The Top 25 Michigan men’s basketball players since 1989: No. 1

We’ve reached the end of the Michigan Wolverines’ athletics offseason, and with that concludes our series ranking the top-25 players for the men’s basketball team in between the 1989 and 2026 national championships. The celebration of Dusty May and this program winning their first national title in more than three decades concludes with the only National Player of the Year in this era and one of two in the history of the program — Trey Burke.

No. 1 – G Trey Burke – Score: 252

Chris Webber may have been the better basketball prospect. Juwan Howard had the longer Michigan career. Yaxel Lendeborg won a national championship and Big Ten Player of the Year.

Advertisement

But Burke reached a level of individual accolades none of those greats did in their careers. For one season, Burke was not merely the best player in Ann Arbor, he was the best player in college basketball. And unlike many others who have earned that crown, Burke backed it up with one of the most memorable NCAA Tournament runs in Michigan history.

Despite playing only two seasons in Ann Arbor, Burke finished with 1,231 points, 416 assists and 93 steals. His 416 assists ranked seventh in Michigan history when he left, despite playing just two seasons. In 73 career games, he accomplished what most players need four years to even approach.

It was even more pivotal because Burke was the face of the turning point of the John Beilein era, and he wasn’t an elite prospect coming out of high school. Michigan needed a point guard after Darius Morris left for the NBA, and Burke did more than just fill his shoes. Burke averaged 14.8 points, 4.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game as a true freshman. He led the team in scoring, steals and assists, breaking a 27-year old freshman assist record in the process. That led to him winning Big Ten Freshman of the Year and seven Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors, and being named a second-team All-Big Ten, an AP All-American honorable mention.

Led by a freshman Burke, the Wolverines…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/top-25-michigan-men-basketball-110000574.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-08-29 11:00:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.