The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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2012-13 BASKETBALL PREVIEW nior to senior seasons, he's beginning to fill out. "The media, when they talk about Caris LeVert, they think of him as the late recruit," Stauskas said. "They don't really think he's going to do much this year. But throughout the summer in practices, just seeing him play, he's very talented. He's put on some muscle, he's put on some weight, and he's going to be a great player." meter, the son of former Purdue and NBA standout Glenn Robinson isn't sneaking up on anybody. "Trey" Robinson, as he's known, averaged 21.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.1 as- sists per game for Lake Central (Ind.) High School as a senior. Beilein got on him early, and Rob- inson just kept getting better, wind- ing up a Rivals.com five-star per- former, the No. 11 prep nationally and the No. 2 shooting guard in the country. On the flip side of the attention His athleticism has already shown up in the dunks he delivers in tran- sition, and his enthusiastic love for Michigan stood out early to observ- ers. What Beilein appreciates as much as anything — and what could lead Robinson to early court time in different roles — involves how he learns. Swingman Tim Hardaway Jr., who averaged 14.6 points per game and finished third on the team in assists with 73 last year, has made a concerted effort to improve his ball-handling skills heading into his junior campaign. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL before him — there are bigger issues at hand. "It is one thing to get information; it is another thing putting it right into action," Beilein said. "Glenn Robin- son has had a couple of times where he took information, he gathered it and he was doing it 10 minutes later." "The most important thing is defense," Robinson offered, no doubt sounding back a mantra of- ten stressed. "That's what I've been working on. That's what the team has been working on a lot. We're go- ing to need a lot of defense this year. "We've got a great team around us. Not just the talent level, but the character of each guy on the team. I really respect that. That's something I knew coming in, but just being here, I've seen a lot more of it." That character can be measured in a number of ways. Vogrich stands as one of the veterans, and he'll be bat- tling hard to preserve or increase the 10 minutes a game he delivered to Michigan last year. At the same time, the senior under- stands — like Novak and Douglass "I'm going to bring more leader- ship," Vogrich vowed. "Zack and Stu taught me a lot. They taught all of us a lot. The seniors are really step- ping up, and everyone that has been around the program is trying to lead. I'm always going to come off the bench, shoot and hustle. That's just part of my DNA. I'm just excited to get started." Beilein shared a moment on Michi- gan's media day that backed all the togetherness/leadership talk. "We got done with practice, it was the end of our preseason, and we had Josh Bartelstein, Corey Person and Eso Akunne — three guys that very rarely play — who all had freshmen pulled out to the side, saying, 'Okay, this is exactly what we were just talk- ing about. You can do this.' "It was really a good moment for me, walking off the court and saying there is a lot of teaching going on. It's not just from the coaches." Meyer backed that notion, appre- ciative of the fast-forward nature of the learning. College coaches re- ceived additional hours from the NCAA to work with their teams over the summer, and that has paid off, but the learning process — especially given the Wolverines' young talent this season — is ongoing. "I know the care level is very high with this group," Meyer said. "The seniors want to do what seniors are supposed to do for a quality pro- gram, a championship-level program. They're doing all they can to provide us with good, strong leadership. "Our young kids have come in and done a really good job of embrac- ing our culture. We've worked really hard on our defense, trying to bring our young kids up to speed on our core principles early." To a man, the backcourt performers expect it to pay off — early, middle and late. Vogrich saw the effort pay off last year, when nobody thought the Wolverines could win a Big Ten championship — or almost nobody. "We expected it," he insisted. "No one else did, but we did. Zack and Stu were great leaders in driving that home. We're not going to listen to the press and all the hype. We'll do the little fundamental things the Michi- gan way and see what happens." u NOVEMBER 2012 THE WOLVERINE 57