John Beilein met with the media following the announcement that Trey Burke will be returning to Ann Arbor next season. Here’s video of Beilein, followed by notes and quotes after the jump.
Related videos: Trey Burke on decision / Teammate reaction
- This is the fourth year in a row Beilein has dealt with a player debating about leaving for the NBA. His thoughts on the process: “I think you learn every single time, but it’s a good problem to have. We had some young men that really have the potential to play in the NBA, so we want them to look at this, take their time, do it the right way. We never want them to have any regrets, we want them to be 100 percent certain. You don’t talk somebody into it, you don’t talk them out of it, you just give them the information.”
- On whether or not he thought Burke would leave: “The whole time, he went up and down, up and down. You just keep dealing with that. I had no opinion, I just keep working, just like in a game if you ask if we will win or lose. No I thought, how will we get through the next ball screen? That’s how you do it.”
- On the decision: “Time will say what will be the best decision for him. I think it’s a great decision for Michigan basketball.”
- On Beilein’s contact with Burke throughout the process: “He was in contact with us every single day. It’s good, but that’s who he is. He does things the right way.”
- On recruiting when there’s a possibility a player may leave: “It really impacts how you look on the future. So you have to continue to recruit knowing that if you recruit really good players, this is always an option. You have to prepare for the future.”
- On whether or not Burke’s decision ends recruiting for the 2012 season: “Based on what we’ve seen, nothing is really closed. You just keep going. We’ll continue to keep looking at all our options.”
- On Michigan’s transfers: “I heard this stat at the Final Four. Forty percent of those at the end of their sophomore year – I think it was the BCS conferences – transfer or go pro. So we can see this, we just have to keep going through it and planning for change. Change sometimes is good, change sometimes is bad.”
- On high expectations for next year: “I do think we’re going to have some freshmen that are freshmen. If anybody could have predicted that that young man could do what he did as a freshman, no one in this room thought we’d be standing here one year later after he signed. So expectations are what they are, but it’s good. It’s better than the alternative.”
- On thinking about a possible starting lineup for next year: “It’s been a busy couple of weeks, so I haven’t really thought about that much, but we will be planning all summer. We can work with players this summer (for 16 hours), so that will really help us.”
- On leadership: “I’m really looking forward to watching our leadership evolve. It’s really a science. We will work at it. Trey will be in that mix. That’s a never-ending process. I think Stu Douglass is a great example of someone who doesn’t come as a natural leader to evolve to be one.”
- On when the coaching staff knew of Burke’s decision: “We’ve known on and off for a little bit, despite the reports. I don’t want to disclose when. He and I have been talking every day for a while. I wanted to do this today to make it official to everyone.”
