The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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2014 BASKETBALL RECRUITING ISSUE you can to determine if he fits. Meet- ing him personally was a big thing for us as well. We could know he had the type of team-first attitude we demand. He's a great fit. "It's having players that can get two feet in the paint, guys that can drive and see. It's not as easy as you think. With the number of shooters we have around the perimeter, it's really important to have people who can do that. "The primary skill we saw is, he's very creative." The Wolverine: What about Aubrey Dawkins? Beilein: "We feel very fortunate to have Aubrey join our basketball pro- gram. He is very athletic, long, a full 6-6, and has a tremendous upside. We love his passion and diligence for skill development and know he possesses great understanding of the game of basketball. We anticipate his versatility as a player will prove valuable on our team."* The Wolverine: Some are saying you'll have one of the best perimeter combinations in the Big Ten. Agree or disagree? Beilein: "I don't want to compare them to other teams, because I don't know what other teams have. We re- ally like the three guards we have, in Spike, Derrick [Walton Jr.] and Caris coming back. "To have Zak Irvin come off the bench and do what he did this year was amazing. Having those four in the one-two-three, whatever we want to call it, is important. We have veter- ans in there. They're sophomores and juniors, but having guys who have experienced what we've experienced here is really helpful." The Wolverine: How will Walton in particular grow from last year's ex- perience? Beilein: "He just turned 19 the other day. You could see, as the season went on, he just got better and better and better. He's evolved as a player. He reminds me a little of when Nik Stauskas first got here. He was look- ing at the game one particular way. But the more college basketball he played, it opened his eyes to other things in the game. "Derrick is a point guard, obvi- ously, and there's a whole new per- spective for a point guard from high school to college to pro. He's seeing that more clearly every day." The Wolverine: What is the balance between players working hard over the summer but not getting burned out? Beilein: "We make sure we work with the strength coach, we want him to create a rhythm for them that gives them enough down time. We make sure, this first summer session, that they go home as often as they can. "When the freshmen come in for the second one, that's more of a de- manding schedule." The Wolverine: When you were 6-4, people were saying your 2013-14 schedule was too tough. Was it, in hindsight? Beilein: "If you look at the year be- fore, we were undefeated in the non- conference. If we'd gone to Iowa State and Duke, we probably wouldn't