Women's Basketball

not a typo. They have 55 after 1 QUARTER of play (ladies play 10min quarters). Apparently their opponent plays uptempo and UCONN, as usual, are beating them at their own game. 

Not sure how many times I see a uconn score early in the 1st quarter and think, "damn that team is holding on, like 30-18, almost the half." only to realize 2 mins later there's 5 mins left in the QUARTER not the HALF.

Bloodletting continues on ESPN2

As of this evening's game at Nebraska (M wins 69-64), Katelynn Flaherty has passed Glen Rice for all-time leading scorer in Michigan history with 2,457 points.  CONGRATULATIONS KATE!

We all know about the game Saturday at Camp Randall.  But the #24 ranked women's basketball team is playing #5 Louisville in the semifinal of the preseason NIT in Louisville on Thursday night at 7pm.  The winner plays Texas A&M or Oregon on Sunday.

Go Blue!

Another day, another women's basketball commit for Michigan. Committing today: Emily Kiser, 6-2 forward/center out of Noblesville HS in Indiana. She's not as heralded as some of the previous pledges, at least going by the recruiting services, which have her unranked. Most of her other offers were from mid-majors, but Michigan did beat out at least two other Big Ten teams for her: Indiana and Wisconsin.

Kiser joins two point guards, Amy Dilk and Danielle Rauch, a wing, Ariel Young, and a center, Naz Hillmon, in Michigan's 2018 class. The coaches still have one more scholarship they could use in that class, but it seems likely they'll now be looking to secure some early commits for 2019.

Yet another commitment for the women's basketball team, the fourth in a little more than three weeks. The biggest remaining need in the 2018 class was a center, and that need is now filled with Naz Hillmon's pledge. She a 6-2 post player out of Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio (suburb of Cleveland).

She's not currently ranked by espnW, but Blue Star has her at #12 in the nation. That might be a bit on the high side, but she did garner an impressive list of offers, according to various reports: Cal, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Pitt, Purdue, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and West Virginia.

Here's a Blue Star scouting report on Hillmon from a few months ago:

Continues to impress the college coaches with each outing…Size, strength, skills and great hands…Posts hard in the half court and runs the floor well in transition…Scores with a variety of moves and crashes the boards…Highly regarded impact BCS player

Hillmon joins two point guards, Amy Dilk and Danielle Rauch, and a wing, Ariel Young, in Michigan's 2018 class.

2018 commit #3 for Kim Barnes Arico & Co.—with all three pledging this month—is Danielle Rauch, 5-8 point guard out of Bishop Ludden HS in Syracuse, New York. She committed this afternoon. She's the daughter of Len Rauch, who was one of John Beilein's star players when he coached at Le Moyne College.

I haven't seen her in any rankings, and her other offers appear to mainly be mid-majors, along with Wisconsin (not sure if the list I saw is completely up-to-date, though). She does sound like the type of player that Coach Arico favors:

The junior guard became her school's all-time leading scorer during the Section III playoffs. She has 1,484 career points with another season to go.

Rauch, with her frenetic style, deft ball-handling skills and vision, separates herself from other Section III players on multiple fronts.

Bishop Ludden's Nicole McManus, who is the All-CNY Coach of the Year, said there are two in particular.

"One is her work ethic," McManus said. "Two is her will not to lose. She's a competitor and I'm sure you can see that. She's going to rip your heart out as soon as she steps on the court."

Rauch joins Ariel Young and Amy Dilk in Michigan's 2018 class, which currently could be as large as six.