The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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"We've never seen him dunk in a game and may never see that, but some of his rebounds are way above the rim. He can jump off two feet re- ally well. That's really helpful." Sometimes, Walton insists, he feels he almost gets too much credit for it. While teammates are instructed to box out oppo- nents, he is often left to clean the glass. H i s s u c c e s s g o e s h a n d i n hand with how well his guys are k e e p i n g t h e i r s away from the rim. "I've got the easy job, just get u p t h e r e a n d get it," he said. "Other guys are tied up, so I'm the only one free. Sometimes I have to mix it up a lit- tle, but nine out of 10 times guys like Ricky Doyle, Zak, Aubrey Dawkins or Duncan are fighting off guys way more athletic than I am. Then it's easy for me to get free and re- bound." When he does, and the other parts of his game are clicking, he's one of the best point guards in the Big Ten, former Wolverine big man and cur- rent college basketball analyst Tim McCormick said. "When he's healthy, he's definitely in the upper echelon of Big Ten point guards," he noted. "He has some ar- eas of his game that he could tighten, but I like his leadership. I like his abil- ity to impact the game in ways other than scoring. "He seems to have very good vision and un- derstanding of what John Beilein wants. Some guys just rely on their j u m p s h o t , o r they're pass-first point guards. He can do many dif- ferent things, de- pending on what the team needs." One night it might be assists and rebounds, an- other it might be scoring down the stretch like it was against Maryland. That's part of the fun in watching him, McCormick added. "I'm always in- trigued to watch h i m p l a y, " h e said. "You can't really follow his stat line and say, 'He didn't do this today. He didn't rebound today, he didn't pass, his shot was off.' He's a very unique player. He doesn't define him- self by stats. He just plays the game and takes what's given." T h e 6 - 1 , 1 9 0 - p o u n d Wa l t o n l e d t h e Wolverines in rebounding with 81 boards (5.4 per game) through 18 contests. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL