WBB roster turnover
With the women’s first exhibition game coming up at the end of next week, I figured I would finally post this. I started keeping track of the movement on the women’s basketball roster during the offseason for my own sanity. I am not posting any links here, because that would be a lot. However, all of this information came from either public social media posts, basic google searches, and non-paywalled websites. There’s a lot here and I’m not claiming it’s perfect, so if there’s a mistake or you need a source, please let me know.
Players Out
- Leigha Brown - graduated, drafted by Atlanta Dream, then traded to Connecticut Sun where she has averaged just over 5 minutes a game
- Emily Kiser - graduated with Master’s, declared for WNBA draft but undrafted, signed with AO Eleutheria Moshatou in Greece where she has been starting and playing 20-30 minutes per game
- Maddie Nolan - graduated, transferred to Colorado, 1 year of eligibility
- Michelle Sidor - graduated, transferred to DePaul, 2 years of eligibility
- Izabel Varejão - graduated, transferred to Syracuse, 2 years of eligibility
- Kate Clarke - transferred to DePaul, 3 years of eligibility
- Ari Wiggins - transferred to Butler, 2 years of eligibility
Bonus Out
- Danielle Rauch - graduated 2 years ago with Naz and went to Clemson to pursue a Master’s. She was a grad assistant last year with the Clemson team, but announced over the most recent offseason that she will be playing again this upcoming fall.
Freshmen In
- Macy Brown - freshman guard named Miss Michigan Basketball in her senior yea
- Taylor Woodson - freshman forward from Minnesota
- Katy Eidle - freshman guard from Illinois
- As of now, Eidle is not listed on the roster, but there has been no announcement as to her departure. She has also not been in recent group pictures when alumni like Naz visited, but is listed as enrolled at UM in the directory. So I’m leaving her here for now.
Transfers In
- Taylor Williams - redshirt junior forward from Western Michigan, 2 years of eligibility
- Elissa Brett - graduate guard from Bowling Green, 1 year of eligibility
- Lauren Hansen - graduate guard from Missouri, 1 year of eligibility
Those Who Stayed
- Laila Phelia - Junior (started all last year)
- Cameron Williams - Senior (started all last year)
- Jordan Hobbs - Junior (started some games last year)
- Greta Kampschroeder - Junior (started some games last year)
- Alyssa Crockett - Sophomore
- Chyra Evans - Sophomore
- Elise Stuck - Senior
- Whitney Sollom - Senior
Coaches Out
- Erin Batth - new head coach at Providence
- Valerie Nainima - hired onto Batth’s coaching staff at Providence
- Providence also hired one of our grad managers Reyna Frost as an assistant coach, cheers to them
Coaches In
- Melanie Moore - assistant coach at Michigan 2012-19, head coach at Xavier 2020-22
- Jillian Dunston - former Michigan player 2014-18, assistant coach at Drexel 2019-22
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:31 PM ^
Excellent summary, thanks
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:33 PM ^
Thanks for the update, was wondering what happened to Varejao and Eidle...
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:38 PM ^
Why did Maddie Nolan transfer?
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:41 PM ^
Wouldn't be surprised if that's a legit academic thing. Women don't make a ton professionally so they want a real fallback, and there are some grad programs Colorado's better than us for, probably.
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:45 PM ^
On the basketball side of things, I'm not sure. She started all last year, so I would presume she would have started all this year. The only thing I can think of is that a lot of the players she came in with and played with over the last few years have graduated or transferred, so she may have wanted to move on from that perspective. But the academic angle is a good bet.
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:53 PM ^
Seems she wanted to go somewhere new with her last year of eligibility, and liked Colorado's style of play and higher level of success.
Women’s basketball: Transfer Maddie Nolan eager for new opportunity with CU Buffs – BuffZone
October 23rd, 2023 at 8:23 PM ^
She got her degree here. I went somewhere else for grad school. I wish her the best.
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:46 PM ^
I reffed Macy Brown last year in high school. Good player. Left hander. She had no trouble drawing fouls and getting to the hoop. Her problem was she could not make free throws.
October 23rd, 2023 at 1:46 PM ^
So, is all of this movement a net positive, a net negative, or basically neutral?
October 23rd, 2023 at 2:01 PM ^
I really don't think we'll know until the season gets going. For sure, it will be different after losing both Leigha Brown and Maddie Nolan. Hopefully Phelia and Cam Williams take big steps forward as well as some freshman-sophomore jumps and production from the transfers. If I had to guess, I think this team will be competing to host the first weekend of the tournament like last year's team and hopefully we'll end up with some good injury luck this year. Next year (assuming Phelia sticks around and Olson/Swords arrive) will really be the year with a lot of consistency that could be another elite 8 or better year.
October 23rd, 2023 at 2:07 PM ^
We need at least 2 of the three Transfers-In to payoff for us, otherwise, we may be in for a modest setback (less than 20 wins regular season).
October 23rd, 2023 at 2:52 PM ^
KBA's won 20 for like 8 seasons in a row. I think we'll get there. Depends on matchups but somewhere between first round and Sweet SIxteen again feels right.
Next year's class is loaded, two genuine 5*s.
October 23rd, 2023 at 3:44 PM ^
Two of our top 3 scorers, Leigha Brown & Emily Kiser graduated, leaving Laila Phelia, who'll be taking a lead role. We'll need to see some/many players step up.
October 23rd, 2023 at 2:11 PM ^
That's a lot of new faces.
October 23rd, 2023 at 10:28 PM ^
I just wanna know why nobody on the Michigan Daily or anyone else at Big Ten Media days asked a single question about Katy Eidle. Even if it was just to get the non answer, that's kinda the job?
October 25th, 2023 at 6:34 AM ^
This Mlive post states that Katy Eidle is not enrolled, but gives no details nor explanation:
As I posted above, we need these incoming Transfers to pay-off for us.
October 25th, 2023 at 9:27 AM ^
That's very interesting, because she is still listed on MCommunity as being in school. I made the mistake a few weeks ago of searching Katy Eidle and not finding anything before realizing to search Kathryn Eidle. So he must have asked the school or someone in the program directly? That or he made the same mistake as I did only searching Katy Eidle.
As far as the transfers, I really think they're going to fit in well. Lauren Hansen isn't going to be what Leigha was as a playmaker or scorer, but averaging 12.9 in P5 basketball shows she belongs. She also turns the ball over at a significantly lower rate (89th percentile vs. 44th percentile) with the pretty much the same usage of a little over 26%.
I think Elissa Brett is going to hopefully give us very similar to Maddie Nolan, she shot 33% from deep last year with a lot of volume (7.5 attempts/game) and Maddie was 34% (on 5.8 attempts/game). Maybe with lower usage not having to be the one at BGSU will help. Elissa's defensive rating was a fair bit better than Maddie's too (79th percentile vs. 67%). There's of course the caveat that competition is different, but think there's enough there to say there won't be much of a drop off.
Taylor Williams probably won't be able to replace Emily Kiser one for one with offensive efficiency, but she probably matches the rebounds and defensive output being a little better (competition caveat of course), and if you committee it she and Cam Williams can match/exceed it.
So in totality between the three major contributors lost, feels like a small step back before you get to the rest. Laila is going to be Laila, Jordan Hobbs even if there's no step up taken has proven she can contribute off the bench. Think Chyra Evans has a lot more to give, and then you have a free roll of anyone else stepping up and I think they have a lot of talented options with Greta Kampschroeder, Macy Brown, Taylor Woodson, Alyssa Crockett.