It’s time to go dancing
J
illian Dunston leaves no
doubt.
It’s Media Day at Crisler
Center and the senior forward
is taking questions. The one at
hand: Tournament or bust?
“Exactly.”
Dunston has yet to play in
the NCAA Tournament. Ditto
for guard
Katelynn
Flaherty, the
most talented
scorer ever
to put on a
Wolverine
uniform. And
if neither of
Michigan’s
two seniors
have gotten
there, it’s not
hard to figure out that none of
the other nine members of the
women’s basketball team have
either.
The Wolverines haven’t
danced since the 2012-13 season,
Kim Barnes Arico’s first as head
coach. But this is their best
chance to do so since then.
Of course, so was last season.
Michigan went 22-9 in the
regular season with an 11-5
mark in the Big Ten. It spent
time in the AP Top 25, staying
in the polls until late in the
year. Even after losing three of
their last four regular season
games and getting bounced
in the first round of the Big
Ten Tournament by Michigan
State, the Wolverines thought
they had earned a bid to March
Madness.
They didn’t.
Heartbreak came on March
13, when ESPN’s selection
show came and went without
Michigan’s name getting
called. Instead of the NCAA
Tournament, the Wolverines
went to the Women’s National
Invitation Tournament for the
third consecutive year.
Michigan went on to win the
WNIT. They’ll raise the banner
before Friday’s opener against
George Mason, the first banner
any women’s basketball team
will put up at Crisler Center. But
let’s be clear; that isn’t enough.
The bar for success this year
is simple: get to the tournament.
There’s no doubt this team
has enough talent to do it.
Flaherty is back and set to
become the program’s all-time
leading scorer. She averaged
18.9 points per game last year
on 38.1 percent shooting from
beyond the arc, then went home
this summer and learned how
to run point. That’s where she’ll
start this year, and even with
the potential for growing pains,
it’s hard to believe Flaherty
won’t earn a nod to the All-Big
Ten first team for the third
straight year.
“The game has slowed down
for her,” Barnes Arico said on
Oct 27. “And a lot of times as
freshmen, you know, it’s so fast.
And sophomores it becomes a
little bit slower, juniors it starts
to click. She’s a senior for us
now and everything is clicking
for her.”
Along with Flaherty, junior
center Hallie Thome – named to
the preseason All-Big Ten team
in both the coaches and media
polls – will provide the bulk of
the scoring. Junior shooting
guard Nicole Munger is a threat
from outside as well, shooting
42 percent from three last
season.
But the Wolverines are more
than three players. If Dunston
was a football player, she’d win
the Gruden Grinder award every
week and sophomore Kayla
Robbins looks like her natural
successor. (Ironically enough,
Robbins’ father, Kevin, played in
the NFL for three seasons).
Freshmen Hailey Brown
and Deja Church look ready to
contribute in big ways as well.
Brown went for 10 points and
seven boards in the Wolverines’
exhibition game against Grand
Valley State. As for Church, we
saw what Barnes Arico meant
when she said the freshman
could be one of the best
defenders in the league: a flying
transition block, two steals, and
strong defense throughout.
The only issue from the
exhibition was depth. Michigan
went with a seven-woman
rotation and that strain could
eventually take a toll, even if
the Wolverines manage to stay
healthy.
There’s also the potential
struggle of replacing point
guard Siera Thompson.
Flaherty looked good against
Grand Valley State, but that
was a Division II school in an
exhibition game – not the best
parallel to Big Ten competition.
Chances are she will struggle
eventually. Flaherty herself
more or less acknowledged this
on Media Day.
“(At point guard), you don’t
have to be good skill-wise, you
have to know the game well,”
she said. “You have to know
where to put your players and
know what plays to run. I think
that’s something that’s harder
for me: trying to think on the
fly.”
Church and Brown won’t
instantly be All-Americans
either. They’re freshmen, after
all, and it takes time to learn
the college game, let alone build
chemistry with a new team.
The team’s trip to Italy over
the summer was useful in that
area, particularly for Church,
who pointed to it as a moment
where her confidence grew. But
continuity doesn’t just happen
– it takes time to build and not
an insignificant amount of time
at that.
This team isn’t perfect. It
likely won’t win the Big Ten
and expecting any team in the
country other than UConn to
win a national title is a fool’s
errand. But the Wolverines
don’t have to do either of those
things. They just have to make
the tournament – and that they
can do.
The talent is there. So is the
motivation.
When the WNIT banner is
raised on Monday, Michigan
will remember its triple-
overtime triumph over Georgia
Tech in the tournament’s
final. It should also remember
selection night: the broken
hearts and the cold reality
that – at least in the eyes of
the committee – it wasn’t good
enough.
This year is about one thing
for the Wolverines: making sure
that scene doesn’t repeat itself.
It’s tournament or bust. Simple
as that.
Sears can be reached at
searseth@umich.edu or on
Twitter @ethan_sears.
ETHAN
SEARS
Tuesday, November 7, 2017 // TIP OFF 2017
3B
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Senior guard Katelynn Flaherty has yet to play in the NCAA Tournament, but could very well help lead Michigan to its first NCAA Tournament since 2012-13.