8A — Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wolverines set to wave goodbye to senior class
On Sunday, the Michigan
women’s basketball team will
take on Wisconsin in its final
game of the regular season, and
Ann Arbor will say goodbye to
one of the best senior classes in
program history.
While the four seniors have
taken different paths to reach
the climax of their respective
collegiate careers, they will all
be celebrated together. There’s
graduate student guard Taylor
Rooks, who in her one season
at Michigan has become just as
much a part of the team as anyone
else. There’s senior forward
Samantha Trammel, who coach
Kim Barnes Arico views as one
of the program’s leaders. And
then there are the team captains,
senior guard Nicole Munger and
center Hallie Thome.
Munger — who is just 31
points away from 1,000 career
points — has started every game
the last two seasons and has
become the heart and soul of the
Wolverines. Thome — 43 points
shy of becoming the second
most prolific scorer in program
history — has started every game
since she stepped on campus
four years ago and has grown
into the vocal leader of the team.
The two, who are roommates
and co-captains, have developed
a close relationship during their
time at Michigan.
“We see new things with each
other and learn new things about
each other, which is really special
because some people plateau,”
Munger said. “But we just really
play off of each other, both in the
locker room and on the court.
She might be more vocal but
I may be (more) reserved but
lead by example. We just really
complement each other both on
the court and off the court.”
When Munger and Thome
walk off the Crisler Center floor
for the final time, the Wolverines
will
lose
two
of
the
players
who
helped
establish
the
team’s
attitude
and identity this
year.
Even
after
starting 3-6 in the
Big Ten season,
and after Munger
and Thome’s final
season
looked
like it might be headed toward
disappointment,
the
captains
and the rest of the Wolverines
never doubted their ability to
recover.
Since then, Michigan has
won seven of eight games and
currently sits in fourth place in
the Big Ten standings, largely
on the backs of its two senior
captains.
“I think they complement each
other extremely, extremely well,”
Barnes Arico said. “They’re very
different, but they both want the
same things and they have the
same goals and they have the
same dreams and aspirations.
But they both go about it in a
very different approach. And I
think when you have leaders you
need that.
“You don’t need people that
are all the same. You need to
be able to attack the group in
different ways and I think that
both Nicole and Hallie have
that balance with each other as
roommates and as teammates.”
But as Barnes Arico reminisces
with Munger and Thome about
their careers, the trio has not
allowed
themselves
to
get
distracted from the fact that they
have a basketball game to play —
and an important one at that.
Senior Day comes with the
Wolverines in a fight for an
NCAA Tournament berth and
when every win matters. And
even though Munger knows
her career is dwindling, she’s
not
willing
to
get
caught
up
in all the talk,
and
wants
to,
as usual, leave
everything
she
has on the court.
“I think people
are realizing that
kind of the end
is near in a way,
so
just
giving
it all we have,”
Munger said. “No one’s feeling
a hundred percent at this point
in the season on our team, or on
any team in America, so it’s just
a grind. It’s February, March and
you just gotta have fun with it.”
Still, though, Senior Day is
bound to be an emotional time.
To
send
off
players — who
are
sometimes
even considered
family
—
that
have
played
with the same
program
and
been
with
the
same people for
four years is a
tough ask.
And
even
though
Barnes
Arico has seen her fair share
of seniors graduate and players
come and go, that doesn’t make
the end of an era any easier.
“It’s
hard
and
sometimes
I forget because it’s kind of
what we do. And my children
actually remind
me because my
own
children
are
usually
crying snots and
tears
because
they
have
to
say goodbye to
them,”
Barnes
Arico said of past
senior
classes.
“They have been
such a large part,
our senior class
has been such a large part of
my life, my children’s life, our
Michigan life for four years. And
to not see them every day leaves
a little bit of a hole.”
Now, as the season comes to
an end, it’s time for the next step
in the lives of each of Michigan’s
four graduating players.
Where they may go and what
they may do is yet to be seen. But,
no matter what, Barnes Arico
knows they are all prepared to
move on.
“As I tell their parents when
we recruit them here, they’re at
a point in their lives where it’s
time for them to fly and time for
them to spread their wings and
go off,” Barnes Arico said. “And
as parents, you trust us as their
coaches when you send them to
Michigan and now it’s time for
us to trust that they are ready
as grown children to go and
conquer the world.”
Captains Munger and Thome among the seniors to be honored during Senior Day on Sunday at Crisler Center
BENNETT BRAMSON
Daily Sports Writer
KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
Senior guard Nicole Munger will be one of four seniors honored at the Senior Day ceremonies on Sunday, capping off an illustrious career at Michigan.
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Can Jordan Poole find consistency?
Jordan Poole’s eyes locked
on the loose ball headed out of
bounds. He grabbed it in the nick
of time, took one dribble and
pulled the trigger.
Bang.
A possession later, with 33
seconds remaining, Poole cruised
around a screen, looking up to
see the hoop 26 feet away and
Xavier Tillman much closer. The
Michigan State forward threw
out his arm, but Poole had already
made up his mind. He let fly.
Bang.
This is what Michigan and its
fans expect from Jordan Poole —
a clutch, cold-blooded killer with
no conscience and no limit to his
range.
But the Wolverines lost to the
Spartans, 77-70, on Sunday, and
Poole’s desperation 3-pointers
were merely shots in the dark,
aimed at a target that had long
since escaped. And Poole was a
main reason that the target got
away in the first place.
Michigan couldn’t adapt to
Michigan
State’s
unexpected,
screen-switching
defense
and
was plagued by questionable shot
selection. When it did get good
looks down the stretch, it missed
them. Those problems affected
everyone, but they didn’t obscure
one of Poole’s worst performances
— before the final minute, he
had just nine points on 3-for-
10 shooting with two assists, a
rebound and four fouls.
Poole
has
never
been
a
defensive keystone, but the lapses
he suffered against the Spartans
were uncharacteristic even for
him. He struggled against Matt
McQuaid on the perimeter, often
leaping far past him with overly
aggressive closeouts and giving
one of the Big Ten’s best shooters
wide-open looks.
Three
minutes
after
the
Wolverines took their largest
lead of the game at 51-45, Poole
flew recklessly into McQuaid as
he was shooting and sent him to
the line. Poole was benched and
McQuaid knocked down all three
free throws. Just over a minute
later, the Spartans took the lead
for good.
Michigan coach John Beilein
has
bemoaned
his
team’s
tendency to spot up for 3-pointers
far outside the arc instead of
stepping into a more makeable
distance. Poole is one of the most
frequent offenders — while his
range is usually an advantage, it
also can turn into a crutch, as he
will often force long shots when
all else fails.
But no matter how good
the look, Poole simply couldn’t
find his stroke — before his late
outburst, he missed all six of his
treys.
“I would love to figure out why
Jordan Poole can have the same
shots and they don’t go in,” Beilein
said on Feb. 21. “ … We just gotta
continue to try to get good shots
and obviously the better the shot,
the more chance it’s gonna go in.”
While Michigan State’s screen-
switching, intended to create
one-on-one scenarios, deserves
its share of credit, one-on-one
situations are not impossible
to solve. As evidenced by Poole
falling back on long 3-pointers,
the Wolverines didn’t have the
answer on Sunday.
“Our shot selection is better
than what it was earlier in the
year, but we gotta take good shots
all the time,” Beilein said Sunday.
“… We have certain habits that
are not good for some one-on-one
situations.”
A player can be effective
without
being
consistent,
consistent without being effective,
both or neither. Poole tends to
alternate between the first and
the latter. This is borne out by,
among other things, his 3-point
percentages: 40.6 in November,
58.3 in December, 26.2 in January
and 32.0 so far this month.
It’s also on display from a game-
to-game basis. At Minnesota on
Thursday, Poole nailed five threes
and scored 22 points, his most
of any Big Ten game, appearing
to shake out of the doldrums of
conference play.
“We know how good we are
of a shooting team,” he said then.
“Eventually they’re gonna fall like
they did in the second half. We’re
not really too worried, we go out
there and just keep hooping.”
And therein lies the dilemma
faced by Michigan. Poole has all
the tools to be a go-to scorer for
one of the nation’s elite teams. The
Wolverines don’t have another
player willing to take — and often
hit — the same shots Poole puts
up. On the flip side, though, his
playing style and role as a tough-
shot maker inherently limit his
consistency.
When those shots are finding
the net, it’s an easy trade-off for
Michigan. When they’re not,
games like Sundays are often the
result.
But
what’s
the
difference
between the Jordan Poole who
torched Williams Arena and
the Jordan Poole who has shot
just 32 percent from downtown
in conference play? The Jordan
Poole of the first 39 minutes
Sunday vs. the Jordan Poole of the
final minute?
Right now, the Wolverines
don’t know.
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Editor
I think people
are realizing
that kind of the
end is near...
Our senior class
has been such a
large part of
my life.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Jordan Poole is shooting 32 percent from 3-point range in February.