Women's Basketball

[Ed-Ace: Big win gets a big bump with no football today.]

For a program that has been good or very good in each of coach Kim Barnes Arico’s nine seasons, the Michigan Women have had precious few Big Wins (™).  Oh, they’ve won some big games - they’ve made the postseason every year since she arrived, made the NIT semis in two seasons and won it outright in a third.  It’s just not possible to get 179 wins without some wins being bigger than others.  But she’s never quite had a Program Defining Win, at least as Michigan coach.

They’ve had chances.  They haven’t converted them.  Not quite.

This year’s version of Notre Dame is several notches below the Death Star level that they reached over the last ten years.  Muffett McGraw has retired, replaced by longtime assistant Niele Ivey.  Most of the truly elite talent that led the Irish to a National Championship in 2018 and a runner-up finish in 2019 are in the WNBA.  There is still talent, however, lots of it, but the Irish are clearly in the midst of a transition.  A win over Notre Dame in its current, somewhat depleted state, probably doesn’t rise to the level of Program Defining.  But boy, it’s awfully close. 

Call it a Nearly Program Defining Win.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the recap.]

[Ed-Seth: This is very well done. First front-paged Diary since...?]

THE STORY.

Going into the 2020 B1G tournament, Kim Barnes Arrico’s young Wolverines stood at 19-10 overall, 10-8 in the conference, and squarely on the bubble.  The good side of the bubble, probably, but on the bubble nonetheless.  They’d missed some opportunities to make their mark, going 1-6 against ranked teams and getting blown out by a so-so Rutgers team in Piscataway coming down the stretch.  They needed to win one and probably two games to guarantee a spot in the tournament; their opener was Nebraska, who they'd split home games with during the season.

They were also hurting.  Reliable scorer and all-court defender Kayla Robbins had been lost for the season in January, and her replacement, Danielle Rauch, had broken her hand a couple of weeks later.  Freshman Maddie Nolan – generously listed as 5’-8” and wearing a gigantic knee brace after a lost senior high school season – was still getting comfortable playing starter minutes.

Nebraska led 42-34 at halftime and had been in control for most of the way, but Michigan went on a 13-2 run to start the third quarter, capped by a Nolan three, and never trailed after that.  Nolan would finish with a breakout 9-point, 7-rebound, 4-steal performance in 39 minutes.  She’d follow that up with 13 points and 8 rebounds (again - she's FIVE-EIGHT) in a ticket-stamping 67-59 semifinal win over #11, regular-season co-champ Northwestern.  Nolan harassed 1st team All-B1G guard Lindsey Pulliam into 9 disinterested, inconsequential points before fouling her out.

The team’s hot streak would end in a tight, tetchy semifinal loss to similarly hot Ohio State, but Michigan had clearly played their way off the bubble, perhaps up to a 6 or 7 seed, which is critical in the women’s game, where the first two rounds are played at the seeded teams’ home arenas.  A couple of Michigan teams have gotten blown out in the second round by homestanding high seeds over the past decade.

We all know what happened next…I’ll say this – I went to the B1G tournament in Indianapolis, and this was a team that was playing really, really good basketball.  They had a shot to make some noise.  Sigh.

So.  Why so much talk about Maddie Nolan, when this team has two clear first-team All-B1G candidates?  Because she’s a great indicator of the increased talent level of this team.  Kim Barnes Arrico (KBA from here on out – I hate the initials thing, but come on, I’m typing here) has not lacked for stars in her tenure, but overall depth has not been a strength.  Maddie Nolan was probably the fifth or sixth guard going into the 19-20 season, behind Amy Dilk, Akienreh Johnson, Kayla Robbins, and Danielle Rauch.  Fellow frosh Michele Sidor came in with more hype.  In the past, the 5th or 6th guard playing in a B1G tournament game would be a sign that the wheels had fallen off.  Not for this team, not anymore.  The talent level is higher than it’s ever been.  So are the expectations.

[Hit THE JUMP]