The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

2B - March 12, 2012

Freshman phenom Trey Burke, born cool

I

Watching Trey Burke
play the game, you
wonder if he was
born dribbling a basketball, born
smoothly
attackingthe -
basketwith
either hand -
floating, glid-
ing, powering,
however he
wanted. You
wonder if he
was born so TIM
cool. ROHAN
When the
game's on the
line, Michigan's freshman guard
plays his best. When his team
needs him most, he plays his best.
When he's about to go off - which
is all the time - he looks like he's
snarling, the same way Kobe Bry-
ant does before he devours some-
one on the hardwood.
Burke was born snarling, look-
ing to abuse a big man trying
to hedge his pick-and-roll, I'd
imagine.
It's that talent and how he plays
the point-guard position that
make him the beginning and the
end of Michigan's NCAA Tourna-
ment chances.
Look at how the Wolverines
fared in the Big Ten Tournament.
Calm and cool, Burke polished
off a career-high, 30-point mas-
terpiece on Friday, playing all 45
minutes, while other teammates
floundered early against a medio-
cre Minnesota team. Saturday,
Burke had the worst game of his
life - no poise, no legs - and the
Wolverines lost to Ohio State by
22.
There are two reasons Burke's
Saturday meltdown won't be
repeated anytime soon:
No. 1; He hates to lose.

more results out of less talent long
before Douglass and Zack Novak
made doing that popular. Merritt
and Lee were asked if they had
advice for Burke.
"What advice could Igive to
a Trey Burke?" Merritt jokingly
said.
"I talk life in general. He's got
the court all taken care of," Lee
chimed in.
"Ice your knees. Get some rest.
Ice your knees." Merritt said.
"Just continue to do what you're
doing."
For Michigan, letting Burke be
Burke has rewarded Beilein and
the program handsomely - big
shots against Michigan State and
Ohio State come to mind - but
Saturday reminded everyone he's
still just a freshman.
Saturday's growing pains
shouldn't worry anyone, but this
question should start to be asked:
When will Burke become too cool
for school? Or, better put, when
will Burke think so?
"I'm sure he thinks he's ready,"
Benji said. "But I think Trey
needs to stay in school and pre-
pare himself. For one, he has to be
a consistent college point guard.
And I know he had a consistent
year, probably one of the most
consistent years on the team."
Benji said he wants to see his
son get stronger, and he wanted to
make sure Burke would be a solid
first-round pick in the NBA draft
if he left. As of now, Benji said, the
family is "hearing late first, early
second."
For at least another year, Mich-
igan fans can stay as cool as their
point guard: Benji said "for sure"
Burke would be back, snarling,
shooting and staring, next season.
- Rohan can be reached
at trohan@umich.edu.

Michigan freshman guard Trey Burke scored 30 points against Minnesota on Friday, but couldn't find his footing against Ohio State in Saturday's semifinal loss.

His father, Benji Burke, remem-
bered Burke starting to play
organized basketball when he was
five. But Burke couldn't keep track
of the score, Benji said, so after
his games Burke would run up to
his father.
"Dad, did we win!?"
Always, Benji would say, "Trey,
you played really, really good."
"(Before,) his team would
lose, and when I'd tell him, he'd
just start crying," Benji said. "It
was like a scene. He would break
down and start crying."
No. 2: Burke really was born
cool, his father admitted, espe-
cially with the ball in his hands.
"When he was really young, it
just came natural to him," Benji
said. "He was really good at han-
dling the ball, with both hands."

Saturday felt peculiar, and it
stands alone in Burke's season of
highlights, because Burke's play -
which included eight turnovers -
wasn't typical. He'll progress back
to his cool mean.
He showed up, figuratively
knocking on John Beilein's door,
cool as a cucumber. Watching
Burke play in summer open gyms,
Matt Vogrich said, everyone knew
then that the savvy Burke would
be their starting point guard.
"You could kind of tell that this
summer - you know, it's hard to
say that (Burke's) really evolved,
because I guess you could tell that
this was a possibility and that this
could happen, the way he's play-
ing," said Stu Douglass, who, as a
senior, was expected to compete
for the pointguard spot at the

start of the season.
That summer, David Merritt
- one of the two original cool
point guards to lead Michigan to
its "welcome back" NCAA Tour-
nament bid in 2009 - played in
the open gyms. He said Burke
couldn't score on him, but added:
"Tim (Hardaway Jr.) wasn't there,
but (Burke) was the best player on
the floor at that open gym."
After the Minnesota game,
Merritt and C.J. Lee, the other
cool guard from the 2009 tourna-
ment run, drank in the Wolverine
locker room that was buzzing
about Burke's game.
"The expectations are get-
ting higher and higher each day,
but we've got better players in
this locker room," Lee said. "It's
as simple as that. That kid, he's

19 years old, but he has a grown
man's game. And he's only going
to get better and better."
Both have front row seats
for Burke's ascension. Lee is on
Beilein's bench as an administra-
tive assistant who works with
Burke on his academics; Merritt is
a radio analyst calling Michigan
games.
"The whole program's goal is to
get back to a point where it's not
necessarily when are we going to
get to the tournament, butthat it's
an every year type of thing that
we expect not only to be in the
tournament, but to make a run,"
Merritt said, looking around the
room.
Neither Lee nor Merritt was as
highly touted or praised as Burke,
but their leadership and poise got

Wolverines struggle at Red and Black Tournament

By ALEXA DETTELBACH
DailySports Writer
LOUISVILLE, Kent. - Senior
first baseman Amanda Chidester
hit a hard triple to left field and
junior second baseman Ashley
Lane fol-
lowed with MICHIGAN 1
a single, LOUISVILLE 2
sending
Chidester ST. LOUIS 3
home. MICHIGAN 6
Those sim- MICHIGAN 1
ple plays ILLINOIS ST. 5
showed
how dangerous the No. 14 Michi-
gan softball team can be.
Sometimes it can be easy to
forget. .
Playing at the Red and Black
Tournament in Louisville
this weekend, the Wolverines
struggled to find their offensive
rhythm in a 2-1 loss against No.
16 Louisville (17-0) on Saturday.
Michigan (16-7) found its bats

the same day against Saint Louis
University (11-11) in a 6-3 win
over the Bilikens, but the team
closed out the tournament on
.Sunday with a disappointing 5-1
loss to Illinois State (12-10).
"I told the kids that confidence
is the most important aspect of
our game," said Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins. "Having confi-
dence is the number-one thing
we have to work forward with.
You have to have confidence to
have any chance at success."
The team's lack of confidence
was especially apparent in
the final game of the weekend
against the Red Birds, when the
Wolverines were again unable to
get much going offensively.
"(A) pitcher's goal is to throw
it so you don't have a good
chance to hit," Hutchins said.
"When she doesn't do that, you
have to make her pay. We end up
swinging at bad pitches. Hitting
is contagious and not hitting is

contagious, and you see us do
both."
Michigan began Sunday's
game well when Lane had an
impressive 16-pitch at-bat before
hitting one out of the park in the
second inning.

lie Wagner came in for relief
for freshmsn right-hander Sara
Driesenga. Michigan also pulled
first-time-starter sophomore
right fielder Katie Luetkens for
sophomore Lyndsay Doyle, who
normally plays the position.

"That's a fan
Hutchins said.
"That's one of
the best at-bats
I've ever seen,
and to end up
with a home
run was just
icing."
But it was
all downhill
from there for
the Wolver-
ines.
In the bottom
inning, Illinois St
that scored three
prompted a cot
from Hutchins.V
out, freshman lef

tastic at-bat," Saturday's games against
Louisville
and St. Louis
also exposed
"Confidence the Wolver-
ines' offensive
is the most weakness. The
team left seven
(crucial) aspect runners on
e, base in each
of our game. game, failing
to capitalize on
several oppor-
tunities.
of the third "We have to have quality at-
ate hit a triple bats whether there is a runner on
runners. That base or not," Hutchins said. "The
uple changes game doesn't know there are
Vith only one runners on base, the game just
t-hander Hay- knows there are three strikes.

We need to have some quality
at-bats and make better contact
whether there (are) runners on
base or not. The good news is we
did have runners on base."
Against the Cardinals, the
Wolverines' first seven batters
were retired.
And after not capitalizing in
the top of the third inning when
the bases were loaded, the Wol-
verines didn't get on the score-
board until the fifth inning,
when an RBI single by senior
center fielder Bree Evans sent
senior third baseman Stephanie
Kirkpatrick home.
It would turn out to be the
only run of the game forthe Wol-
verines.
"When you only score one run
in a game, your offense didn't do
its job," Hutchins said.
Despite the offensive strug-
gles against Louisville, Michi-
gan began to find its groove
against St. Louis, with Chidester

going 4-for-4 with two runs and
two RBIs.
"I thought Chidester was
our best leader this weekend,"
Hutchins said. "There were
some bright spots against (St.
Louis). If we can maintain our
process, that's the key."
The pitching also looked
sharper against the Bilikens.
Driesenga allowed three runs,
but struck out a career-best five
before Wagner came in for relief
at the top of the sixth inning.
It's clear that, moving for-
ward, the Wolverines need
to find some consistency on
offense.
"We have to worry about what
we do," Hutchins said. "We need
someone to have some good at-
bats because it takes a little pres-
sure off everybody. Even though
we certainly saw some (batters)
break out, we need to see more,
and we (also) need to get our
confidence back."

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7

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Fifth Annual Free and opetn to the public.
GramLich SHOWCASE FordS: o P oicy
of Student Work Weill Hal ,so t:nd 2: nflso,
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