NCAA Basketball: Top 10 programs that can be called ‘Point Guard U’

8. NCAA Basketball ” Point Guard U” programs – Michigan Wolverines

When you think of Michigan point guards, the first one who probably comes to mind is not the one who won national player of the year awards, or the one who won a national championship. The one you’re thinking of wasn’t even considered the best player on his team for the majority of his college career.

Jalen Rose is that point guard. He was the primary playmaker on the Wolverines’ iconic “Fab Five” squad — alongside Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson — that made two NCAA title game appearances in 1992 and 1993, losing to Duke and North Carolina.

Rose was an All-American and All-Big Ten selection, averaging 17.5 points and 3.9 assists per game in three seasons. As a pro he won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in 2000, playing a key role on the Indiana Pacers’ NBA Finals team. Today, he is a high-profile ESPN media personality and even more visible than he was as a player.

Trey Burke isn’t Michigan’s most popular point guard, but he is the most individually accomplished.

Burke was Big Ten Player of the Year, AP National Player of the Year and Naismith Award winner in 2013 when he led the Wolverines to the NCAA Tournament title game (losing to Louisville). Burke averaged 18.6 points, 6.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game as a sophomore that season.

Rumeal Robinson was an All-American point guard for Michigan in 1990, but his claim to fame was helping the Wolverines cop the 1989 national championship — the first and only in school history — by sinking the game-winning free throws in the final seconds against Seton Hall.

Other notables: Rickey Green, Derrick Walton Jr., Jamal Crawford, Zavier Simpson, Gary Grant