The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS BIG TEN NETWORK LOVES TREY BURKE-LED MICHIGAN noticed when true freshman point guard Trey Burke announced he'd be playing his basketball at Crisler Cen- ter for another year. Plenty of others took note as well, including the Big Ten Network. Based in part on John Beilein hav- Michigan basketball fans certainly Ohio State and Michigan State, which shared the conference championship with Michigan this year. Here is the predicted order of finish for 2012-13: ing his Big Ten Freshman of the Year back at the point position, the con- ference network recently selected the Wolverines to finish second in the league next season. The Wolverines were chosen behind only Indiana, which returns its starting five and is bringing in one of the nation's top recruiting classes. "Trey Burke's return makes Michi- gan a national contender — leader- ship is the lone issue," noted a predic- tions piece on the network's website. The Big Ten Network selected the Wolverines to finish higher than both 10. Illinois 11. Penn State 12. Nebraska 1. Indiana 2. Michigan 3. Ohio State 4. Minnesota 5. Wisconsin 6. Michigan State 7. Iowa 8. Purdue 9. Northwestern team All-Big Ten next year, along with Penn State's Tim Frazier, Ohio State's Deshaun Thomas, Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe and Indiana's Cody Zeller. The network also sees Burke among Burke is also projected to make first- the top five assist men in the confer- ence. Junior-to-be Tim Hardaway Jr. is projected to make the third-team All-Big Ten. The Associated Press provided backup on the Big Ten Network's as- sessment of Burke's impact, making the freshman an honorable mention All-American. Burke became the first Michigan player since 1998 to draw such notice from the AP. The media's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, unanimous All-Big Ten Freshman Team member and All-Big Ten second-team performer, Burke also landed the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All- District VII second team and U.S. Bas- ketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-District 5 Team. He also made the All-America sec- ond team and Freshman All-America team by CBSSports.com. Throughout the season, Burke earned one Player of the Week and seven Big Ten Fresh- man of the Week honors. The freshman led the Wolverines with a scoring average of 14.8 points per game, while garnering 3.5 re- bounds and 4.6 assists per contest. His 156 assists snapped Gary Grant's Michigan record of 140, which stood for 27 years. THEWOLVERINE.COM POLL RESULTS a new poll for its readers to vote on. If you would like to vote, go to www.the- wolverine.com. The poll is located on our premium message board, The Fort. Each month, TheWolverine.com runs clared his intentions to return to Michigan, what are your NCAA ex- pectations for 2013? Now that Trey Burke has de- Championship — 4 percent Final Four — 24 percent Elite Eight — 52 percent Sweet 16 — 18 percent Second Round — 3 percent 720 votes Burke was named an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press, and the Big Ten Network projects him as a first-team all-conference pick next season. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN Staff of The Wolverine's consensus: Sweet 16. MAY 2012 THE WOLVERINE 17