Benji Burke needed to wake one of his stars for an AAU basketball tournament. His son, Trey, was up and moving but the Burkes needed their big man.

In another room, Jared Sullinger, a middle schooler with all-world ability, big butt and baby fat, slept.

Long before he became the star Ohio State freshman forward he is now, Sullinger slept at his best friend’s house.

“Every morning he was always sucking his thumb, looking like a baby,” Benji said. “It gave me the mindset that, ‘How does our big guy suck his thumb?’

“Going to Indiana, Baltimore, going to all these big tournaments and our big kid, he just sucks his thumb.”

Benji didn’t care, although it still gives him ammunition against Jared.

Sullinger, while a man on the court as top-ranked Ohio State (22-0, 9-0 Big Ten) faces Michigan (13-9, 3-6) on Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN), is an 18-year-old kid off of it.

Jared has the same corny joke for everyone around New Year’s —“Hey, I haven’t seen you since last year.”

“Just a corny joke like that,” Trey said. “He does that a lot.”

Jared is the conversation starter with teammates, friends or random people on the Ohio State campus who stare at him. It’s a “Hi,” or “What’s up.” Just a kid being a kid.

What most remember about Jared, though, is what he does when he steps on the basketball court. It’s been that way for a long time.

An offer from Michigan

In eighth grade, Jared came home from school one day and his father, Northland High coach Satch Sullinger, told him to check the mail.

Sullinger looked at his father, confused. This particular piece of mail was already open.

“I was like, ‘What’s the point of opening it if it was already open?’” Jared said. “And it said Tommy Amaker wanted to offer me a scholarship.”

Amaker, then Michigan’s basketball coach, was the first college coach to offer Jared a scholarship. Jared had always shown potential. This was the kid who could make free throws on a 10-foot rim with a regulation basketball at age 3.

He had the pedigree with his entire family full of basketball players. But still, this was special. This was his first.

“Being offered by a D-I basketball school, it was one of my goals when I was young,” Jared said. “And to have it from Michigan was kind of pretty special knowing I was from Columbus.”

There was very little doubt, though, Jared would play for Ohio State. His older brother, J.J., played for the program and he was familiar with the campus.

That letter — combined with Trey Burke’s commitment to Michigan next year —left a soft spot in the Sullinger family heart for Michigan.

“No one in the Sullinger family hates Michigan,” J.J. said. “Absolutely. We don’t cheer for them when they play Ohio State, that’s the only time we don’t cheer for Michigan. With 
Trey coming there next year, I’m absolutely going to be a fan.

“I’m going to have to start wearing Michigan colors. I told Trey the only time I’m rooting against him is when he plays against Jared next season.”

Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, as Jared will be considered a top prospect if he left after this season for the NBA.

After all, Jared has been facing NBA-type talent from a young age.

Always around Ohio State

Growing up in the shadow of Ohio State with J.J. a critical part of Thad Matta’s first two teams there, Jared always found himself around the Buckeyes.

It was in an open gym in Columbus where Jared made people notice. He walked into the gym a 16-year-old playing for Northland, already verbally committed to the Buckeyes.

J.J. was there. So was current teammate, David Lighty. And then there was a 7-footer who might be the best center ever to play for Ohio State: Greg Oden.

“He was holding his own versus Greg,” Lighty said. “And I know what type of player Greg is. He just came out here, and he was doing a great job with him, was taking him outside, hitting jumpers, things like that.

“That was an eye opener.”

Both Lighty and J.J. said Oden started to get frustrated, not quite sure what to do with this 6-foot-8, 270-pound player who could be crafty on the interior and also make jump shots over the former All-American and No. 1 NBA Draft pick. Eventually, Oden taught Jared a lesson.

“Jared got some buckets on him and Greg took it personally, very personally,” J.J. said. “The next time down, he showed Jared like, ‘I see what you’re doing, I’m going to do it, too.’ He cleared Jared out of the way and just dunked it on him.

“You could tell by the way he dunked it, it was, it looked like a dunk that would go on in 
the NBA Playoffs, game 7. He screamed, slapped the glass. Basically all he was telling us is, ‘Yeah, Jared is getting the best of me right now.’”

Best of an elite family

Satch Sullinger often told his son he had the potential to be better than any of the other Sullingers.

That is a large statement for a big boy.

Besides J.J., Jared’s other brother, Julian, played at Kent State. Satch is a legendary high school coach in Columbus. His uncle, Harold, had played at Iowa. When Harold died in December, Jared scored 40 points in a 75-64 win over IUPUI and dedicated the performance to him.

His grandfather, Harold “Suitcase” Sullinger Sr., played for the Sioux City (Iowa) Colored Ghosts before the NBA was integrated.

Yet Satch told Jared he could be better than all of them.

“It really doesn’t bother me because I am my own person,” Jared said. I may play in the shadows of my brothers and my dad and my uncle and my grandpa, I’m still my own person.

“If I’m not as good as they are or if I’m better than they are or if we’re at the same level it’s not going to change who I am.”

And because of his family, he’s been able to keep his childhood playfulness.

“He’s just like a teddy bear,” Benji Burke said. “He’s still the same old kid, which is why he’s such a great story to see how the success comes to him.”

Jared Sullinger arrived at Ohio State dubbed as the next big thing. The Naismith Award winner for the best player in high school last year, he stepped into the Ohio State starting lineup from his first game and has been dominant, averaging 18 points and 9.9 rebounds a game while being named Big Ten Freshman of the Week 10 times and Player of the Week four times.

And he’s never lost his playful side. Consider after the first game against Michigan — one he called at the time his most frustrating of the season — Jared texted Benji and said, “Pops, did you see D-Mo (Darius Morris) trying to punk me? LOL.”

Earlier that night, Jared and Morris had a small, verbal altercation during Ohio State’s 68-64 win over Michigan. In the game, he was intense. The second it ended, it all washed away.

“Right back, he’s the silly little kid again,” Benji said. “That’s Jared Sullinger. He’s always a little kid, as soon as the game’s over, him and D-Mo will be cool but in the game, no.”

The little kid in him showed up soon after, when Ohio State debuted a 2:13 parody of Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA.” It featured Jared, Aaron Craft and Jon Diebler singing the pop hit, well, horribly.

The video has since gone viral, something Jared laughs at. Not that he minds

“It was a fun video to do, honestly,” Jared said. “It was one of my favorite songs. For it to be on YouTube and for everyone to comment on it, I pretty much thank everybody who says I did good, even though they are lying to me.

“A lot of people (tell me that) but there’s a big smirk on their face, so I know that they are lying. It’s OK to be honest with me.”

The truth: Jared Sullinger may be a big kid. There’s nothing wrong with that. But he also very well could be the best player in college basketball.

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