The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, November 4, 2020 — 17
With his waiver approved, Chaundee Brown is finally ready to win
Chaundee Brown leaned back
in his chair and smiled.
Since
transferring
to
Michigan from Wake Forest in
May, Brown has been grounded
in a perpetual state of limbo.
The status of his waiver — which
would determine his eligibility
for the upcoming season —
loomed over his head.
On
Friday,
Brown’s
wait
ended. He secured the coveted
waiver
and,
along
with
it,
immediate eligibility.
As Brown spoke to reporters
on
a
Zoom
call
Monday
afternoon, his words carried a
certain ease to them, pointing to
the weight that had been lifted
off his shoulders.
“It was a great feeling,”
Brown said. “I’ve been waiting
for it for a long time. Just been
frustrated cause I’d like to know
for a while, cause I didn’t know
what position I was in, if I was
gonna play this year.”
As he embarks on his senior
season, and his first in Ann
Arbor, Brown is an accomplished
college player. He is both battle-
tested, having been a three-
year starter in the notoriously
difficult ACC, and dependable
— he contributed 12.1 points per
game last year, the third-highest
mark on the team. He has five
career double-doubles and 13
20-point outings to his name.
Yet on Brown’s resume, one
item
proves
conspicuously
absent: team success.
During Brown’s Wake Forest
tenure, the Demon Deacons
posted a record of 35-58. They
never finished higher than 11th
in the conference and the NCAA
Tournament was all but a pipe
dream.
When Brown committed to
Wake Forest in the fall of 2016,
he envisioned his career arc
unfolding differently. The No.
38 player in the country, Brown
was the school’s highest-ranked
commit since 2008. He turned
down
the
likes
of
Kansas,
Florida and Uconn to transform
Wake Forest into a perennial
contender and restore winning
ways not seen since the days of
Chris Paul. He believed in Danny
Manning’s burgeoning program,
which would go on to reach the
NCAA Tournament for the first
time since 2010 in the 2016-17
season.
“He wanted to win,” former
Wake Forest assistant coach
Steve Woodberry said of Brown.
“He wanted to come in and do
something different and make
his mark on the program.”
Brown did all he could to turn
Wake Forest’s fortunes around,
making himself amenable to any
role that would help the team.
Though a natural wing player,
he frequently played power
forward, chiseling his 6-foot-5
frame and giving three inches to
battle inside. He diversified his
offensive game to shoulder the
scoring load, offering an array
of post-ups and three-pointers.
On defense, he switched one
through five.
“We kinda moved him all
over,” Woodberry said.
“He had a willingness to
do that, never batted an eye
about it,” former Wake Forest
associate
head
coach
Rex
Walters said. “It was, ‘What do
I need to do to give us the best
chance to have success?’ A lot of
very talented players out there,
they’re really not about winning.
They’re about them. They’re
about, ‘How do I play more, how
do I get more shots?’ Chaundee,
he wants to win.”
Along the way, not once did
Brown complain. Woodberry
remembers often seeing Brown
alone in the weight room, both
before his teammates arrived
and after they left.
“He never cheated himself,”
Woodberry said. “He came in
and worked his butt off every
day to get better as a player
and to help the team get better.
That’s just who he is. He wants
to be great.”
Despite Brown’s best efforts,
Wake Forest endured a trio of
fruitless seasons. So in April,
with one year of eligibility
remaining, Brown pondered his
future. He initially announced
his intention to declare for
the NBA Draft, but his name
was absent from most mock
drafts and, without an NCAA
Tournament
appearance,
his
collegiate career felt incomplete.
Transferring was the next best
option.
On May 19, Brown committed
to
Michigan
over
Gonzaga,
LSU, Illinois and Iowa State.
Michigan’s winning pedigree
stood out. He was also swayed in
part by former Wolverine Colin
Castleton, a fellow Florida native
and childhood friend of Brown’s.
Castleton, though transferring
himself in April, had “nothing
bad to say about Michigan.”
At long last ruled eligible,
there is a sense of finality
to Brown’s upcoming senior
season.
“This is his last shot as a
college athlete,” Walters said.
“With Chaundee, there’s no real
agenda. There were never any
agendas at Wake Forest except
to help us win a ballgame, by
any means necessary. … He
wants to win badly. He’s willing
to sacrifice his body, the effort,
the energy, the enthusiasm. He’s
willing to give all of that. He just
wants to win.”
Michigan’s roster is more
complete than Wake Forest’s
ever was during Brown’s tenure.
There are formidable pieces at
every position. Brown won’t
have to be the player he was at
Wake Forest, forced out of his
comfort zone or tasked as the
lead scorer. He can revert to
square one.
“I can see myself helping this
team this year by playing my
game,” Brown, who has seen
time at the ‘2’ and the ‘3’ in
practice, said. “Coach (Juwan)
Howard recruited me because
he liked my game, so there’s no
need to change it. Just got to be
the player I am.”
At the end of Friday’s practice,
Howard huddled the team at the
end of the court, underneath
the basket. He informed them
that Brown’s waiver had been
approved, prompting a raucous
celebration
—
Brown
was
engulfed in a mosh pit by his
teammates who pierced the air
with euphoric screams.
“It’s really a family here,”
Brown said. “Everyone in the
locker room gets along, we’re
laughing and giggling and stuff
like that. I’ve never had a team
like this that’s so close and
everything.”
Brown has also never been
on a team so well-equipped
to
compete.
After
suffering
through three losing seasons at
Wake Forest and a five month
wait for eligibility, he can hone
in on all that matters to him:
winning.
“My big goal is to win a
Big Ten championship (and)
national championship,” Brown
said. “That’s everyone’s goal. But
individual goals, I really put that
to the side. I do anything to help
the team out right now.”
Barnes Arico talks improvements
The
Michigan
women’s
basketball
team
does
not
have an official schedule. The
team doesn’t know what their
season will look like. But they
don’t care — they have ninth-
year coach Kim Barnes Arico
to lead them through the
uncertainty.
Ignoring outside noise about
what the season will look like,
Barnes Arico says that the
team is working on improving
in categories where it fell short
last year. The Wolverines shot
32.8% from behind the arc last
season but only averaged 4.8
3-point attempts per game.
“I think we’ve worked a
ton in the offseason on our
outside shooting. You know,
we weren’t a team that made a
ton of threes last year. I think
that’s an area where we’re
going to improve this season,”
Barnes Arico said. “I think
we’re going to shoot more of
them and I think we’re going
to make more of them.”
In an abnormal season, it
helps that the Wolverines have
a lot of experience returning
to the court. Junior forward
Naz Hillmon, junior guard
Amy Dilk, fifth-year guard
Akienreh Johnson, and senior
forward Hailey Brown were
starters last year and will be
playing for Michigan in the
upcoming season.
The Wolverines also add
junior guard Leigha Brown,
who received a waiver for
immediate
eligibility
on
Sunday, to their roster after
she transferred from Nebraska
this offseason. Brown led the
Huskers in scoring last season,
averaging 14.4 points per game
while shooting 34.1% from
behind the arc and 43.6% on
total field goals. With such
a formidable stat-line, she
should be able help Michigan
improve its scoring abilities
and could make an immediate
impact.
On a bench with as much
experience as the Wolverines,
Barnes
Arico
said
new
freshmen may take on more of
a learning role, but she didn’t
deny the talented young group
of freshmen their credit.
“I
think
that
makes
it
even
more
difficult,
being
a freshman coming in and
trying to make an immediate
impact when you have a ton of
experience (already),” Barnes
Arico said. “ … I don’t know
if any of them will come in
and play 30 minutes a game,
kind of like Naz was able to
do her freshman year, but I
think all four of them have an
opportunity to be great players
in a Michigan uniform.”
With solid experience and
leadership at the top of the
roster and a strong group of
underclassmen who are eager
to learn, the Wolverines seem
positioned to compete for a Big
Ten championship.
But first, they have to make
it through the uncertainty of
the preseason.
“The new word of the year
is fluid. (The upcoming season
is) fluid, it’s ever changing,”
Barnes Arico said. “You need
to be adaptable and you also
need to be willing to change
and
to
make
adjustments.
We might not have wanted
this to happen. … Now, how
are we going to spin that into
a positive and how are we
going to make the best of that
situation.”
Pearson may not let Power go to
Canada Junior Selection Camp
Owen Power’s first game in
a Michigan jersey may have to
wait a little longer.
On Oct. 29, the freshman
defenseman was announced as
one of the 46 players invited
to Canada’s National Junior
Team Selection Camp. The
camp will run from Nov. 16
through Dec. 13 in Red Deer,
Alberta. If Power attends, the
first month of his season —
which begins the weekend of
Nov. 13 — will effectively be
wiped out.
But there’s no guarantee
that
Michigan
coach
Mel
Pearson will allow Power to
attend.
In a normal year, Power
would miss very little, if any,
of the Wolverines’ season. The
camp normally begins in the
middle of December and only
lasts two weeks, during which
no college games are played.
But
because
Canadian
junior
leagues
have
delayed
their
seasons and are
not
currently
playing
games,
the
camp
has
been
extended,
overlapping
with the college
season.
If
the
camp
were to start in
December,
Pearson
would
likely let Power go — he allowed
both
former
defenseman
Quinn Hughes and sophomore
defenseman Cam York to do so
in their respective freshman
years. But the early start
complicates his decision.
“It’s not the ideal situation,”
Pearson said. “I would like to
let Owen experience it and go
there, but at the same time,
I’ve got to look at the overall
picture and what’s right for
Owen going forward, overall,
not just for a two week camp
that’s played at Christmas
time,
but
for
his
overall
growth and development and
academic interest.”
While
on
the
surface
this
seems
like
a
hockey
decision, academics will play
a significant role for Pearson
this year, since Power will
have to take classes while in a
bubble in Alberta.
“Even
though
I
think all of
his
classes
are
Zoom
classes,
we
just
wanted
to see what
his workload
was going to
be
because
he could be
gone 51 days,”
Pearson said.
“If you make that team, you’re
gonna be gone 51 days — 51
days in a bubble in Alberta.”
While the World Junior
Championships
provide
players with the opportunity
to compete against the best
players in the world between
the ages of 18 and 20, according
to Pearson, it’s not always
beneficial
for
players
like
Power to go. In 2018, Hughes
played just over 13 minutes a
game at the tournament, fifth
among defensemen on the U.S.
team, while York served as the
seventh defenseman for the
U.S. last year.
“We’ve had a lot of players
go and it’s been a tough
experience and you’ve got
to
come
back
with
their
confidence rattled a little bit,”
Pearson said. “We got to build
them back up.”
Even though Power would
be playing for the Canadian
team, he could face a situation
similar to what Hughes and
York
faced.
Power
is
the
youngest of the 15 defensemen
invited to the camp, and the
only one who is yet to be
drafted. Six of the defensemen
were first round picks in either
2019 or 2020, and as a result,
Power could be facing an
uphill battle for playing time.
All
things
considered,
staying
and
going
both
have their own benefits and
drawbacks. Whatever decision
Pearson makes, it will have
considerable ramifications for
the start of the Wolverines’
season. The Athletic’s Corey
Pronman ranked Power as
the second best prospect in
the 2021 NHL draft, and he
figures to fill a spot as a top-
four defenseman for Michigan
this season.
“I wish I didn’t have to
make a tough decision like I’m
probably going to have to,”
Pearson said. “But he’s here to
go to school and play hockey,
not just the hockey.”
JACK KINGSLEY
Daily Sports Writer
COURTESY OF THE CHICAGO STEEL
Owen Power may not attend Canada’s selection camp for the junior team.
You’re gonna
be gone 51 days
— 51 days in a
bubble.
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico says the Wolverines worked on their outside shooting over the offseason.
MAX WADLEY
Daily Sports Writer
JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer
COURTESY OF WAKE FOREST ATHLETICS
Senior wing Chaundee Brown had his waiver granted on Sunday, and will be immediately eligible to play for the Wolverines in 2020.