The Wolverine

November 2015

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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2015-16 BASKETBALL PREVIEW BY JOHN BORTON J ohn Beilein's crew in 2012-13 shot 48.4 percent on its way to the national championship game, marking the best overall shooting squad he's put on the court at Michigan. A year later, an Elite Eight group led by Nik Stauskas shot 40.2 percent from three-point range for the season. Those record marks under Beilein bear little resemblance to his 10-22 first team in Ann Arbor (2007-08), which shot 39.5 percent from the field and 31.2 percent beyond the arc. Back then, Beilein saw a brighter day coming. After getting run from the Big Ten Tournament by Wisconsin, 51-34, Beilein commented: "I grew up on an apple farm and I gave analogies to how you prune apple trees. And we got pruned many times this year, so the apples will grow bigger and better every year." He also gets to select the crop, and it has led to some memorable seasons. This year, he might feature more capable marksmen than in any of his eight seasons at Michigan. The seniors, guards Spike Albrecht and Caris LeVert, carry career three- point shooting percentages of 40.3 and 39.0, respectively. Junior wing Zak Irvin is at 38.3 and junior guard Derrick Walton at 38.7. Sophomore wing Aubrey Dawkins connected on 43.8 percent from three- point range as a true freshman, and redshirt sophomore wing Duncan Robinson is busily conjuring up vi- sions of Stauskas in U-M shooting drills. "Duncan can really shoot the ball," Dawkins said. "I thought I could shoot. I saw him make 41 threes in a row, right in front of my eyes. I couldn't match that. "We have a lot of shooters. It's fun. We don't want to live and die by the three, but every game somebody will be on. We have a lot of shooters out there, and it's exciting to see us all playing." Beilein isn't about to verbally over- play his hand in October. At the same SHOOTING GALLERY The Wolverines Enjoy Plenty Of Perimeter Options

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