WashDC, you are correct I had forgotten about Hazel. However the fact that TM coming back from knee surgery goes into the first half of a game against Pitt with the result still very much in doubt while Hazel hasn't seen much other than garbage time tells you Crean's current confidence in their relative skills. I would have to expect that Hazel's path will be simliar to Burke. That is back up minutes as an upper classman. I doubt you could expect him to compete for the starting center job coming out of the gate next year.
I think the true impact of Hazel will be somewhere in the middle. I think he'll play a larger role than Burke and that he'll definitely be more than just "backup min as an upperclassman". However, totally agree that I don't think he'll compete for the starting center job coming out of the gate next year.
Hazel's first year statistics are a lot better than Burke's first year statistics.
Burke (05-06) ORtg 73 ; DRtg 104 ; Win% 0.018 ; Usage 1%
Hazel ORtg 117 ; DRtg 86 ; Win% 0.974 ; Usage 0.3%
Granted, each is a small sample size, but when Hazel is in, at least he's making positive contributions (Rebounds / Blocks). You could not have said that about Burke's garbage time min.
