The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MEN'S BASKETBALL Preview Magazines Tab Michigan One To Watch poll thrust the Wolverines into a top-five spot. The Associated Press and USA Today preseason rankings did so this year, both elevating U-M to the No. 5 squad, and the preview magazines are falling in line. Lindy's Sports pegs the Wolverines as the No. 3 team in the nation, be- hind only Louisville and fellow Big Ten member Indiana. It calls sopho- more point guard Trey Burke and junior swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. "NBA good," and says they'll com- bine well with a frontcourt short on name recognition but long on production. N ot since the days of the Fab Five has a major college basketball It does caution about the leader- ship loss from players such as Zack Novak and Stu Douglass, but comes to an upbeat conclusion in assessing the Wolverines so strongly. "We're betting [John] Beilein devel- ops some bit players or newcomers to the point where they're far bet- ter than simply serviceable," Lindy's said. "Good enough, in fact, to sup- port a run at the Big Ten title and the program's first Final Four since the now-vacated trip in 1993." The publication ranks Burke as the No. 5 point guard in the coun- try, with Hardaway the No. 3 small forward. Together, they're part of the No. 5 backcourt in the nation, in this assessment. the "Top Newcomer" tag, accompa- nied by this comment: "Considered the nation's No. 2 prospect deep into his senior year, the 6-10 center will help reshape a frontcourt presence Hardaway Jr. might be the nation's best pair of starters, but depth is the issue here," Lindy's says. "Matt Vogrich will get first pop at signifi- cant reserve minutes after being just a spot performer for three years. Freshman Nik Stauskas and Spike Albrecht are next up in the rotation, but don't look for Burke and Hard- away to spend a lot of time on the bench." Freshman Mitch McGary draws "The duo of Trey Burke and Tim expected to take on a bigger scoring role this season." Lindy's overview takes note of the Wolverines No. 6 in the nation, be- hind Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, Kansas and Syracuse. It named Burke the top floor leader in the country, and a second-team preseason All- American. The publication slots the Wolver- ines third in the Big Ten, behind Indiana and Ohio State (oddly not ranked above U-M overall). Burke makes its preseason All-Big Ten first team, with Hardaway landing on the third unit. "If Burke can continue to develop after a breakout freshman season, and if Beilein can depend on a few of his new faces to contribute, there's a lot of winning in store around Ann Arbor." Burke and Hardaway both make the publication's preseason all-con- ference first team, while rookie Glenn Robinson III gets the tag of "Likely to wear an NBA uniform first." He's also considered the No. 1 signing coup of the Big Ten newcomers. Michigan's incoming class, as a whole, is ranked No. 9 in the nation by the publication. Athlon Sports, meanwhile, pegs the U-M schedule as well: "The Wolver- ines again face a rough go of it, start- ing with the Preseason NIT before facing West Virginia, North Carolina State and Arkansas. Sophomore Trey Burke has showed up on several preseason All-America lists, and he was rated as the nation's top point guard by Athlon Sports. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL The publication also selected Beilein as the No. 18 college head coach in the nation. Michigan's incoming class ranks second in the conference behind only Indiana's with this observation: "This is one of the best recruiting classes of John Beilein's career. He scooped up three top-100 prospects, including two among the top 30 recruits." Athlon also cites a loaded U-M ros- WOLVERINES PICKED AS RUNNER-UP IN BIG TEN Expectations are rising for a Michi- gan team that snuck up on every- body a year ago and gained a share of the Big Ten championship. A poll of conference media has the Wolver- ines finishing second this year. That's no slight, since many identi- fied Indiana — the team chosen to win the league at the Big Ten's me- dia day in Chicago Oct. 25 — as the best squad in the country this season. Only three teams are listed from the voting, and the Hoosiers, Wolverines and Ohio State's Buckeyes formed the top trio. ter, and said: "The Wolverines should be an improved team that can cer- tainly reach the NCAA Tournament's second weekend. And, if everybody comes back for '13-14, some real fun can be had. Burke has great potential, and Hardaway can be a big factor if he plays within himself. The fresh- man class is talented, and Michigan should be deeper all over the floor." guard Trey Burke earned notice on the preseason All-Big Ten first team. Burke earned honorable mention on the Associated Press All-America squad last year, after averaging 14.8 points, 4.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds as a freshman. Meanwhile, U-M sophomore point Burke became the Big Ten Fresh- man of the Year, as selected by the media, a unanimous choice for the All-Freshman squad, and a second- team All-Big Ten performer by coaches and media. He earned Big Ten Player of the Week once dur- ing the regular season, and Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors seven times. NOVEMBER 2012 THE WOLVERINE 73