Michigan Wolverines

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- As former Michigan guard Trey Burke moves on to the NBA, he’ll be keeping part of his life close to home. He has decided to be represented by his family.

Burke told ESPN.com he would be represented by his father, Benji Burke, and his cousin, Alonzo Shavers. Shavers primarily has been an NFL agent and is the founder and president of Infinite Sports Concepts.

“I think it’s the best decision for me,” Burke said. “Alonzo is my cousin and also been a football agent for years. He has the experience. My dad is new to the game. I felt going with them would be the right fit and I think we’ll still have the same resources we would have with a bigger firm, just because I feel like I’m marketable enough to get those types of endorsements and things like that. I just felt like it was the best decision for me.”

Burke, the national player of the year for the 2012-13 season, is projected as a lottery pick, perhaps as high as the top five in June’s NBA draft. He set Michigan’s single-season assist record last season with 260 while averaging 18.6 points a game.

The 20-year-old will attend next week’s NBA draft combine in Chicago. He said there were other agents inquiring about signing him before he chose to stay within his family.

“It was a business decision for me and one I felt I had to make,” Burke said. “There were a lot of big-time agents that were really interested and wanted me to sign with them. I just feel like I made the best decision for me.”

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Tim Hardaway Jr. decision to leave for the NBA might not seem like the no-brainer it was for backcourt mate Trey Burke.

Hardaway Jr. isn’t projected as a lottery pick like the departing sophomore point guard. There’s a chance he could sneak into the first round if he has exceptional workouts. There’s a chance he could end up in the late second round or go undrafted if those same workouts don’t go well.

But it is a chance, at this point, Hardaway Jr. was wise to take.

He has done what he needed to do on the college level. He helped Michigan reach its first Final Four in 20 years. He was a first-team All-Big Ten player. And he stayed in college for three years, which is often an eternity for a player who has pro aspirations and makes himself well-known as a freshman.

More than any of Michigan’s other pro prospects, Hardaway Jr. understands what he is getting into. He has lived in the shadows of this lifestyle since he was born. His father was a first-round pick, played in the NBA for 13 seasons and was a five-time All-Star. Now, the son gets a chance to live the basketball life either in the United States or overseas.

If his goal was Europe, then it would make sense to stay because that would always be there. But if his goal is the NBA -- and it clearly is -- it is wise to make the jump now when people are paying attention to him.

For Michigan, losing Hardaway Jr. is not as big of a deal as Burke’s departure or the potential Glenn Robinson III/Mitch McGary announcements because of what the Wolverines have on the roster.

Michigan can slide Nik Stauskas into Hardaway Jr.’s slot as the 2 guard and could either push Robinson III down to the 3 or insert freshman Zak Irvin, the No. 24 recruit in the Class of 2013.

The departure might mean Michigan will need some more scoring from freshman Derrick Walton Jr. or sophomore Spike Albrecht as well, but more shots for Stauskas and Robinson III along with shots for Irvin should make up the difference.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- While several Michigan fans made the 700-mile journey to Atlanta for Monday’s NCAA championship game, there were others who stayed behind. And with Ann Arbor bars and restaurants packed, some as early as 3 p.m., more than 11,000 fans found themselves sitting in Crisler Center to watch their team one last time this season from a familiar spot.

In some senses, it was almost like a normal game. Members of the Michigan pep band played from the north end of the arena. Fans did the wave as rounds of “Go Blue!” chants sailed through each section. They stood for each Michigan free throw, arms raised, fingers wiggling. They booed when Rick Pitino’s face first showed on the Jumbotron.

But as the clock ticked down in Atlanta, with Louisville gaining momentum, the mood in the arena changed. In a normal game, with a loss looming, fans can choose which aspect of the game to watch. But Monday night they were at the mercy of CBS, and CBS kept panning over to the Cardinals cheerleaders and mascot, its bench and its fans.

Not much there for the Michigan faithful.

Tom Idzkowski, a sophomore, sat and watched as Michigan lost and Crisler emptied. He sat alone in an entire section, below the lone national championship banner in Crisler.

“It’s just frustrating,” he said. “I’m not very articulate right now. … We were so close. It was the 20-year anniversary with the Fab Five, they were back together and the sanctions are being lifted, I thought this was the year. If we were going to have any year, this was going to be the year.”

Ryan Stark sat across the floor from him in section 130. Yes, his favorite team had made it to the title game. But a loss is a loss, and to him it hurts all the same.

“This was the best season I’ve ever seen,” he said. “But I guess it wasn’t good enough, again.”

He had bought in to this team and its flashy play. He had bought in to the upside of youth and the value of alley-oops. He had bought in, quite literally, to the basketball hype on campus -- in the form of a maize Michigan basketball shirt.

The influx of those wanting basketball gear had risen to such a point over the last week that M-Den, Michigan’s retail supplier, was sending out daily orders. Leading up to the Final Four, it had already accounted for five times more revenue than it did all of last season.

Front case window displays had changed to reflect Nos. 3 and 10 jerseys, not football No. 16s. Children like Robert Davis Jr., 8, wanted a Trey Burke uniform, not a Denard Robinson one.

Davis had spent the timeouts at center court, dancing for the crowd. This, for him, had been a big party. The loss was important, but there would be other championship games for him to get excited about, right?

“It was good but then they played poor defense,” he said in his best analyst voice. “This was a great season. They made it to the Final Four. That’s good.”

His father -- a 2002 graduate of Michigan-Dearborn -- handed him his coat.

“This is all he knows of Michigan basketball,” he said. “He doesn’t even remember the dark days.”

The 8-year-old remembers the Michigan of John Beilein and that’s about it. He remembers NCAA tournament appearances and Big Ten Championships with Zack Novak and Stu Douglass. He doesn’t know the rarity of a title game or the unique combination of talent and fate that it takes to get there.

“They’ll be back,” he said.

Michigan point guard Trey Burke discusses his sweep of the national player of the year awards.