WBB Hello: Danielle Rauch (2018), daughter of former Beilein player
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.
Michigan posted its 2017-18 roster today, and Abby Cole is not listed. She suffered an injury last season and never ended up playing for the basketball team, and now it looks like she's moved on.
That makes sense though, doesn't it? Wasn't she a senior?
Yes, but she was eligible to play basketball at Michigan in both 2016-17 and 2017-18, and that's the way the program always talked about her.
I wouldn't say a bunch left, but the two most important ones were Boogie Brozoski and Kysre Gondrezick. Gondrezick's departure was discussed in this thread. From what I've heard the situation with Gondrezick led to Brozoski's transfer.
This has left the team without a true point guard for next season, so I agree with you that this messed the roster up. One would hope this was an isolated set of circumstances and not something that will happen again.
Rauch will smoke the competition.
She will fire away.
New article on Rauch says she committed immediately after an overnight visit to Ann Arbor.
Rauch said she made the decision about 30 minutes after leaving the Ann Arbor campus on Thursday. She called the Michigan coaches from her family's car on their drive back to Syracuse.
"It was super quick," said Rauch. "I did an overnight (visit) yesterday. I was there this morning. I got to hang out with the team and see everything and get a really a good grip about what Michigan is all about. I absolutely loved it. On the ride home, I looked at my dad and said I had a feeling in my stomach that it was the place I wanted to be. I went with it."
The article also indicates that Beilein's connection with her father "was clearly a part of Rauch's recruiting process."
Abby Cole is engaged to Austin Hatch and both have moved on from sports I believe.
Welcome Danielle!