Michigan point guard Trey Burke's maturity will be severely tested Sunday in a homecoming game for him at Ohio State.
Burke has rarely looked like a freshman this season, but these circumstances won't be easy to handle from an emotional standpoint.
Burke, who grew up in Columbus and was Ohio's Mr. Basketball last season, quite possibly will be booed every time he touches the ball. It's not because he shunned Ohio State. The Buckeyes didn't really want him.
But his decision to pick the school up north, of all places, quickly turned a local kid into the enemy.
What's more, Burke will be facing his longtime friend and former high school teammate, Jared Sullinger, the Buckeyes' 6-foot-9 sophomore sensation.
Burke and Sullinger have known each other since fourth grade. They led Columbus Northland High to a state championship in 2009 when Sullinger was a junior and Burke a sophomore.
Northland, coached by Sullinger's father, James "Satch" Sullinger, had a record of 71-3 in the three years that Jared and Trey were on varsity together.
Burke said he and Sullinger recently exchanged text messages.
"We really didn't talk about the game that much," Burke said. "One thing he did say was our parents are probably going to cry seeing us on the court playing against each other for the first time."
Alfonso Clark "Trey" Burke III also will be in a head-to-head matchup against Ohio State sophomore point guard Aaron Craft, a former AAU teammate.
"It's going to be real important for me to control my emotions out there," Burke said. "I really can't get caught up into one-on-one matchups and things like that.
"I just have to make plays for the team. I'm the quarterback out there. It's my job to keep the team poised and under control."
Burke estimated that he and Sullinger played in more than 1,000 games together over the years, including AAU games over the summer. The only time they've gone against each other was for a couple of scrimmages during practice.
Burke recalled the first time he met Sullinger about nine years ago.
"He was short and kind of fat, but he could play," Burke said. "Couldn't anyone stop him down low. Even though he was out of shape, he had good footwork and he could finish around the rim."
Sullinger is averaging 17.3 points and 9.3 rebounds for Ohio State, while Burke averages 14.1 points and 5.0 assists and leads the Wolverines in minutes played at 34.9 per game.
Earlier this week, Burke was named Big Ten freshman of the week for the fourth time. Sullinger won the honor 11 times last season.
Growing up, they were somewhat inseparable.
"He would always be at my house," Burke said. "There was a couple times he'd stay over for five, six days. He had clothes over there.
"Even though we don't talk as much now, we still have a great relationship."
It's just a little different now that one is a Buckeye and one a Wolverine.
You know how that goes.
Besides not trying to do too much to impress his friends, family and former teammates, Burke also has to make sure he doesn't get too caught up with wanting to prove a point to Ohio State coach Thad Matta and the rest of the Buckeyes' staff.
Burke originally made an early verbal commitment to Penn State, partly because his hometown school wasn't showing him much love.
Besides adding Craft last season, the Ohio State staff also had targeted another point guard, Shannon Scott of Alpharetta, Ga.
Scott, a freshman who is averaging about 12 minutes a game as Craft's backup, was ranked as the nation's No. 6 point guard in high school last year by Scout.com, while Burke was No. 20.
"I did want to go to Ohio State," Burke said. "He (Matta) was just recruiting other players. I kind of knew he wasn't interested in me, or the coaching staff wasn't interested in me, as much as I wanted them to be."
After deciding to decommit from Penn State, Burke considered Cincinnati before Michigan coach John Beilein came in late and ended up with one of the nation's best steals for the 2010-11 recruiting class.
Burke admits the environment is going to be "different" for him Sunday afternoon in Value City Arena.
"There's going to be a lot of people that's Ohio State fans there that I know really well," he said. "They want to see me do well, but want to see us lose."
About facing Sullinger, Burke said, "It's going to be so competitive. He's going to want to win so bad, and I'm going to want to win so bad.
"But I'm not going to go into it thinking it's me against Craft or me against Jared."
Nope, it's No. 20 Michigan (16-5, 6-2 Big Ten) against No. 4 Ohio State (18-3, 6-2). The winner will stay at the top of a tight conference race.
How well the Wolverines wunderkind handles his emotions will determine whether his team has any shot at the upset.
