Offseason chatter building around 2014-15 Michigan basketball, Caris LeVert

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Michigan guard Caris LeVert averaged 12.9 points on 43.9 percent shooting to go with 4.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game as a sophomore last season.

(Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News)

ANN ARBOR -- Regardless of who's going, who staying and who's coming, offseason buzz surrounding Michigan basketball is building.

Much of it has found its way to rising junior Caris LeVert.

The 6-foot-6 guard is coming of a breakout sophomore campaign, having averaged 12.9 points on 43.9 percent shooting to go with 4.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game last season. He started all 37 contests and ranked in the top 15 in the Big Ten in scoring, assists, steals, 3-point percentage, 3-pointers made and minutes played.

Now, seven months removed from next season, here comes the hype.

On Tuesday, ESPN college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman named LeVert as a 2014-15 preseason first team All-American. He's alongside highly touted freshmen Cliff Alexander (Kansas) and Jahlil Okafor (Duke), and fellow juniors Georges Niang (Iowa State) and Marcus Paige (North Carolina).

Goodman writes of LeVert: "Nik Stauskas made the huge jump last season, and look for LeVert to do it next year. He's long, can score in a variety of ways and is also a terrific defender."

As a sophomore in 2013-14, Stauskas went from averaging 11.0 points per game as a freshman to 17.5 points. He also went from being a solid role player on a Michigan's 2013 Final Four team to the Big Ten player of the year on U-M's 2014 Elite Eight team.

Now Stauskas is a projected lottery pick in the 2014 NBA draft.

LeVert, in turn, is appearing on 2015 mock drafts. DraftExpress.com projects him as the No. 20 pick in next year's draft.

With LeVert as a headliner -- and questiona still swirling whether Stauskas, Glenn Robinson III and/or Mitch McGary will return to Ann Arbor for their junior seasons -- Michigan is expected to be back in the top 25.

The Wolverines rank No. 17 in ESPN's "Way-Too-Early Top 25" for 2014-15. They're the second-highest ranked Big Ten team behind No. 4 Wisconsin and are ahead of No. 18 Michigan State and No. 25 Iowa.

Any projected Michigan ranking is entirely speculative.

"Will Glenn Robinson III leave? What about Mitch McGary, who missed most of the 2013-14 season thanks to back surgery? If both are back, the Wolverines are the Big Ten favorite," writes ESPN's Eamonn Brennan. "If one or both are gone, things are more fluid -- but the return of Caris LeVert and the ongoing development of Derrick Walton Jr. and Zak Irvin will keep John Beilein's team in the mix."

In CBSSports.com's "2014-15 Ridiculously Early Preseason Top 25 (and one)," meanwhile, Michigan sits at No. 20.

Among other pre-preseason polls, Michigan is ranked No. 20 by USA Today, No. 7 by the Sporting News, No. 14 by Bleacher Report, No. 20 by NBC Sports and No. 2 by NJ.com, which projects Stauskas to return.

Brendan F. Quinn covers University of Michigan basketball and football. Follow him on Twitter for the latest on Wolverines hoops. He can be contacted at bquinn@mlive.com

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