Michigan Basketball: Ranking the top 10 Wolverines since 2010

#5: Zak Irvin

The other day I tweeted “Sometimes you appreciate players more after they leave your favorite team.” I had Zak Irvin in mind when I tweeted that. Throughout Irvin’s four years at Michigan, he was an extremely productive player.

He was also an extremely frustrating player to watch at times. Sometimes it felt like his shooting slumps would last weeks and he would force way too many shots. But those feelings were very “in the moment” and don’t accurately represent the kind of player he was for the program. Now looking back, It’s time Michigan fans appreciate how good Irvin really was.

142 games played over four seasons, 104 career starts, and Irvin averaged 11+ points per game each of his last three seasons at Michigan.

One of the reasons I believe that Irvin is not remembered as fondly as he should be is because he was apart of that 2014-15 season which was pretty miserable for Michigan. It was their only missed NCAA Tournament in the last decade and they finished off that season 16-16.

Irvin was a big part of that team and he probably gets blamed too much for that team’s struggles when in reality, he had a nice season and injuries were to blame. Over the course of his four years, Irvin turned into one of Michigan basketball’s hardest workers, best defenders, and most clutch players.

So before you try to slander Zak Irvin in the future for no reason, take a look back at his stats and think about how big his role was on some of those less than stellar Michigan basketball teams. Here’s a great example of how clutch he was at times for Michigan basketball.