The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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WOLVERINE WATCH JOHN BORTON Basketball Showing Great Promise T he "if-only" crew emerged like lake-effect snow in Buffalo the moment Darius Morris opted to make an early jump to the NBA. Excitement over the impending bas- ketball season became tempered by potential paradise lost. With Morris, Michigan could have competed for the Big Ten champi- onship. With Morris, they'd have picked up right where they left off in the NCAA Tournament. And so on. Granted, not a conference game has been played in the toughest league the nation has to offer in 2011-12. That said, Michigan has far more folks talking about what might be, than what might have been. Here's why … • Morris' successor, freshman Trey Burke, exceeded all early ex- pectations. He's second on the team in scoring (13.1 points per game), averages nearly five assists per game, shot 39.2 percent on three- pointers through the first 11 games, and could fool anyone into thinking he's no freshman. "Normally, you expect with a freshman, 'Okay, he can fake that for a little bit, but eventually he's going to have that freshman blowup,'" se- nior Zack Novak observed. "To his credit, it hasn't happened yet. Not even close." Plus, Novak noted with self- deprecating admiration, Burke — al- ready a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week — makes things happen that others can't. Laughing, Novak assessed: "Some of the things I know that I just phys- ically can't do, I'm like, I see it there. I'm like, 'Hey, why don't you try this? I've always wanted to try this, why don't you go do it?' He's able to, so he's fun to play with. He's shown a knack for making big plays when we need them. "He's getting people open shots. I think he's a big part of the reason we're shooting the ball better." • Novak himself proved effi- ciently amazing over the first five weeks of the season. He shot 53.0 percent from the field in the open- ing 11 games, 43.2 percent from 6 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2012 three-point range, and has been Michigan's best ball handler with 28 assists and just seven turnovers. The senior worked incredibly hard adding a midrange game over the summer, and has been deadly on pull-up jumpers and drives to the basket. "Zack Novak is another great part of this," head coach John Beilein said. "He's scoring off the dribble, he's taking the ball to the basket. He's much more comfortable." • Sophomore Evan Smotrycz added 36 pounds in the offseason, and a bulk-and-hustle presence to the U-M lineup. Smotrycz cruised to the cusp of the Big Ten season third on the team in scoring (10.9), first in rebounding (6.4), and shooting a scorching 54.8 percent (17 of 31) from three-point range. Plus, he's supplying plays beyond the stat sheet, forcing Beilein to his feet. One such involved Smotrycz crashing to the floor in front of Beilein versus Alabama A&M, re- taining a U-M possession against a smaller, quicker, loose-ball pursuer. "It told everything when he dove on the floor right in front of our bench in the first half," Beilein said. "He dove on the floor and got us an extra possession. That did not happen last year. He did not take charges last year. He was just learn- ing how to play with a 6-9 body, how to use your body inside. "I love the way he's scrapping. For him to get those rebounds today, I would have not predicted that yet. That's a good sign for us — we're going to need every rebound." All of that isn't even counting sophomore Tim Hardaway Jr.'s team-leading 15.4 scoring aver- age, or the Wolverines' 38.0 team three-point percentage (up from last year's 35.2 percent). Plus, Burke isn't going to get worse running the show. He's gain- ing ground every day, from learning his new teammates' favorite foods to their locations of choice to catch and shoot. "When I first came, I didn't know everyone's tendencies," Burke ad- mitted. "Now that I'm playing with Senior Zack Novak shot 53.0 percent from the field in the opening 11 games, including 43.2 percent from three-point range. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN them every single day in practice and am around them a lot, I know what each player is capable of do- ing. I know where each player is supposed to be out on the court. That's very important for us as a team." Beilein's crew finished fifth in the nation last year in fewest average turnovers (10). They scrambled to a 9-2 record averaging 13 this year, and the boss warns that's not good enough. "As long as we keep doing double digits like this, it's going to be really hard to beat the really good teams," Beilein said. "Some of it is where you're just playing too fast. Now, I want to play fast. But you're just playing faster than you need to play. Slow down, look at everything, and make a good play." The good news — with a fresh- man point guard, a sophomore, two redshirt sophomores and a rock- solid senior in the starting lineup, it's probably not going to regress from November to March. q Editor John Borton has been with The Wolverine since 1991. Contact him at jborton@comcast.net and follow him on Twitter @JB_Wolverine.