Sophomore guard Darius Morris, who started 19 games as a freshman, is expected to be in the starting lineup Saturday against South Carolina Upstate.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

For now, Michigan basketball coach John Beilein will stick with Plan A when the Wolverines open the season at home Saturday at 7 p.m. against South Carolina Upstate.

Beilein said he will start the same five players who started the exhibition game last week: Guards Darius Morris, Zack Novak and Tim Hardaway Jr. along with forwards Evan Smotrycz and Jordan Morgan.

Not that Beilein isn’t always considering tinkering.

“That team will start,” Beilein said. “And then we’ll adjust accordingly through the season.”

Beilein has especially been watching the reaction of his freshmen - he expects all four to contribute this season.

Two of the freshmen - Smotrycz and Hardaway Jr. - start. Colton Christian is Smotrycz’s primary backup off the bench at power forward. Jon Horford, based on minutes received in the exhibition, is the third center behind Morgan and Blake McLimans.

“I’ve had some question marks about who would feel more comfortable out here, and we’ll still go through that in this whole process,” Beilein said. “We had a real good week out of Colton Christian. We have Evan, and Tim has bounced back a little bit, and they are anxious to get out there and play. And Jon Horford, his amount of learning has really been impressive so far.”

Trey Burke makes it official Michigan officially added point guard Trey Burke from Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday night.

Burke averaged 14.5 points and 7.5 assists last season for Northland High School, the same high school as current Ohio State freshman Jared Sullinger.

“In Trey Burke we are adding a proven winner and floor general to our basketball program,” Beilein said in a statement. “He combines a competitive spirit, quickness and poise on the court to provide leadership and his skill set allows him to impact the game as a passer, a scorer and a shooter.”

Michigan is waiting on its official commitment from guard Carlton Brundidge from Southfield, which is supposed to come during the early signing period.

Forward Amir Williams, from Detroit Country Day is expected to make his decision next week. Williams is considering Michigan along with Ohio State, DePaul, Purdue and Florida.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a tough backcourt,” Burke said of he and Brundidge earlier this week. “I played against The Family (Brundidge’s AAU team) a couple times, and we were going at it. We weren’t really guarding each other but he had 30, I had 30. Us two together is going to cause a lot of problems (for opponents).

“We’re just ready to get on the court together. We talked about it a lot when we were down at Michigan, that he could play the one, I could play the one. He could play the two, we could just switch off. Just, that’s about it.”

Not a choice for C.J. Lee A month ago, C.J. Lee was headed down the political road. He appeared in an ad for governor-elect Rick Snyder and was working with Ann Arbor SPARK.

Then Beilein called and changed his career path.

Instead of going into the political arena - although Lee said he never spoke with Snyder about a potential job - he started Monday as Michigan's new administrative assistant for basketball.

It's a change from the last time he was in Crisler Arena in an official capacity - leading Michigan to the NCAA tournament as a senior in 2008-09.

"The weirdest point is being at practice because we get to see the guys," Lee said. "But the rest of the day is like any other job. You're working in an office setting and have the day-in, day-out type stuff."

So which is better to work at, politics or basketball? For Lee, his roles are kind of the same. When he worked with Snyder on the campaign, he'd often be in the car with him on road trips around the state.

On Tuesday, his second day on the job at Michigan, he was in the car again.

"It was so funny. I had to take coach Beilein down to Detroit to speak at the Detroit Athletic Club, and it kind of felt like I was in the car with Rick," Lee said. "So they are both very, very similar. That situation prepared me for this, the pace of it."

This and that Michigan added a walk-on junior guard Darrick Ervin II to the roster. Ervin played high school basketball at University of Detroit Jesuit with forward Jordan Morgan. … Michigan is having a canned food drive for Saturday’s game. If you bring two canned foods to the game, you get into Saturday’s game for $1. … Guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said Thursday night he’s feeling better. He was getting over an illness last week during Michigan’s exhibition.

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