2B — January 27, 2020 SportsMonday The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com M aybe some who pulled up to the Lincoln High School parking lot that night knew what they were getting into, but I sure did not. I was there — like most — to see Emoni Bates. Bates is the top prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, accord- ing to, well, everyone. Most recruit- ing analysts, including ESPN’s Paul Biancardi, tab Bates as the best prep player in the nation, regardless of class. As a freshman, Bates averaged over 28 points and 10 rebounds and led Lincoln to the State Title. His face subse- quently plastered Sports Illus- trated with the headline “Magic, Michael, LeBron, … Emoni?” He was 15 at the time. In August, an ESPN article compiling the opinions of over a dozen prep basketball experts ranked Bates, now 15, tied for the third best prospect since LeBron — behind Kevin Durant and Greg Oden, and tied with Derrick Rose. The article quotes an anony- mous scout: “He has a chance to be ahead of LeBron (James). I’ve never seen a better freshman.” I had not parked myself on those rigid bleachers with any intention to be an arbiter of his legitimacy. That ship has long sailed. I just wanted to see it. And yet, perhaps cynically, my default expectation was disappointment. In this Hoop Mixtape-ified era, when every highlight video is edited and flawlessly quaffed to only dis- play the good, hype can be a dangerous drug. There’s a rea- son LeBron remains the only player of this ilk to truly live up to the hype; it’s really hard. Then, as anyone with any mild interest in the sport must do, I watched him play basket- ball. I watched him rise from 25-plus feet; I watched him drive the lane, knifing through four flailing help defenders; I watched him slam alley-oops and toss no-look passes; I watched him handle the ball with dizzying speed and yoyo- like control. And let me tell you: There’s not an ounce of hyper- bole in these anonymous quotes and over-filtered Overtime videos. His shot is aesthetically the closest thing anyone’s ever come to recreating that of Durant. In warmups, he widens his stride, loads his lanky arms and shoots with a silky smooth release. Few even bother to touch rim. Bates — at 6-foot- 9 — can get that same shot with the same motion off over anyone. But then the game starts, and the true wonders of his game begin to come to life. Off the tip, Bates grabs the ball, sprints down the court with haste, shakes his defender with a few crossovers and takes a long 3-pointer. It clanks rim. Instead of sulking or relaxing on defense, he keeps that mania- cal energy all game. There are no questions about his “motor” or concerns that he “drifts” or other euphemisms to express disinterest. He is here. And he wants to snatch your soul. He first hits one 3-pointer. Then another. Then he rises for an alley-oop dunk and unleash- es a scream upon landing. Every trip down the court is a mini- event. Will he dribble straight into a pull-up? Will he try to make his defender fall? Will he put his head down and get to the rim? Then, as he dances around the arc, controlling his defend- er’s ankles like a puppeteer, Bates steps back and drains another three. I can’t help but stand up. It was like a church- goer compelled from his seat, not by free will, but by the spiritual force of some divine entity. He had 19 points after the first quarter. Nobody seemed surprised. Everyone (opposing players and fans aside) was rol- licking in joy. It was purely human, instinc- tive shock. A 16-year-old simply should not be that good at bas- ketball. He goes on to score 40 points of his team’s 67. You get the feeling he could’ve scored all 67 if he wanted. Rumors, as they do, are flying about Bates’ future. Some have entertained the possibility that he reclassifies to the 2021 class to presumably play at Michigan State for a year. The thinking, simply, is that it’s unimaginable this kid will want to play four years of high school basketball. It’s easy to see why. It’s also an open secret that when they negotiate a new Col- lective Bargaining Agreement, the NBA will end the “one-and- done” rule, perhaps in time for Bates to turn professional right away. The future may be uncertain. But the present is undeniable. If you, like me, are late to the party: The next great basketball player just happens to live in Ypsilanti. Go see him play. Marcovitch can be reached at maxmarco@umich.edu or on Twitter @Max_Marcovitch. The Emoni experience MEN’S BASKETBALL Three good things: Honoring Chip Three good things. It’s the motto Chip Hills used while he was living through pancreatic cancer. It’s the motto he wrote so much about in his letter to the Michigan women’s gymnastics team. It’s the motto the team has come to live by. Chip Hills was the dad of former Michigan gymnast Cailee Hills. In 2015, the Wolverines began the Flip for Chip meet. A way to honor Chip and his love for Michigan gymnastics, but also to remind people that sometimes it’s about more than just gymnastics. “I think it’s just awesome to come out here and just know that our gymnastics can reach so many different people,” freshman Sierra Brooks said. “And there’s always bigger things going on in people’s lives than what it seems like.” Three good things was Chip’s motto not only through his cancer treatment, but also throughout life. It was customary for the Hillsfamily to sit down at dinner and each say three good things that happened in their day. And the motto extended far beyond the Hill’s family dinner table. “Honestly, it’s just something that we say in the gym all the time, and it can apply to so many different circumstances,” Brooks said. “It just tells us to put our struggles in perspective and get through the hard things even when it doesn’t seem like it. “ While there were mutliple positives resulting from the Wolverines’ Friday night meet against Rutgers, 197.300 to 192.950, the Daily breaks down three that stood out. Sophomore Natalie Wojcik’s beam routine The crowd in Crisler Center erupted as Natalie Wojcik flipped off the beam, sticking the landing of her dismount. She posted a score of 9.950, the highest of the night. Wojcik was the NCAA Champion on beam last year, and despite a bit of a slower start this year, she broke through the wall on Friday. “She really came out tonight and showed what she’s capable of doing,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. “Hopefully, this will give her more confidence to continue to perform at this level.” Freshman Sierra Brooks’ all- around performance Despite her young age, Brooks has continued to dominate each event, at every meet. Last week, she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week. On Friday night, she continued to put that stellar reputation to the test. She competed all-around — which is a feat in itself for a freshman. Staying consistent through all four events, she posted scores all above 9.800, with a 9.900 on beam. “Overall I’m pretty happy with my performance,” Brooks said. “It just comes down to fixing the small things, working on things for the future, but cohesively I’m just pretty happy with how I did.” Team competition As the Wolverines continue the high-level competition they’re known for, it could be hard to improve, but Michigan showed it was possible on Friday night by increasing their team score by six-tenths of a point from their recent meet against Illinois. Such improvement is due to their focus to detail. “I think this meet went really well,” said Wojcik. “We’ve been working on improving things week to week and I think we’re starting to really get there.” On Thursday, the day before the meet, the Wolverines’ entire focus was on detail. In a floor drill they call shoot-out, the focus was on making eye contact with the audience during a floor routine. For Michigan its about more than the skills, its about the performance, the show and the crowd. This fine attention to detail continues to add to the Wolverines’ point total. And part of focusing on the audience means remembering people like Chip. In an opening video, the Wolverines highlighted the importance of Friday’s meet. “This time we compete to honor someone. ... This time we flip for Chip.” The expectations for the Wolverines entering Sunday’s game against Rutgers weren’t all that high. The Michigan women’s basketball team (13-6 overall, 4-4 Big Ten) had lost three of its last four contests, and Sunday was its first full game without senior forward Kayla Robbins, who tore her ACL a week prior. Even more, it was going up against a Rutgers team (15-4, 5-3) that sat just outside the top 25. Yet the Wolverines seemed unfazed — even without Robbins. They hit tough shots. They forced turnovers. And they dealt the Scarlet Knights their fourth loss, burying them, 71-57. “We know and understand that nobody is gonna be Kayla Robbins. Nobody in the country can be Kayla Robbins,” sophomore forward Naz Hillmon said. “We’re not gonna try to be. But somebody needs to take on the little things she did. One person can get a couple more rebounds, get a couple more points, get a couple more steals.” From the start, the Wolverines’ offense did just that, captained by senior guard Akienreh Johnson. She notched seven points and two rebounds in the first quarter alone, leading Michigan to a 20-13 lead entering the second quarter. Johnson finished the first half with 15 points and three rebounds. On the other end, Rutgers’ offense was a disaster. A backcourt violation just three seconds after the opening tip set the tone for the Scarlet Knights, who turned the ball over an astounding 15 times in the first half alone. On top of Rutgers’ sloppy play, a good chunk of its turnovers came thanks to a new-look 2-3 zone from the Wolverines defense. Featuring a three-big lineup — with Hillmon, junior forward Hailey Brown and freshman center Izabel Varejão all down low — the zone caught the Scarlet Knights by surprise and forced them into errors. “We wanted to get the ball out of their ball handlers’ hands, something that a lot of teams do to us,” Hillmon said. “We wanted to make them as uncomfortable as possible and make other people make decisions. Their two ball handlers create a lot for themselves as well as others. We were really just trying to make somebody else take the shots and handle the ball the way that teams try to pressure us into doing.” Visibly frustrated, Rutgers’ defense committed a large number of fouls and opened the door for more Wolverines to step up. Sophomore guard Amy Dilk did just that, sinking all five of her first-half free throws. She remained consistent on offense throughout the game, dishing the ball to her teammates for a respectable five assists. As the game wore on, the Scarlet Knights buried their own comeback hopes with repeated errors. Though they cleaned up the turnovers — they committed just two in the second half — they couldn’t make any of the shots needed to make a comeback, shooting a poor 36.1 percent in the second half. They were even worse on free throws, going an abysmal 5-for-13 from the line in the second half. Meanwhile, Michigan’s offense continued to roll. Spurred by her electric first half, Johnson added another nine points on a perfect 4-of- 4 shooting in the second half. She finished with 11 rebounds and a career-high 24 points — the first double-double of her career. Hillmon also notched a double-double, finishing with 20 points and 12 rebounds. “I think (Johnson) played her heart out,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “I thought she had energy to the ball, I thought she had a motor to the ball, she was everywhere. I didn’t realize how much she scored offensively but I knew she rebounded the heck out of the ball. She’s kind of letting the game come to her, she’s not pressing, and she’s really playing with a lot of confidence right now.” The Wolverines entered this game with a lot of question marks. They had already been struggling against quality teams before Robbins’ injury. The season isn’t over, and questions still remain. But Michigan showed on Sunday that, despite its recent struggles, it can still compete with the Big Ten’s best teams — even without Kayla Robbins. When senior forward Kayla Robbins went down with a season- ending ACL injury last week, it was clear who the Michigan women’s basketball team needed to step up — Akienreh Johnson. The senior guard came into the season expected to be what Robbins was — the scoring compliment to sophomore forward Naz Hillmon, the player that opened up the inside for Hillmon and, when Hillmon had an off night, the leader that carried the Wolverines to a victory. In Sunday’s 71-57 victory over Rutgers, Johnson was all of those things for Michigan and more. She scored a career-high 24 points with 11 rebounds, her first ever double-double. No matter what the Scarlet Knights tried, she breezed through their defense. “You don’t have to run a play for her, but she’s going to go get the offensive rebound or she’s going to make the right read, the right cut, the right slash to get the ball,” Hillmon said. “Like (Johnson) said, the ball finds energy, and I think (Johnson) does a really good job of that and I think coach (Kim Barnes Arico) knows that. That’s why she puts her on the opposite side, so she can slash, she can cut.” Even after a couple of missed layups under the rim to start the game, Johnson nailed the team’s first field goal after slipping through the defense and catching an inbound pass, immediately going up for the shot. It was the start of a big night for Johnson, giving her the confidence and energy to continue to make those slashes and cuts Robbins normally would. “I just get the ball and like I said with my steals, defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds and once I get those, I start feeling my shots,” Johnson said. “We didn’t really change anything for me, but I think my teammates started to look for me more that I started scoring more.” Atop the 3-point arc late in the first quarter, Johnson stared down a defense that left her alone. She made a motion towards the basket as if to shoot, and, when the defense didn’t move, she accepted their dare. “In practice, I’ve been working a lot on my outside threat and slashing in the midpoint and working on my threes,” Johnson said. “So when I caught the ball, nobody came to me, and I gave them a second, nobody came to me again. I was like well, any basketball player in the world will shoot this shot, and if I miss it (Hillmon) and (junior forward Hailey Brown) are down there to get the rebounds, so I just shot it and it went in.” That 3-pointer set the stage for a very different look in the third quarter, when Rutgers’ defense was suffocating, and it seemed like maybe, just maybe, the game wasn’t over. Barely getting the ball out of the corner, three quick passes traveled the entire front court in a fraction of a second, where Johnson waited. The result, a quick 3-pointer, showed the Scarlet Knights the game was, in fact, over. And, in the first quarter, Johnson turned the tables in a completely different way. The game was still tight and neither team had hit its stride offensively, and Johnson sparked a huge momentum boost for the Wolverines. After junior forward Hailey Brown hit a three to take their first lead of the game, Rutgers came down looking for an answer. Johnson, though, had other ideas. Intercepting a pass and running down the court on a fast break, side-by-side with sophomore guard Amy Dilk, Johnson fed Dilk in behind the defense, who fought through contact for the layup and an and-one. Déjà vu struck Rutgers ten minutes later when Johnson did the exact same thing — only this time, she took the layup and the and-one herself. Her defense fed her offense, again. “I think a couple years ago, when she first came back (from injury), she was able to defend, and then she came back and she was moving without the ball so exceptionally well,” Barnes Arico said. “Then she was rebounding. Then she was scoring. “Now as a senior, I think she has put all of those things together, and has been really healthy and playing with a lot of confidence, and her mental part of the game has been at the highest level it’s ever been.” The Scarlet W Michigan blows by Rutgers, 71-57, in first game since Kayla Robbins’ ACL tear BRENDAN ROOSE Daily Sports Writer ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily The Michigan women’s gymnastics team honored Chip Hills during its meet on Friday night against Rutgers. ABBIE TELGENHOF Daily Sports Writer KENT SCHWARTZ Daily Sports Writer EMMA MATI/Daily Senior guard Akienreh Johnson scored a career-high 24 points on Sunday as Michigan picked up a win over Rutgers. I think (Johnson) played her heart out. MAX MARCOVITCH He has a chance to be ahead of LeBron.