Former Michigan Captain Zack Novak Recalls Landing Trey Burke, Moving to Power Forward

When you think of the early John Beilein years, one player that instantly comes to mind is Zack Novak. The former four-year starter was never a highly-rated recruit, but he came to Michigan and brought the grit and intensity in the early years for Beilein.

Novak played in 134 career games and started 122 of them. He scored 1,082 career points and grabbed 609 rebounds, while nailing 214 career 3-pointers. Novak helped Michigan get some major wins over the likes of Duke in Beilein's second season in Ann Arbor.

Recently, Novak joined Tim McCormick on the Go Blue Hoops! podcast to talk about his career, his recruitment to Michigan, and the recruitment of legendary Michigan PG Trey Burke — among other things.

The start of Novak playing the '4'

Michigan F Zack Novak — Mike Carter-Imagn Images

Novak, who stood at 6-foot-3, is not a typical power forward — especially back in the early 2000s. But John Beilein had a vision and Novak recalled how it all began.

"...And then I remember a conversation with one of the heads up. He's like, hey, you know, my dad's thinking of starting you at the four against Wisconsin. And I laughed at him. I was like, what are you talking about, playing the four? I'm six foot three and 215 pounds. How am I going to play the four in the Big Ten?

"And oddly enough is Joe Krabbenhoft is the assistant coach at Wisconsin now I believe — he was the starting four and this guy is just like, he's as Wisconsin as they come. And I was just like, no, we're going to go for it. I think I can draw up some plays. They have to guard you too, is what he kept saying. They got to guard you too. Came out. I think I had my career high against Wisconsin until my senior year. I had 20 points and didn't look back. I think I started every other game throughout the rest of my career and most of those at the four, which is still crazy to me to think that I played power forward and I think it's your question around Coach B and what he was like.

"I think from a creativity and just really, you hear the term first principles a lot thrown around these days. He really approached basketball from a first principles approach. And I don't see that in the game that I watch anymore. Now it's just get athletes in space run a few pick and rolls and see if you can get a good shot.

"He really had to scheme his way into getting guys like me and Stu and get us open and get a shot. We're just going to go break guys down. And so I think that, you know, the way that he was able to do that and really leverage guys strengths and think creatively, especially in the offensive end of the floor was, I mean, you always felt like you were in a better position going into a game than your opponent on offense every single time."

Landing Trey Burke

Michigan G Trey Burke — Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Novak recalled getting a text from a coach to meet a recruit [Burke] at Noodles & Company for a recruiting visit. He said the Wolverines needed a backup point guard and coach Beilein targeted Burke. Novak remembers after the meeting taking Burke into the gym and playing a game first to seven baskets. Novak said Burke would hit three game-winning shots for his team, and he instantly knew he was going to be good.

"And, you know, it was just, you could tell like the second he stepped on campus that we stole one. I mean, he was the best player by far. And then you just saw like when you played with him, the thing that like stuck out to me the most is just how coachable he was.

"Great team guy. I never had one issue with him that entire year where I had to like pull him to the side and say, you're out of line. You're off base. We need you to do X, Y, or Z. Like, nothing. Not once. And he was just so competitive. The level of skill that he had was crazy."

You can see the full video on Hail Media!'s YouTube page below:

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