The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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ius Morris' early departure — how would the Wolverines do without him? The early answer, echoing from as far away as the Hawaiian Islands, came back loud and clear. Just fine, thanks. With all due respect to Morris — T who set a Michigan record for single- season assists last year, and directed the Wolverines to the cusp of the BY JOHN BORTON he single biggest question looming over Michigan's basketball team in 2011-12 involved point guard Dar- NCAA Tournament rematch against the No. 6 Blue Devils, struggling through a rough first half and even- tually bowing, 82-75. Beilein's crew demonstrated the sort of fight and adaptability to claw back into a game like that, though, and Burke revealed his fearlessness. He played all but one minute of the showdown, scoring 17 points on 8-of-17 shooting, dishing out nine as- sists while turning the ball over just three times, grabbing three rebounds and making a steal. In short, he em- phatically answered the doubts about MAKING A POINT Trey Burke Shows He's Ready For Prime Time NCAA's Sweet 16 — the Wolverines aren't taking a major step back. That's because freshman point guard Trey Burke looks pretty good, the way a lemonade stand in a desert looks pretty good. Burke certainly entered Michigan bearing some solid credentials, in- cluding Mr. Basketball in the state of Ohio last season. How he'd hold up in terms of learning head coach John Beilein's offense, adapting to direct- ing the show, and stepping up when the opposition turned from a sitting duck to a strutting Duke was another matter. Burke sent a message in Maui: Don't worry about me, or a hole at point guard. The show goes on. Burke put on a show in the Thanks- giving-week games of the Maui In- vitational, especially for a freshman against ranked competition. He scored 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, with four assists, in Michigan's 73-61 smack-down of No. 8 Memphis on Nov. 21. Burke played 35 minutes in that game, and spent himself to the point that Beilein quipped he couldn't say the alphabet afterwards. But the fresh- man could spell c-o-m-p-e-t-e just fine against Duke 24 hours later. The Wolverines didn't win their 50 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2011 Michigan's point guard position. "The biggest question was, Trey Burke — how is he going to do now that he's out there?" Beilein said. "I think he performed fairly well." U-M assistant coach LaVall Jordan insisted confidence has never been a problem for Burke. His task is merely to get comfortable with what Beilein wants him to do in a game setting, and that response is only going to im- prove. "The more you play, the more com- fortable you get," Jordan said. "He's competed against some pretty high- level teams to this point, and the Big Ten will be no different. It's just being comfortable doing that. "He's played against good play- ers all his life. Now he's doing it in a Michigan uniform. He might as well get used to it. It's going to be tough when the Big Ten season opens up. We've got four or five of the top teams in the country, and our league is the best in the country. It's going to be fun for him." Jordan's reference to performing against good competition underscores the readiness of freshmen to come in and contribute. The really talented ones aren't limited to playing for their high schools, in their counties, and then absorbing the shock of jumping to the collegiate level anymore. That scenario is long in the past. Those entering college these days have often mixed with top players from across the nation in various camps and AAU tournaments. Even without those, Burke's a former team- mate of last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Ohio State's Jared Sull- inger. "When I was coming out, back in '97, you heard about a lot of guys who were recruited players," Jordan noted. "You heard the names, you saw some of them, and you might have played against a few. "But now, with all the exposure in the summer — with the camps, the summer basketball, AAU — those guys see each other. You see more, you play against them more, and it's not that big of a deal when the kids get to college." The shock factor simply doesn't register with most, Jordan explained, affording for not only quicker impact by freshmen, but also more parity across the board. "You take the kids from Long Beach State, and they can go into Pittsburgh and win," Jordan observed. "UNLV can beat North Carolina. It's not such an awe factor like it used to be, where you heard about them but you didn't see them. "Trey has played against all those guys. Once you get out there, it's basketball, and everyone puts their shorts on the same way." Beilein insisted from the start of the season that Burke showed a readiness to perform in the starting lineup. The freshman would have been a starter from game one, had he not been late to a U-M walk-through before Michi- gan's opener — just another part of the learning process. At the same time, the U-M head coach knows Burke hasn't been on the court for 67 college games, like Morris had when he opted out for the NBA Draft. Beilein urges patience on those watching the freshman grow, while urging Burke himself to grow quickly. "It's just understanding the pace that he needs to play with, the defen- sive end of it, getting him so he really can withstand a long period of time Through Michigan's first seven games, Burke was the Wolverines' second-leading scorer (11.0 points per contest) and top assist man (4.1 average). PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN