional ranks. The Morris and Stauskas developments under Beilein have marked the most glaring one-year jumps in scoring average. A number of other Wolverines have moved the scoring column needle significantly, though, over the past two de- cades. Here is a list of the biggest jumps in scoring average by Michigan players since the 1993-94 campaign: Rk. Player Avg. Avg. Difference 1. Darius Morris (2009-11) 4.4 15.0 10.6 2. Nik Stauskas* (2012-14) 11.0 16.7 5.7 3. Robbie Reid (1997-99) 8.2 13.5 5.3 4. Daniel Horton (2002-06) 12.4 17.6 5.2 5. Jerod Ward (1994-98) 8.3 13.1 4.8 6. Ray Jackson (1991-95) 11.4 15.8 4.4 7. Dion Harris (2003-07) 10.1 14.3 4.2 8. Robert Traylor (1995-98) 9.0 13.1 4.1 9. Maceo Baston (1994-98) 7.7 11.7 4.0 10. Trey Burke (2011-13) 14.8 18.6 3.8 * Through Feb. 16 Like Stauskas and Morris, most of these players (six in all) made that greatest leap between their freshman and sophomore years. Of course, in the case of Morris and Burke, they weren't around for any Michigan basketball action beyond that. The rest made their move, at least scoring-wise, between their junior and se- nior seasons. Reid played only those two years at Michigan, having transferred in as a junior. It might be relevant to note that three performers on the list are backcourt performers for Beilein over the past five seasons. — John Borton