ESPN Ranks Michigan's Trey Burke AHEAD of Austin Rivers
I'm not going to link the page because it's behind a paywall. But just wanted to share that ESPN ranked Trey Burke on it's Top 25 Freshman ahead of Austin Rivers of Duke, Quincy Miller of Baylor and Marques Teague of Kentucky.
Edit: I didn't link because there was no useful information for those that don't have ESPN Insider. I would've had there been some relevant free info and the rest paywalled, this wasn't one of those cases. Nonetheless: http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7450063/top-25-freshmen-kentucky-sec-youngbloods-dominate-rankings-ncb
January 12th, 2012 at 9:22 AM ^
Right now, there is no question that Burke is ahead of all those players.
January 12th, 2012 at 9:24 AM ^
What I have seen so far, I would venture to guess that at the end of his Michigan career, that Burke will be better (barely) than Morris.
January 12th, 2012 at 9:25 AM ^
Hard work pays off! Talent without effort is a waste of talent. Good on ya lad.
January 12th, 2012 at 10:16 AM ^
...reminded me of one of my favorite Steve Prefontaine quotes:
"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
January 12th, 2012 at 9:29 AM ^
I love watching Burke lead the offense. Last night he was pretty clutch for sinking those last couple free throws to force Northwestern into shooting a three.
January 12th, 2012 at 9:31 AM ^
part of me is happy and another part really doesn't want the NBA to get wind of this
January 12th, 2012 at 9:33 AM ^
I can't imagine what it would be like if Stu was running the point the entire game.
January 12th, 2012 at 9:37 AM ^
I dont think there's anything wrong with linking to a paywalled page, I think the issue is with quoting too generously from it. Or am I missing something?
January 12th, 2012 at 10:39 AM ^
I know...but there wasn't any useful information had I linked it. That's why I didn't. Sometimes paywalled pages give you a good bit of free info. This wasn't the case. Nonetheless...
January 12th, 2012 at 2:45 PM ^
Could you at least tell us where he's ranked?
January 12th, 2012 at 9:39 AM ^
Burke, Hardaway Jr, Smotrycz , Morgan, Mcgary== lots of wins and lots of fun
January 12th, 2012 at 9:47 AM ^
+GRIII
January 12th, 2012 at 10:40 AM ^
And a healthy Horford...
January 12th, 2012 at 1:17 PM ^
Plus the Canadian Pistol Pete, Nik Stauskas
January 12th, 2012 at 9:50 AM ^
He is ahead of a lot of top freshmen not just those. The only one's ahead of him are sure 1 and done prospects. I hope he does not leave, and stays to win a NC next year.
January 12th, 2012 at 10:03 AM ^
Burke has been amazing, far beyond any reasonable expectations.
That said, Belein needs to work on getting him more rest, particularly in the first half. Playing him 45 minutes or even in the high 30s, is straight out of the Mike D'Antoni school of coaching and will burn his legs out and affect his shooting by the end of the year. He was in a tough spot last night with Novak's early foul trouble, but you'd like to see his time down around the low 30s if possible.
Edit: Just to add to this. He's logged a full game of playing time more than any other player on the team over the course of the year and is averaging almost 35 minutes per game, which includes the early season baby seals (though there were good reasons to play him extensively then to get everyone on the same page with the new point).
January 12th, 2012 at 11:31 AM ^
Burke doesn't have to play 82 (errr 66) games, plus playoffs, nor does he ever play in back-to-backs. Far fewer practices too. AND college games are shorter than NBA games. Also, he's a teenager.
45 minutes is too much, but low 30s is not enough.
I'm sure Bielien would like to play someone else, but there are simply no other PG options. Hey, what's Kelvin Grady up to these days?
January 12th, 2012 at 9:55 AM ^
Stauskas might be better than you realize. More importantly, he is the most able to fill the shoes of Douglass & Novak. While they may be so-called "role players," they are great on defense. We will definitely need guys to fill their place.
Regardless, the initial point stands: with Burke, Hardaway, GRIII, Smotz, Morgan, McGary, and Stauskas, the future is bright. Horford will be healthy, and I expect Brundidge to be much better. Having a solid rotation of 8 - 9 guys is critical, because the stars can't do it all.
January 12th, 2012 at 9:57 AM ^
Out of the 6 guys ahead of him, I knew 5 of them. One kid from Arkansas I hadn't heard of yet. I don't tend to follow other teams religiously, so you can be assured that the kids ahead of him are very, very good (e.g., Gilchrest, Davis, etc.)
January 12th, 2012 at 10:26 AM ^
As a freshman he has already repeatedly shown he needs to be mentioned in the same breath with the very best.
Links are good, btw.
January 12th, 2012 at 10:21 AM ^
that's about right
January 12th, 2012 at 10:34 AM ^
he's still learning and has a A LOT of upside. His ball handling, outside shooting, and defense will get even better as time goes on. Darius who?
January 12th, 2012 at 10:46 AM ^
...Pangos fairly heavily as well, though not sure if we cooled (maybe when we got Trey) or if he simply chose a different option. Regardless, it's another feather in the cap of Beilein's talent evaluation ability.
January 12th, 2012 at 10:54 AM ^
While I love what Burke has done so far, I think part of the reason he has been so good is just flat out of necessity. Teams like Duke and Kentucky are full of studs, so their usage and minutes aren't as high and their production doesn't have to be either. Our PG situation is Burke followed by a cliff. But Burke is very, very good and it's exciting to see him develop.
January 12th, 2012 at 11:10 AM ^
I agree...this is why I've been begging for us to use Hardaway more as a point-forward like Brandon Roy or LeBron James.
Rather than have Stu Douglass play the point, where he's not a natural fit. Let THJ bring the ball up and get us in our offense 10-15 times a game, he can get a step on his man and because of his position he's not going to get pressed full court. If a team does trap, he's 6'6 and can see over the top and make the right pass.
We have to get Burke off the ball from time to time. It's fine now because the B1G doesn't press like ACC and Big East teams do, but come tournament time it's going to be an issue. Giving the ball to Hardaway Jr. for a little bit is a good way to combat this and keep Douglass in his SG spot.
January 12th, 2012 at 11:21 AM ^
January 12th, 2012 at 11:55 AM ^
I didn't say be your primary ball handler. And I didn't say Hardaway had a better handle than THJ.
Have you never seen Scottie Pippen? LeBron James? Brandon Roy? Lamar Odom? Tayshaun Prince?
I'm pretty sure all of them had guys on their team with a better handle...that's not the point.
Ah, nevermind...
January 12th, 2012 at 12:33 PM ^
January 12th, 2012 at 12:45 PM ^
NahTHJ would be fine bringing the ball up. He already does it on the fast break. He shouldn't be doing it often, but more when burke is getting a breather. It would add another dimension to our game and would get him some more touches. In the half court game you don't need amazing handles to bring it up because you don't get any pressure...
January 12th, 2012 at 1:28 PM ^
January 12th, 2012 at 2:53 PM ^
Teams often apply pressure to the GUARDS when bringing the ball up. So whether Stu is at SG when Burke is in, or PG when Burke is out..he's likely going to receive more pressure on the ball than if Hardaway brought the up.
No one is asking for him to become to primary ball handler. But it certainly would take some pressure off Burke. I'd rather Hardaway bring the ball up against no pressure than Stu with pressure. And if Hardaway IS indeed pressed, he's 6'6, he can see over the defense. If it's token pressure, he can use his body to shield the ball from the defender who isn't going to be a quick little guard like the guys that guard Stu.
Using the SF with a decent handle is routinely a way to take pressure off your PG. Don't know why THJ who has a decent handle and is very comparable to Brandon Roy at the same stage comes a such a shock to you.
January 12th, 2012 at 3:18 PM ^
Not only is Hardaway not a good ball handler, he isn't a very good passer either. My man is a scorer, we need scorers, let him score.
January 12th, 2012 at 6:30 PM ^
January 13th, 2012 at 12:28 PM ^
We'll end this "conversation" here. Especially since the neg fairies are out. They're so cute, aren't they? Makes me post more though. Or just repeat posts, I enjoy that too.
January 12th, 2012 at 11:05 AM ^
This might sound weird...
But Burke may be the most improved player this year. Now some will disagree with me and I'm willing to bet that those people either were overly surprised by Burke's play during Maui and overrated him...or they wear lobster costumes to home games.
Let me explain.
Now first, I know many of you are like "DUH! He's a freshman, of course he's going to improve during the season." But that's not what I mean. Sure he has been command of the offense, he's in control and he's more comfortable.
But things I've noticed, #1 I've watched just about every game this year, and in watching that Wisconsin game a thought rolled through my head as I sat on my couch by myself enjoying every second of that thrashing. "Is Trey Burke the best mid-range shooter in America?" Seriously, really ponder that question. I haven't seen a ton of basketball outside of Michigan this year, but I don't know if I've seen a mid-range jumpshot since Wayne Ellington at UNC as good as Burke's. Think about how ridiculous that is, I just compared a freshman POINT GUARD to a junior SHOOTING GUARD (who scout rated the #7 player in the country coming out of high school).
#2 Defense...Trey Burke guarded arguably the best PG in the conference in Jordan Taylor and made him look TERRIBLE. I bolded arguably because Taylor doesn't come CLOSE to Burke and Craft, IMO. Burke even got mad at the end of the game when Coach B took him off Taylor to give him a break and put Stu on him.
#3 Rebounding...he's a 5'11 point guard averaging 5 reb per game in the last 5 games.
Lastly, his overall pace and knowledge of the game. He knows "time and place." At the beginning of the year he was kind of running around out there like a chicken with its head cut off. Now he knows when to push, knows when to pull it back. Knows when to run the pick and roll...from that he knows when to drive the lane or when to pull up for his shot. He feeds the hot hand, his rarely takes bad shots.
At the beginning of the year Trey Burke was a part of the offense...now he has the ability to make his own offense.
January 12th, 2012 at 12:39 PM ^
I really like Burke, but I think Harrison Barnes is probably a better midrange jump shooter. I watch both teams play quite a bit, and Barnes is absolutely lights out on with his one dribble pull up jump shots. His overall shooting percentage may not reflect this because he takes a lot of tough, contested shots in the lane, but I think most who see him play would agree with me. FWIW, I'd actually say Barnes's mid-range game is better than Ellington's was; Ellington had a better stroke from three though.
January 12th, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^
Really? The mid range shot is a shot that burke doesn't miss. His pull up is great.
January 12th, 2012 at 1:00 PM ^
I don't mean to say Burke isn't great as well. I was just offering my opinion. This is definitely an area where reasonable minds can differ.
January 12th, 2012 at 2:55 PM ^
...and appreciate the dialouge. That's what this message board should be about. Barnes definitely has a great shot and when it's on, I'd agree. I just feel Burke is more consistent.
January 12th, 2012 at 11:27 AM ^
Now I know that Trey Burke is good. /s
Interestingly, former-recruit and current Zag Kevin Pangos is ranked ahead of Burke and described as 'Trey Burke, but much more accurate'. High praise. I don't recall exactly how his recruitment played out but it'd be nice to have both him and Burke.
Most of the other guys ahead of Burke are 5-star types headed for NBA early entry.
January 12th, 2012 at 11:33 AM ^
Kind of ridiculous that Kentucky has 3 guys on this list
January 12th, 2012 at 11:34 AM ^
Burke has quickly become my favorite player. Great defender, great ball-handler, great slasher, great shooter. Not sure we could ask any more from a point guard. Next year's team is going to be deadly if THJ sticks around.
January 12th, 2012 at 12:06 PM ^
January 12th, 2012 at 12:24 PM ^
January 12th, 2012 at 1:49 PM ^
If everyone comes back and the freshmen come in and play like we expect, next year could be a special year on campus for the athletic department.