The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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both honed their skills all summer, on the way to a winter of consider- able content. "My favorite part was the on-court workouts," LeVert said. "Nik would always have the workouts ready, and I would do whatever he was doing — shooting, ball handling, anything like that. That would be the funnest part of the day." Sometimes, the marksmanship drills carried a loser penalty, and to his credit, LeVert wasn't afraid to take on the sharpest of shooters. "We had shooting contests," LeVert recalled. "We'd go back and forth quite often. I remember one time, the loser had to run. We both ran almost an equal amount. He might have got- ten me by a couple, but they'd al- ways be pretty close." The results proved dramatic, num- bers wise. While many point to the summer basketball crucible as cru- cial, Horford cautioned that the raw skills were always there. "From day one, he's had every- thing he has now," Horford said. "He's earned an opportunity to dis- play his talents. With that experience gained, he's just been able to blossom into what he already was. It's a won- derful thing to see." Stauskas, meanwhile, witnessed a step-by-step move forward. "Caris got a lot better over the summer," his workout partner in- sisted. "He's put so much work into his game. To see him evolve now and become the scorer he is, we're really proud of him. We've got a lot of con- fidence putting him in ball screens and letting him take tough shots." His teammates aren't the only ones with confidence in him, Dakich ob- served. "He's not settling for being a role player," Dakich said. "He's All-Big Ten, as far as I'm concerned. That tells me something about his love of the game. It tells me about the pride that he has in himself, and it tells me about his desire for greatness. When During the regular season, LeVert made 53 three-pointers and shot 40.2 percent from long range. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL