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Assigned Reading: Caris LeVert’s defining moment

Caris LeVert

Five freshmen joined the Michigan basketball team to start the 2012-2013 season. Glenn Robinson III and Nik Stauskas cracked the starting lineup. Mitch McGary would later join them, as he was the breakout star during the NCAA tournament. Then there was Spike Albrecht, who scored his 17 first half points in an exciting national championship game against Louisville.

The last of those five first-year guys was Caris LeVert, who played under 11 minutes of action, averaging 2.3 points per game. This season, the sophomore wing is the second leading scorer on the team at 13.4 points to go along with his 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He’s dropped 24 on Duke and more recently 23 points against rival Michigan State, the second time the Wolverines have defeated their in-state foe this season.

Maybe his best play of the game against Sparty was right before halftime when he released a corner 3-pointer. He was heading toward the locker room, not even looking at the ball as it cut the lead to two.

His emergence alongside Stauskas has the helped the Wolverines take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten standings.

On Friday morning, Michigan beat reporter Brendan Quinn of MLive.com published a profile on the 6-foot-6 LeVert.

The lengthy feature story covers the growth of LeVert on the hardwood, from a 145-pound high school recruit to the starting shooting guard for Michigan, sliding into the role held by Tim Hardaway Jr. the previous season. It also discussed his family life, and how LeVert almost stayed in state, committing to Ohio before John Groce left for the Illinois opening.

And then, this portion when LeVert is asked another question:

LeVert’s ongoing sophomore campaign -- from scoring 24 points at Duke early in the season to averaging a team-best 16.9 points over U-M’s last nine games -- has come out of nowhere.

So after volleying back answers to a half-hour of questions, LeVert looks up, straight ahead, when a question catches his attention.

“Caris, have there been any defining moments in your life?”


He looks around an empty room, considering the question and the door it leads to.

And that’s where I leave you. No need to scroll up. The link to the rest of the story is here. It’s well worth the read.

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