As many times as Michigan coach John Beilein’s path has crossed with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim’s, it’s probably fitting that they face off in his first trip to a Final Four.

As a high school coach in the mid-1970s, Beilein attended some of Boeheim’s coaching clinics and heard him teach the 2-3 zone. After four years coaching at community colleges, Beilein landed at Division II LeMoyne College, which is across town from Syracuse. He was there for nine years.

Boeheim had a hand in recommending Beilein for his first Division I job at Canisius, as well as his first major college job at West Virginia.

“I followed him and respected him very much,” Beilein said in a Final Four coaches news conference Thursday at the Georgia Dome. “He’s one of the greatest minds in basketball, about anything. The guy is smart. You ask him about college football, he’ll tell you. You ask him about North Korea right now, he probably knows all about that. He is a smart guy.”

He’s also pretty good coaching against Beilein’s teams. So far Syracuse and Boeheim’s zone have gotten the better of the offensive efficiency that Beilein’s teams are known for. Beilein is 0-for-9 against Syracuse and Boeheim — 0-2 at Richmond, 0-6 at West Virginia and 0-1 at Michigan.

Beilein is a native of Burt, N.Y., which is only three hours from Syracuse. He is one of nine children, and his mother was one of 13, so he figures he’ll have a few supporters cheering for the Wolverines in that area.

“I called an old friend of mine on the way down and said, ‘What color are you wearing?’” Beilein said. “’Do you have orange underwear on with the blue shirt over the top?’”

Burke selected player of year: Standout sophomore point guard Trey Burke was named AP college player of the year and won the Bob Cousy award as the nation's top point guard Thursday afternoon.

He’s the second Michigan player ever to win the AP award, along with Cazzie Russell in 1966. He finished ahead of Georgetown’s Otto Porter and Indiana’s Victor Oladipo in the voting. Burke has averaged 18.8 points and 6.8 assists. He made the game-tying 3-pointer from NBA range to get the Wolverines into overtime against Kansas in the regional semifinals in the critical victory of their Final Four run.

Eye on McGary: As much press as Burke gets — and rightly so — it's actually 6-foot-10 freshman forward Mitch McGary who has led the Wolverines in production this NCAA tournament, with 17.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.

This is a guy who averaged 6.2 points and 5.5 rebounds during the regular season, but he’s come into his own in the tournament. McGary scored a career-high 25 points in Michigan’s win over Kansas.

He didn’t make his first college start until Feb. 12 at Michigan State and scored in double figures only six times during the regular season. But he has scored in double digits each of the four NCAA tournament games.