Trey Burke Tops ESPN's "Most Indispensable Players" in the Sweet 16

Spoiler alert: Trey Burke is important to Michigan.

Michigan's second most valuable player, Tim Hardaway Jr., looked to nastily sprain an ankle against Wisconsin in the B1G tournament. Michigan fans reacted to that injury somewhere close to, "That is gonna sting tomorrow." Michigan fans who watched and heard Burke hit the deck clutching his head in the round of 64 flew through the five stages of grief in three minutes. Until he came back. (Which reminds me, happy early Easter).

But...but...but...Spike. Yes, I know. Spike is not only a great name for a sub 6'0" backup PG from Indiana, he made an epic bounce pass leading to a sweet Glenn Robinson throwdown last weekend. Let's not kid ourselves, Burke is the engine, the driver, and the fuel for this car. Eamonn Brennan agrees:

1. Trey Burke, Michigan Wolverines: To say Michigan wouldn't be where it is without Burke is like saying you wouldn't be able to read this pixelated text without your eyes, or that I wouldn't have been able to write it without caffeine. He is the computing platform on which the Wolverines run, and without him they would be little more than a Big Blue Screen of Death. It's all pretty obvious stuff, but just in case you need a bit of hard evidence: Burke uses 29.1 percent of the Wolverines' possessions but scores efficiently (51.4 percent from 2, 38.7 percent from 3) all while assisting on 37.1 percent of the possessions he uses. Your average college guard is good at one of these things -- he scores in volume, but not efficiently, or he runs his team's offense but can't shoot, or any combination therein -- but Burke has managed to master it all, keying the second-most-efficient offense in the country and one that turns it over less frequently than any other.

Or, if you're a visual learner, go watch Michigan shred VCU -- a defense that existed and succeeded solely based on its ability to force turnovers -- one more time. Or type "Trey Burke step-back jumper" into your search engine of choice (mine's Altavista). If the Wolverines are going to knock off No. 1-seeded Kansas on Friday night, here's your reason why.

Trey in the pole position is obvious if you've seen any Michigan basketball game besides the team oriented handling of SDSU.

Also, Brennan's usage of the phrase "Big Blue Screen of Death" sadly links to a computer blue screen and not this:

via www.diehardsport.com

That's a missed layup, WWL.