After last week’s dismantling of Illinois, I discussed the notion of a “start” vs “season”’ and I’ve been thinking about that a lot since, partially because I think it’s a useful framing when you look at teams at the extreme edges. It’s related to Brian’s sometime discussion of The Leap; it’s worthwhile to notice when an erstwhile good-not-great team comes out and starts raining holy hell on lesser teams.

But it ends. an injury pops up, a player or three has a bad night shooting, and suddenly you’ve lost by 18 to Minnesota.  You’ve officially moved from “start” to “season,” and you remember that the season is a marathon.

The Michigan women are probably nearing the end of the “start” phase.  I say this because a) they really haven’t gotten punched in the mouth (a schedule heavy on bottom-feeders will do that) and b) mgoblue.com won’t really stop talking about the “greatest start in program history.”  I mean, I get it – another curbstomping of a really lousy Wisconsin team doesn’t leave much to say besides individual stuff.  But were some takeaways.  Not a lot, mind you, but a few.

• First and foremost, I think it’s fair to say that Michigan had struggled with offensive identity in the absence of Leigha Brown.  In a 2-point win at Nebraska, and for the first three quarters of a 20-point chokeout of Illinois, the offense – a really elegant motion / ball-movement offense with Brown – seemed stagnant and disjointed.  Something clicked in that fourth quarter vs Illinois, however, and it continued tonight, for a couple of reasons.  First, with Brown out, Wisconsin’s game plan was clearly to try to limit Naz Hillmon’s offensive opportunities and see if Michigan’s non-Leigha Brown offensive players could beat them.  Second, Michigan was clearly trying to push pace, playing their fastest game in B1G play.
• As to the first part – limit Naz Hillmon – the approach worked.  Sorta.  Naz had her first single-digit night since a pair of injury-limited games last February.  She was constantly double-teamed, sometimes triple-teamed, and sometimes even triple-teamed before she had the ball in her hands.  All of which opened the floor to an absurd degree.  Shot quality and ball movement were excellent all night, and the team-wide shooting slump continued, or this could’ve been a much bigger margin than 29 points.
• It was strange to hear BTN’s announcers talk about Michigan winning “despite Naz Hillmon not scoring,” though.  Yes, she took only six shots, but she also had another monster night on the boards, and got a career-high 7 assists, plus at least four more hockey assists.  A sequence in the thid quarter was a perfect example – entry pass to Naz, back out to AK, into the corner to Amy Dilk for an open three.  KBA has talked several times about Naz trying to become a complete player, and tonight was emblematic of that.  With reduced scoring opportunities, she helped put points on the board in other ways.  Kinda like the Nebraska win, where the team won despite not playing well made me more confident, not less: Naz’ having a super-productive game when she wasn’t scoring made me more impressed, not less.
• The other key to the game was in the starting lineup, as KBA switched in Maddie Nolan for Danielle Rauch.  I’ve written about Maddie several times, partially because I like the story of how she ended up playing in Ann Arbor, but mostly because I think she’s a tough little shit that, oh by the way, can shoot like crazy when she gets an opening.  Tonight was one of those shoots-like-crazy nights; she went 5 for 11 from three, which is actually less statistically impressive than it felt while watching – it really felt like every shot she took was going down.  She got 21 and spiced it with 3 boards, 2 steals and a block.  No assists tonight – she wasn’t all that into the whole “passing” thing.  I like Danielle Rauch as a player, too, but with Brown out they need a more-aggressive offensive player; Nolan filled the bill tonight.
• Akienreh Johnson was also terrific, slashing to the basket on multiple late-clock possessions and dominating defensively.  Sidney Hilliard and Imani Lewis are basically Wisconsin’s only talented offensive players, averaging 20.6 and 13.2 ppg respectively in non-Michigan games, but Michigan’s defense, led by AK and Hailey Brown, has limited them to 10 and 18, total, in the two blowouts.  Hilliard in particular was completely shut down tonight, getting only 1 point in 30 invisible minutes.
• Amy Dilk continued to take a more aggressive offensive approach.  Her attempts have gone up in Leigha Brown’s absence, and she’s getting good looks.  Even when they don’t go down, it’s been good for the offense, because they pull defense out away from Naz.  Or they will, when she’s not getting tripled.
• Hailey Brown continues to scuffle, though – she’s always been a good rhythm shooter, and I was encouraged to see her make an early three, but she went 0 for 9 the rest of the way.  she’s still contributing on the boards and defensively but right now she just looks unconfident.

I expected to shift from “start” to “season” mode today against a resurgent Sparty team, but COVID strikes again, and Michigan has its third postponement.. A very good, very deep Ohio State team trying to compensate for a tournament ban visits this Thursday. 

The Season is really about to start.