Zavier Marquis Simpson (formerly Xavier Simpson) is an American basketball player for the Michigan Wolverines who has completed his sophomore season for the 2017-18 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team. He attended Lima Senior High School where he won the 2016 Ohio Mr. Basketball as a senior. Simpson won 2014 Ohio Division III state championship as a sophomore for Lima Central Catholic High School before transferring to Lima Senior High School the following school year. He was part of the 2017-18 team that reached the Championship Game of the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. Simpson was a member of 2017 and 2018 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament champions during his first two seasons. He had many of his best games against top-10 opponents as a sophomore.
Video Zavier Simpson
Early life
Simpson was born on February 11, 1997, in Lima, Ohio to Bobbie Carter and Quincey Simpson. Simpson was raised in a socioeconomic situation where just having a father in his life was a blessing. He had served as a ball boy for Lima Senior High School since second or third grade when his father was an assistant coach for the Lima Senior team that he had once played for. In elementary school, Simpson spent a half hour dribbling the basketball every morning and when he got to high school, he worked out for between one and a half and two hours doing basketball drills. On December 15, Simpson broke two-time Ohio Mr. Basketball Greg Simpson's Lima Senior High School single-game scoring record by posting 59 points against Fremont Ross High School. Simpson was a cousin who grew up with his father, Quincy. On February 2, Simpson posted 65 points against Fremont Ross.
Simpson played his freshman and sophomore seasons for Lima Central Catholic High School before transferring to Lima Senior when his father became head coach there before his junior season. Simpson earned the 2014 Ohio Division III state championship as a sophomore and the 2015 Ohio Associated Press Division I Player of the Year as a junior. Simpson was named 2016 Ohio Mr. Basketball by the Associated Press. Simpson's Lima Senior High School was undefeated until losing in the OHSAA Division I championship game to Westerville South High School, finishing the season 29-1. Simpson also earned the Ohio Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year honor.
On September 9, 2015, Xavier Simpson committed to playing college basketball for Michigan. At the time he was ranked as the number 66 player and number 12 point guard by ESPN, number 55 and number 12 by Scout.com and number 87 player and number 44 guard by Rivals.com, making him the number 69 player and 13 point guard by 247Sports.com. Austin Davis, Ibi Watson, Jon Teske and Simpson all signed their National Letters of Intent on November 11, 2015. Michigan recruits Simpson, Watson and Teske were all named to the 2015-16 Associated Press Ohio High School Division I Boys Basketball All-State 1st Team. ESPN's Jeff Borzello named Simpson as one of the top 25 entering freshman in the 2016-17 class on April 6, 2016.
Maps Zavier Simpson
College career
Freshman season
As a freshman, Simpson was part of a 2016-17 Michigan Wolverines team that won the 2017 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament and reached the sweet sixteen round of the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. After averaging 1.6 points and 8.7 minutes as a freshman, Simpson changed the spelling of his name prior to his sophomore season from Xavier to Zavier.
Sophomore season
As a sophomore for the 2017-18 Wolverines, Simpson posted his career high 16 points in contest against top 5 rated opponents: On January 13, 2018, Michigan won their rivalry game against (#4 AP Poll/#4 Coaches Poll) Michigan State 82-72. Simpson tallied 16 points in Michigan's first road victory against a top-five ranked team since defeating (#3 AP Poll/#3 Coaches Poll) Michigan State on January 25, 2014; On January 25, 2018, Michigan lost to (#3 AP Poll/#3 Coaches Poll) Purdue 88-92 despite 16 points from Simpson. In two of his other top-5 games, Simpson had 15-point games against both (#5 AP Poll/#7 Coaches Poll) Purdue on January 9, 2018. and (#2 AP Poll/#2 Coaches Poll) Michigan State on March 3, 2018. Although Simpson averaged just 7.3 points per game for the season, in his other games against top-10 opponents he posted double digits: 13 points against (#8 AP Poll/#9 Coaches Poll) Ohio State in Michigan's final home game of the regular season on the February 18, 2018, 10 points on March 4, as Michigan defeated (#8 AP Poll/#8 Coaches Poll) Purdue 75-66, and 10 points in the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game loss to (#2 Coaches Poll/#2 AP Poll) Villanova.
The March 4 victory over Purdue gave Michigan its second consecutive Big Ten Tournament championship since the game was the championship game of the 2018 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. Simpson averaged 12.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals in 35 minutes per game for Michigan in its four-game tournament run. On March 22, Michigan defeated Texas A&M 99-72 in the regional semifinals of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Simpson posted a career-high 6 steals as part of a stat line that included 11 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. In the first four games of the tournament, Simpson posted averages of 7.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.8 steals to help Michigan reach the Final Four. The team lost in the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game to (#2 Coaches Poll/#2 AP Poll) Villanova.
Personal life
Simpson has an older brother Isaiah. Simpson's father has two brothers and is not married to Simpson's mother. Quincy and his brothers were raised by a single mother.
Notes
External links
- Simpson @ MGoBlue.com
- Stats at ESPN
- Stats at CBS Sports
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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