This offseason looks starkly different for graduate guard Nimari Burnett than last year’s did.
As a member of the Michigan basketball team’s transfer class last year, Burnett spent the summer adjusting to life in Ann Arbor and fitting in with new teammates. But this year, as one of just three scholarship players who returned to the Wolverines, he’s the one showing people around.
“It’s been, what, one and a half years, but it feels like three in a way,” Burnett said at Michigan Media Day Friday. “We all are adjusting to something new, but coming here last year and staying here this year, we’ve kind of adjusted pretty well and pretty fast.”
Burnett’s college career has been a whirlwind, from being a five-star recruit to Texas Tech, Alabama, and Michigan. He’s been through tumultuous situations and challenging injuries and then had to process the fact that his head coach, someone he calls a father figure, was fired after last season. He could have pursued professional opportunities or hit the transfer portal, and no one would have blamed him. Instead, he stayed in Ann Arbor and is happy with his choice.
“It was ultimately the right decision to come back and be around a new group of guys, older and younger,” Burnett said. “And so I’m super excited for his system and everything that he’s about, also just a team growing up and the rest of the coaches. I think it’s a wonderful
As Burnett mentions, everyone in Michigan’s program is adjusting to something new. For some, it’s a new coach. Others are getting ready for the physicality of the Big Ten or living in Ann Arbor for the first time. Most are dealing with multiple of those, if not all.
But as the few remaining 2023-24 Wolverines, Burnett, graduate guard Jace Howard and redshirt senior forward Will Tschetter have to deal with one less change. That’s helped them adjust Michigan coach Dusty May’s system, and even helped them help others deal with the adjustment to Big Ten play.
“A lot of us are new to this conference,” May said. “I haven’t been in this conference in a while. So (Tschetter), Nimari and Jace have really helped when we don’t call fouls in practice. … We don’t know how the game is going to be called, but the Big Ten is notoriously physical … so we’ve got to be prepared to play through that.”
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