ANN ARBOR -- At one point last season, Michigan assistant basketball coach DeAndre Haynes told then-freshman guard Eli Brooks that he wasn't the player Michigan had recruited. He wasn't playing the same way he had been when he first showed up in Ann Arbor. The point was reaffirmed at Brooks' end-of-season evaluation with the coaching staff. Brooks admitted his confidence was at an all-time low.
He'd needed just four games to work his way into Michigan's starting lineup. Two months later, he was out of the rotation. It was going to be an important offseason. Several of the Wolverines who'd be returning this season stayed on campus for the spring and summer.