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Thursday, July 28, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
Abby Cole joining basketball
team for 2016-2017 season
By CHRIS CROWDER
Daily Sports Editor
Abby Cole’s plan to play basket-
ball for the Wolverines hasn’t ran
into any snags.
Michigan
vol-
leyball’s 6-foot-5
senior made the
announcement
that she would
play
basketball
this
upcoming
season
on
her
Instagram
in
November,
but
the move was just
made official Thursday.
“Following the holiday break
during my sophomore year, I had
some honest conversations with
(volleyball
head
coach)
Mark
Rosen,” Cole told MGoBlue. “He
was very supportive of my desire to
play basketball again, knowing that
my commitment to the volleyball
program would not waiver. Mark
connected me with Coach Arico,
and when she offered me the chance
to continue my basketball career, I
could not turn her down.”
Cole will finish her final sea-
son of volleyball as one of the team
captains. The AVCA Second Team
All-American just received LeBron
James-esque treatment by having
her likeness on an enormous poster
on the outside of Cliff Keen Arena.
After the upcom-
ing
volleyball
season, Cole will
join Kim Barnes
Arico’s
squad
and
then
will
have
another
year of eligibility
left to solely play
hoops during the
2017-18 season.
“Her
length
is incredible, and she moves so
well for her size,”
Arico said in an
interview
with
MGoBlue.
“She
is an elite-level
athlete who will
bring
another
dimension to our
team. When she
approached
me
about playing bas-
ketball, I was thrilled. She will be
an amazing ambassador for our pro-
gram.”
In Cole’s senior year of high
school in 2013, she was named
Class A Player of the Year for basket-
ball and was a Miss Basketball final-
ist. She racked up two state titles for
Grand Haven High School and aver-
aged 13.9 points, 9.6 rebounds and
7.9 blocks per game as a senior. She
will play center alongside 6-foot-5
sophomore center Hallie Thome,
giving the Wolverines more of a
punch down low.
This summer, Cole has played
for the U.S. Collegiate National
Volleyball Team in China. She
was just named tournament MVP
while averaging 11.25 kills per
match. She is dominating in vol-
leyball at the moment, but will be
brushing up on
her basketball
skills once vol-
leyball season
ends. With her
being one of
Michigan’s best
high
school
basketball play-
ers just three
years ago, she’ll
be a helpful addition to the wom-
en’s basketball team that reached
the WNIT semifinal in each of the
last two seasons.
“(Rosen) was very
supportive of my
desire to play
basketball again.”
“Her length is
incredible and she
moves well.”
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Senior Abby Cole will play center for the women’s basketball team in addition to her role on the volleyball team.
JAMES COLLER/Daily
The Wolverines will be heading to New York for the fifth straight season.
Non-conference
schedule released
By ETHAN WOLFE
Summer Managing Sports Editor
Wednesday, the Michigan bas-
ketball team’s 14-game non-con-
ference schedule was released, and
like last season, it features lackluster
competition.
This season’s exhibition game
against Armstrong State on Nov.
4 will include another matchup
that holds ties to head coach John
Beilein. In last season’s exhibition,
the Wolverines hosted Le Moyne,
where Beilein used to coach and
where his son Patrick currently
reigns as the head coach. Against
Armstrong State, former Michi-
gan basketball star Cazzie Russell
returns to Ann Arbor as the current
assistant coach for the Pirates,
The Wolverines’ regular season
non-conference slate, though fac-
ing marginally stronger opponents
according to the ratings percentage
index, will see another weak home
schedule: Texas (Dec. 6) and Virgin-
ia Tech (Nov. 30) are the lone teams
in the RPI’s top 100 that Michigan
will host, with the matchup against
the Hokies being apart of the ACC/
Big Ten Challenge.
The Wolverines’ opening games
against Howard (Nov. 11) and IUPUI
(Nov. 13) in Ann Arbor will take place
as a part of the 2K Classic. Follow-
ing those two games, Michigan will
fly out to New York City to Madison
Square Garden for the 2K Classic
Championship Round. There, the
Wolverines will square up against
Marquette (Nov. 17) and either Pitts-
burgh or SMU (Nov. 18) in the cham-
pionship or consolation game.
Perhaps some of Michigan’s most
competitive non-conference games
will occur on the road against South
Carolina (Nov. 23) and UCLA (Dec.
10). Both teams missed last year’s
NCAA Tournament, but the Game-
cocks are currently ranked No. 72 in
the RPI.
The rest of the non-conference
games include home matchups
versus Mount St. Mary’s (Nov. 26),
Kennesaw State (Dec. 3), Central
Arkansas (Dec. 13), Maryland East-
ern Shore (Dec. 17) and Furman
(Dec. 22).
Though the home games seem
unexciting, Beilein is excited about
many of the games the Wolverines
managed to land.
“We were successful in schedul-
ing some very competitive home-
and-home games for 2016,” Beilein
said in a statement. “These games
not only guarantee a strong RPI
but provide our fans some excit-
ing non-conference games in Ann
Arbor. These types of opponents
have always proved to be excellent
preparation for our tough Big Ten
schedule.”
Barring any upsets in their non-
conference schedule, Michigan will
likely have to repeat what it did last
season against Big Ten opponents
to secure another spot in the NCAA
Tournament.