The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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BASKETBALL14-15 deal. We're excited about Squad 99, to see what it brings and how we finish up." For Michigan's guards, with whom Jordan deals directly, the finish will have much to do with a couple of key ingredients from them along the way. "They've got to display a great deal of poise and a great deal of tough- ness," Jordan insisted. "We know adversity will come along, but those guys have had all sorts of experi- ences. They've played on Monday night; we've gone to places and lost in close ones. "We've gone on the road and won. We know what that feels like. It's to be as consistently poised as we can in all those situations." Those characteristics certainly ap- ply to Walton, who had to step in a year ago for departed consensus na- tional Player of the Year Trey Burke. He responded with a solid effort, av- eraging 7.9 points. 2.9 assists and 3.0 rebounds a game. Walton shot 41 percent (43 of 105) on three-pointers, and 79.3 percent (69 of 87) at the free throw line, memorably knocking down 9 of 10 in Michigan's 80-75 win at Michigan State. U-M head coach John Beilein insists he's eager to see the growth in the sophomore. "We do need him to be more ag- gressive and go after the basket, then make decisions," Beilein said. "We need that instead of going for the pass and then figuring out what you're going to do. Think score and then pass more often than he did last year." He'll be able to do so better, and for longer stretches, because of a well- applied offseason with U-M strength and conditioning coach Jon Sander- son, Walton's coaches agreed. "The first was for him to get into great shape," Jordan said. "Right now, he's done a great job of invest- ing. His body looks really strong. He spent a lot of time with Coach Sand- erson. His endurance was one of the big things he and I talked about as a goal, to be as well-conditioned as he could be coming back." Walton also needs a stronger voice in Michigan's mix, Jordan noted, which ought to come naturally after last year. "He needs to be a more vocal leader," Jordan said. "With so many guys departing, he's going to be a guy all these new guys will look at for instructions and for leadership. That's an area where he's growing. "He's a great kid. He has a high care level. It's just watching him grow into his own leadership style and being able to help his team- mates." Albrecht smilingly drew a distinc- tion between his head coach's de- scription of him as "outgoing" and his own as "shy." Anyone who texts supermodel Kate Upton from the Fi- nal Four might have a tough time making the case for shy, but Albrecht cautions none of the Core Four are shy among themselves or with the newcomers. That's part of the benefit of get- ting to know each other through Michigan's trip to Italy in August, he said. They got a head start of 10 practices, four games and an inter-