8A - Thursday, January 26, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Burke, Sullinger reunite in Columbus

DANIEL WASSERMAN
Daily Sports Writer
Freshman point guard Trey
Burke is used to providing for
others. On the court, he provides
point-scoring opportunities for
his teammates, and off the court,
he is used to hosting friends, like
Ohio State forward Jared Sull-
inger.
*But this weekend, Burke will
have to enter unfamiliar territory:
Sullinger's house.
OK, so Value City Arena isn't
Sullinger's real home, and Colum-
bus - the childhood home of both
Burke and Sullinger - won't be
all that unfamiliar to Michigan's
point guard, either.
But this Sunday's Ohio State-
Michigan matchup allows Sull-
inger to finally host his childhood
best friend in his own confines.
"He'd always be at my house,"
Burke said. "I really didn't go over
his house as much as he came over
mine. There was a couple times
where he would stay over my
house for, you know, five to six days
straight."
Sullinger felt so at home in the
Burke house that he kept sets of
clothes there.
Burke and Sullinger became
best friends when Burke was in
fourth grade. Sullinger - a year
older than Burke -joined the point
guard's AAU team, coached by
Trey's father Alfonso. The Burkes
had high expectations for Jared,
whose brother J.J. was playing for
Arkansas. But at first glance, Jar-
ed's physique didn't seem to match
J.J's stature.
"I knew who J.J. Sullinger was,"
Burke said. "Once I saw (Jared), he
was kind of short, like fat, kind of."
The first impression of Sullinger
as unathletic quickly went by the
wayside. It was soon obvious that
he had talent.
"He could play," Burke said.
"Really, couldn't no one stop him
down low. Even though he was out
of shape, hehadgoodfootworkand
he could finish around the rim."
Burke and Sullinger went on

Freshman guard Trey Burke grew up playing alongside Ohio State center Jared Sullinger. They have played together countless times, but head-to-head just three times.

Sullinger. When Burke continued
to have success, people overlooked
him and said his game wouldn't
translate as well into college.
When Burke finally did commit
to play for the Wolverines, the
opportunity to prove his doubters
wrong was surely a factor in his
mind.
"Once I got here to Michigan,
I saw that this was the best deci-
sion for me and the best place for
me to be, I took it," Burke said.
"And I knew that Ihada chance to
play against them, so it was what
it was."
Burke said family and friends
have been blowing up his phone
with requests for tickets. Players
receive just two tickets for road
games, but Burke said fellow Wol-
verines like sophomore forward
Colton Christian - a native of
Washington - have offered Burke
their tickets.
Burke admitted that his
thoughts have drifted toward
what the crowd will be like and
knows there will be plenty of folks
with mixed emotions during the
40-minute contest.
"I don't really know, honestly,"
Burke said. "Just playing back
in Columbus, my hometown, it's
going to be kind of - I wouldn't
say weird, but it's just going to be
different. There's going tobe a lot
of people that are Ohio State fans
there that I know really well and
they just want to see me do well,
but want to see us lose."
The freshman said that, like all
games, his adrenaline will be rac-
ing in the first few minutes and
that he'll be eager to drive into the 9
paint. In that paint will be a famil-
iar face in an unfamiliar setting.
But if history has taught us a les-
son, don't expect it to faze Burke.
"It definitely won't be weird,"
he said. "It's going to be so com-
petitive. He's going to want to
win so bad and I'm going to want
to win so bad, so it's going to be a
good matchup.
"After my first three or four
minutes in Columbus, I'm pretty
sure I'm going to be relaxing."

to form a dynamic duo and made
headlines that rippled far outside
of Columbus. In the offseason,
they played AAU together until
high school, when Trey stopped
playing an age up. And in school
they became a force, eventually
bringing Northland High School a
state title in Sullinger's senior year.
Some rankings tabbed the team as
the nation's best.
Burke fumbled for words when
asked on Wednesday how many
games they've played together.
"I don't think I could count,"
he said. "It's probably over a thou-
sand."
But how many times have they
gone against each other on the
court? Burke estimated only three
times, and all of those came during
scrimmages in practice. However,
like all best friends, their off-the-
court rivalry brought Burke to
laughter as he reminisced their
childhood.
"Me and Jared never played

against each other
game," Burke said.
played against eacl
games and stuff.
were so competitr
otherinvideogam
ketball games dor
basement. That's
time we've ever
each other.
"We were
always around
each other. ...
We were more
like brothers
when we were
younger."
That's why,
when the two
step onto the
court at 1 p.m.
on Sunday, it'll
be a special mome:
ents.
"One thing (Sul
was, 'Our parent
going to cry, seeing

r in a basketball together, playing against each
. "We've always other for the first time,' " Burke
h other in video said, referencing a text he received
You know, we from the Buckeye.
ve playing each But even though the two stay
es and little bas- in regular communication, they
wnstairs in my shy away from talking about the
really the only upcoming matchup.
played against "Honestly, we really didn't talk
about the game
that much,"
Burke said.
"We were more "Even though
we don't talk
like brothers semuch now,
w n e e since he's still
when we were in Columbus
o r and I'm here in
younger. Ann Arbor, we
still have a great
relationship."
Burke grew
nt for their par- up only minutes away from Ohio
State's campus, so when Sullinger
linger) did say, - a consensus top-five high school
s are probably player - chose to play for the
us on the court Buckeyes and coach Thad Matta,

naturally, Burke had hoped to play
by his side a year later.
Burke had taken recruiting vis-
its to football games at the Horse-
shoe and received letters from
Ohio State, but it became appar-
ent that Matta wasn't reciprocat-
ing Burke's interest. He initially
committed to Penn State before
switching to Michigan.
"I did want to go to Ohio State,"
Burke said, hesitating. "(But
Matta) never really forced the
issue to recruit me or offer me a
scholarship and things like that.
I think it was more of, he kind of
knew who he wanted at the point-
guard position.
"I kind of knew that he just
wasn't interested in me, or the
coaching staff really wasn't inter-
ested in me as much as I wanted
them to be."
Burke has spent much of his
life proving others wrong. When
he won the state championship,
people attributed the success to

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