With experience invisible, the questions are inevitable.

As the Michigan basketball team begins its season with its first practice on Friday, no one really knows how the Wolverines will handle their center position vacated by DeShawn Sims.

Sims played out of position last year - in reality, he was a good power forward, not a center - but now, the Wolverines still have to replace him.

Three players will try: redshirt freshmen Blake McLimans and Jordan Morgan along with true freshman Jon Horford.

The thing is, none of the three have played college basketball before.

“We’ll go into this thing right now with a three-dimensional center at the five,” Michigan coach John Beilein said.

He has no choice. Beilein already said at media day earlier this week that all three will play, sometimes even in the same half.

The rotation could end up being good for rest purposes in the ultra-tough Big Ten, but it also leaves the question of how well the position will produce.

Already, there have been encouraging signs. The 6-foot-9 Horford, who looked extremely thin during his senior year of high school, is up to 230 pounds and said he is bigger, mass-wise, than he’s ever been.

The 6-9 Morgan is finally healthy after knee and shoulder injuries sidelined him all last year. McLimans, who came in extremely raw at 6-foot-10, is more polished than a season ago.

“They look good,” sophomore point guard Darius Morris said. “(They) have improved a lot physically and mentally.”

Michigan’s trip to Europe helped that. It allowed the coaching staff four games and 10 days to see what they might have at center.

But it also gave the inexperienced trio some, well, experience playing basketball again. Who plays, though, is still up in the air.

“All of our big men are capable of producing good numbers, good stats and good defense,” Horford said. “It’s obviously going to be the coach’s decision and maybe someone fits our team structure better than another, but that’s not for me to say.”

One thing is clear - the question won’t be answered in the first week of practice. It might not get answered for a while.

“We have something right now that’s very healthy,” Beilein said. “Virtually all spots are (open), some people have more advantage than others, but that’s one that’s as wide, wide open as anything.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.