10- The Michigan Daily -- f'96 - Thursday, Nove~er 14, 1996
EATURE
i
A A0
AT A GLANCE
The Michigan 4y - Tipoff '9
-A,
Changing
of the Guard
With hIs head held high and has spirits e
finally achieved hi' dream
ven higher, Brand
- he' a Wolverie
n Hughes
has
30
MACEO BASTON
Height: 6-foot-9
Weight: 210 lbs.
Class: Junior
Position: Forward
Hometown: Dallas
JE
]f
T he championship game was a
bundle cif contradicting eotions:
happiness, sadness, jubilation and
despair.
The sun shining high above the
gym buried within the state of Illinois, the
band playing, and the cheerleaders cheering all
set the stage for the greatest rendition of
Cinderella.
The young Manual High School boy's bas-
ketball team out of Peoria, Ill., was not expect-
ed to get past the first round of the state tour-
nament. But there it was, playing against
Carbondale - the same Carbondale team that
beat Manual by five points earlier in the season
- in the state title game. Four of Manual's
starting five were underclassmen. The lone
senior was a man among boys.
In a blur of fans, bands, players and family
members, the game swayed back and forth.
With four seconds left and Carbondale up, 60-
59, the lone Manual senior starter was fouled.
Hq stepped to the line, heaved the first foul
shot up with perfect rotation. Swish. Game
tied.
One more time. Perfect rotation once
again. The ball fell through. The clock
expired, and Manual High School was
the Illinois Class AA state
champion, 61-60.
The Cinderella team
won the biggest title in
the state of Illinois,
yet it wasf
one
By Danielle Rumore
of the highest and lowest moments for the
guard who iced the game.
And a defining moment in his life, too.
Brandun Hughes, the hero that night in
March 1994, was ripping apart inside, over-
come by conflicting emotions. On one hand, he
won the state championship to end his high
school career and was walking on air - pure
elation.
On the other hand, there would be no more
large crowds, Cinderella stories, championships
or winning foul shots come September, at least
at the DIiision I level - sick, disturbing pain.
At that point, academic ineligibility prevent-
ed Hughes from moving on to Division I.
"It was real hard, but (at the same time), it
was also the greatest game of my life," Hughes
says. "I thjnk about it every day when I wake
up. Every time I'm on the court, I think about
it. I'm real emotional about my high
school.
"I was a partial qualifier (for
college)," Hughes adds. "I quali-
fied on my ACT, but my core cur-
riculum was low."
The next day after the game,
there was a parade. He and his
teammates returned home and
rode on a fire truck through
Peoria, through the sea of
proud fans welcoming
home the state champions.
A parade? For high
school state champions?
- Hughes wanted to get used to
that.
Five.
His eyes glowed, and still glow, when he
talks about Michigan.
Hughes played the Cinderella part before at
Manual. He wanted to play it again, and he
knew that he could. His time to sink winning
free throws and win titles would come again.
Hopefully, at Michigan.
So he left for the plains. His mother,
Rosemary - from whom he says he got his
fiery, fierce competitive edge - gave him
words of advice before he left for Kansas, a
world far away from Peoria.
"Keep your head up."
"Stay strong."
"It will all work out for the best."
So he held his mother's advice close to his
heart when he arrived at Barton County
Community College in 1994. Barton was con-
sidered one of the top junior college programs
in both the Jayhawk West Conference and the
nation. And the Jayhawk West Conference had
its stake on some of the best JUCO guards in
the country.
"I knew if I could play with the best, then I
would have the chance to go to a good, four-
year university," Hughes says. "I needed to get
away and grow up on my own."
And boy, did he grow. He grew faster than
the corn that sprung up from the fields. He
averaged 21.2 points and 5.7 assists as a fresh-
man.
As a sophomore, he finished fourth in the
nation among junior college scorers, averaging
28.2 points and 6.5 assists. He was named a
junior college All-American by the Basketball
Times.
Right after his freshman year, Michigan
started to call again, and his dream was reborn.
"We started recruiting him in the spring, and
really started recruiting him hard in late spring,
early summer," Michigan coach Steve Fisher
says.
He committed to the Wolverines, and one
more year at Barton. Kansas was lonely and
different than Peoria, but he was going to
Michigan. He was going to be a Wolverine, and
that's what got him through those days.
"It was pretty depressing sometimes,"
Hughes says.
Keep your head up.
"I was waiting for Michigan," he adds.
"Then it was so coincidental. They called like
the next week right after I was talking about if
Michigan ever called me, I'm going there."
Stay strong.
"... it must have been meant for me to go
here. God must have wanted me to go to
Michigan."
It will all work out for the best.
Eu.
Illinois to Kansas to Michigan.
A long road traveled to one destination.
Hughes traveled and made a few detours along
the way to Ann Arbor. But he now runs up and
down the court at Crisler Arena, his competi-
tive streak burning holes in the floor.
Race up the floor, dish to the open man,
rebound, shoot from downtown, race down the
1995-96 Statistics
G-GS FG-FGA Pct. PPG RPG APG Bk.
32-8 137-201 .682 9.8 6.6 19 41
1995-96 Statistics
G-GS FG-FGA Pct. PPG RP
10-3 26-82 .317 7.2 4.
54
ROBERT TRAYLOR
Height: 6-foot-8
Weight: 300 lbs.
Class: Sophomore
Position: Center
Hometown: Detroit
5
Pi
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Junior college transfer Brandun Hughes is pumped
to finally be a Wolverine.
wing, take it to the hole.
Do it again. One more time.
He inspires and wills his teammates on.
"He should be able to get into some seams
and some gaps and find the open man," Fisher
said. "I think he will be able to do that. He
does it against his teammates now.
Hughes adds an element to the backcourt
that has been lacking at Michigan for a long
time. For starters, dribble penetration, ball
movement, breaking down defenses and a little
extra perimeter shooting. They have not been
the Wolverines' strengths, but now Hughes is
aboard to remedy the problem.
"He can get in the gaps and ... that helps me
and Louis (Bullock) spot up, and that will help
me out because I'll be able to shoot more,"
Michigan guard Travis Conian said.
"He does a lot for the team, and I like his
presence."
But nobody likes his presence more than
Hughes himself. The dream to play Michigan
basketball and to be like the Fab Five is alive.
It's hardly surprising that he now wears No. 4.
which used to belong to Fab Five member
Chris Webber.
1995-96 Statistics
(Teaneck High
1995-96 Statistics
G-GS FG-FGA Pct. IPPG RPG APG Bk.
22-4 82-148 .554 9.0 5.9 12 15
Scho
G-GS FG-FGA Pct. PPG RP
30-30 144-295 .488 11.2 8.
(' ;
4~ ~
"It was the greatest feeling
in the world in my life thus
far," Hughes says. "I think a
national championship would
match that."
Em.
STEVE
FISHER
Head coach - 8th year
Career record: 160-71
College: Illinois St., '67
Hometown: Herrin, Ill.
BRIAN
DUTCHER
Assistant - 9th year
College: Minnesota, '82
Hometown:
Bloomington, Minn.
Hughes wanted more titles and
parades and the same I-can-walk-
on-top-of-the-world happiness, so
he moved on to community col-
lege.
Play two years and move on to
Division I - that was his goal.
He went to junior college in
Kansas, knowing he would grow
as a player and as a person before
it was time to leave.
Leave for Michigan, that is.
The Wolverines showed interest in
recruiting Hughes when he was at
Manual, but the interest slowly faded
for different reasons, such as the arrival
of the second Fab Five recruiting class.
But Hughes' hope to play for the
maize and blue did not fade.
You see, Hughes grew up a Michigan
fan.
He always wanted to be a
mU.
Hughes and his teammates practice foul
shooting in practice every day.
Hughes also thinks about his high school
championship-winning free throws every day.
He thinks about them when he practices from
the charity stripe.
A few bounces. The first shot up and ...
swish. A few bounces. The second shot up and
... swish.
Keep your head up.
He must dream about sinking two game-
clinchers again.
Stay strong.
"Now that I'm actually here;" Hughes says.
"It's really like a dream."
It will all work out for the best.
Scorn
PERRY
Assistant - 3rd year
College: Wayne St., '86
Hometown: Detroit
SCOTT
TROST
Assistant - 1st year
College: Minn.-Morris '85
Hometown:
Appleton, Minn.
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Wolverine.
He and his friends loved the Fab
SARA STILLMAN/Daily