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"I just feel like I'm under the radar right now," Burke admits with a hint of frustration. "I feel like I'm gonna make a real big impact. I'm coming in to make some noise this year."
Someone else feels the same way.
"He's a step ahead of everybody else. He's strong enough, he's quick enough, he can handle the ball, shoot the ball, even at NBA range."
Pretty high praise, especially when it comes from none other than Ohio State All-American Jared Sullinger. As Burke's former on-the- court co-star on the AAU level with All-Ohio Red and in high school at Northland, Sullinger has plenty of evidence to backup his gener- ous claims. But their relationship goes way beyond the hardwood.
"Jared Sullinger is like a son of mine. He calls me pops," says Benji Burke, father of Trey and former AAU coach of the pair. "He and Trey are best friends."
As they grew up, that friendship revealed itself on the hardwood with Burke and Sullinger steamrolling the local competition. When Benji realized he had more than just run-of-the-mill talent on his squad, he decided to take his team to the AAU circuit. But that didn't stop him from imposing his basketball will on Trey, for better or for worse.
"The hardest thing about coaching your own son is that you blame him for everything because you can get away with it," says the elder Burke. "If a kid would miss a layup, I would blame Trey for passing him the ball."
Sullinger agrees.
"There are some times when he takes shots that people don't normally take," adds Sullinger. "But then when he knocks it down you're like, 'Wow.'"
They may have been equals in private, but Sullinger was initially the sole recipient of unending national attention. Meanwhile Burke plugged along, waiting, and not hoping, for those big-time offers to start rolling in. Don't confuse that confidence with cockiness, though. The rising star thrives on the tight rope, exuding an authentic confi- dence that seamlessly avoids arrogance. It's why he still thinks that he'll take Sullinger in a good old-fashioned game of one-on-one.
"It would seem like Jared would beat me 'cause he's bigger, but nah," says Burke. "There would be some games where he would shoot all jump shots, not back me down. And I'll win those types of games. He can't beat me in a guard game."
If they played today, Sullinger envisions a slightly different se- quence of events.
"I FEEL LIKE I'M GONNA MAKE A REAL BIG IMPACT.
Trey's no pushover. When Benji brought the heat, Trey barked right back in front of ev- eryone – no different than any other father and son. But Trey kept working, kept push- ing. Benji had always known that his son had talent, but his basketball experience playing Pro-Am in Columbus taught him that talent is only a portion of the equation. It must be grown, nurtured and molded. But one other trait that Trey developed evokes a palpable satisfaction for this proud father.
"The biggest thing for me is that he's so humble," says Benji. "I think most kids, they get to that level, of course they got some arrogance because they wouldn't be as good as they are without that type of confidence. But Trey, he doesn't get too high on anything, and he never gets too low on anything. And I think that's really propelled him to where he is today."
So where is that, exactly? On top of Ohio Basketball, is all. Follow- ing Jared Sullinger's two-year reign as Ohio's Mr. Basketball, Burke broke free to snag the award in 2011. During his senior season at Northland, he confirmed his father's suspicions that his talent was better than most. Averaging a cool 23.6 points, 6.8 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game, Burke led his team to the state final where a 59-40 loss to Cincinnati's LaSalle ended his high school career. But the real story of the year was Burke's lights out shooting, which included an astonishing 59 percent from the field and 47 percent from three. Of all his basketball skills, his ability to knock down shots from deep with unnerving consistency should have future defenders trembling.
"I can shoot," says Burke. "If anybody is going under the screen I can knock down the three. That's one of my deadliest weapons."
I'M COMING IN TO MAKE SOME NOISE THIS YEAR."
"I'm not gonna let him get the ball back," says Sullinger. "Once I get the ball, I'll back him down."
As badly as each wants to beat the other, their friendship ultimately prevails. When Sullinger faced the decision of leaving Ohio State and entering the NBA Draft this past summer, Burke was in his ear offering him guidance.
"I talked to Jared a lot about that," says Burke. "He just told me he still wants to be a kid. And I had no problem with that. But once he told me that I kinda told him, 'Wow, this is not as good of a draft as it usually is.' So I was thinking, why wouldn't you come out this draft? You'd probably be like, the No. 1 or No. 2 pick if you ask me."
And now that Trey is in line to become the next starting point guard for Michigan following sophomore Darius Morris' declaration for the draft, part of him is glad that Sullinger will return. But Benji wasn't always sure it would get to this point. It was at the 2008 Pittsburgh Jam Fest that the light finally went on.
"All the coaches were there, and Trey just shot the ball so well," says Benji. "He had a 44-point game on a limited amount of shots."
But the basketball-savvy Burke still wasn't totally convinced because his son hadn't faced the cream of the crop. That test came quickly.
"We saw him start playing against kids that have a name. One specifically, Myles Mack (2011 point guard committed to Rutgers). I love Myles Mack, but Trey really controlled that game. And Myles Mack is my guy. He can play. And when I saw that, I was like, 'Okay, he got a chance to really be somebody.'"
The phone wouldn't stop ringing. One missed call. Two missed calls. Three missed calls. On the fourth call, Benji had no choice but to put aside his coaching duties for a moment and answer his cell phone. On the other end was James "Satch" Sullinger, father of Ohio State star Jared Sullinger and high school coach of Trey. Apparently others besides Benji noticed his son's explosion, because Sullinger
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