In loss to LSU, Michigan shows that it’s
a program in progress
JACK CONLIN
Daily Sports Writer
BATON ROUGE, La. — At first
glance, there’s not much to take
away from a brutal loss like the
one that the No. 6 seed Michigan
women’s basketball team suffered
on Sunday.
In
its
66-42
season-ending
thwacking at the hands of No. 3 seed
LSU, the Wolverines failed to exe-
cute a cohesive gameplan from start
to finish, managing just 15 first-half
points while allowing Tigers’ for-
ward Angel Reese to put up historic
numbers.
But in short spurts, there were
moments of brightness amid the
darkness.
Sophomore guard Laila Phelia
added 20 points. Junior forward
Cameron Williams notched eight
more on 75% shooting, with a team-
high five rebounds. And a cast of
bench players saw NCAA Tourna-
ment action for the first time — giv-
ing the program’s future a taste of
what it takes to succeed in March,
even in failure.
In Sunday night’s brutal loss,
performances from young players
alleviated some of the desperation
felt by Michigan’s coaches. Because
for the Wolverines, those showings
should provide some hope for the
future.
“Reese’s don’t come around the
block every day,” Michigan coach
Kim Barnes Arico said postgame.
“Neither do Naz Hillmon’s. She’s
just a real difference-maker. But I’m
excited about the players we have
returning. … You know, coming to
Michigan is not for everyone. We’re
super selective. And I just think that
the players in our program prog-
ress through their time here and
improve and buy into that philoso-
phy.”
But the Wolverines’ hope just
didn’t matter to a team like the
Tigers.
Phelia, touted as one of Michi-
gan’s three top weapons, put up
a team high in scoring while the
other two of its “three-headed mon-
ster,” graduate forward Emily Kiser
and fifth year wing Leigha Brown,
disappeared. But in the game’s early
stages, before LSU pulled away,
Phelia struggled to assert herself —
shooting 1-for-5 from the field dur-
ing the game’s gritty, low-scoring
first quarter. Fifteen of her even-
tual 20 points came in the second
half, proving to be too little, too late
as LSU ran away with the game —
leaning on Reese’s dominant interi-
or presence to keep the Wolverines
at arm’s length.
“(I need to be) able to calm down
when being defended and (blocked)
really aggres-
sively,” Phelia
told The Daily
postgame.
“
… I feel like I
haven’t
faced
that this year,
so I feel like
that
taught
me a lot about
myself.”
And
those
lessons
can
be good in the
long run. Phe-
lia’s ability to
produce at any
point while her co-stars faltered is
a sign of good things to come: the
sophomore guard is the lone play-
er from that trio returning next
year, and will begin the season as
Michigan’s top two-way threat.
Williams, too, showed promise
throughout the game.
Frequently named as the Wol-
verine’s strongest player, her
ability to find footing in the slug-
fest on the interior while Kiser
faltered showed why she started
every game for them this season.
The task of matching Reese’s
production proved too lofty for
her, but an efficient scoring night
alongside spurts of success on the
boards should provide some con-
fidence in her as a core piece mov-
ing forward.
“(I want to) enhance my post
presence,” Williams told The
Daily. “And be more of an aggres-
sor on the boards, offensively and
defensively. Giving our team and
myself second chance opportuni-
ties is going to be huge next year.
So that’s something I’m gonna
lock in on.”
In moments on Sunday, Wil-
liams exhibited those traits. Just
not enough to change the final
outcome.
The list of returning players
who showed promise in the post-
season doesn’t end there: Sopho-
more guards Jordan Hobbs and
Greta Kampschroeder are two
more Wolverines who will enter
next year as potential starters.
Seeing game action against a team
like LSU can only have aided their
development in the college game.
The Tigers showed the world
that Michigan wasn’t among
the country’s top teams. That
doesn’t mean it won’t ever be.
But Barnes Arico’s crusade to
elevate the Wolverines to the
sports’ upper echelon didn’t pan
out this season.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
John Tondora: Remove the interim tag
MINNEAPO-
LIS — Remove
the interim tag
from
Brandon
Naurato.
Do it yester-
day, if you can.
This has noth-
ing to do with the
interim
coach
winning the Big
Ten
Champion-
ship — though that helps. This has
nothing to do with achieving a
1-seed in the NCAA Tournament
— though that helps. And it has
nothing to do with how the No.
4 Michigan hockey team has not
skipped a singular beat in its success
with him at the helm — though that,
too, helps.
At Michigan, winning hockey is
an expectation, not a bonus. But to
be the right person to lead the Wol-
verines, it has to do with something
much more.
It has everything to do with who
Naurato is as a coach. It has every-
thing to do with who he is as a per-
sonal and professional leader. It’s
easy to point at the winning record
and call it a day. Instead, it’s what
Naurato does off the ice that makes
him fit to lead the Wolverines.
Saturday night was the culmi-
nation of nearly a season’s worth of
work and dedication. So now’s the
time for Michigan Athletics and
athletic director Warde Manuel to
make the change.
He’s put in the work from the
very beginning, and it’s clearly just
getting started to pay off.
“He’s a player’s coach,” junior
defenseman Ethan Edwards said
Feb. 6. “… He’s used to being in (the
players’) shoes, so he’s very easy to
relate with. He’s very honest and he
definitely has goals in mind that he
wants to obtain and also has high
standards for our team.”
A player’s coach is certainly what
the Wolverines need. However,
what’s made Naurato’s tenure with
Michigan so impactful has been his
resilience as a leader.
With a season that began with
the sad passing of long-time Michi-
gan equipment manager Ian Hume
just three weeks into the new cam-
paign, Naurato was thrust into a
leadership role that needed answers
you can’t find in the Xs and Os of a
playbook.
This wasn’t a singular moment,
either. It was the beginning of a roll-
ercoaster season for Naurato and
the Wolverines.
Only one month later, on the back
of a five-game road trip against
three straight ranked programs,
Michigan ran into perhaps the
scariest scene in its recent program
history. Adenovirus, which spread
throughout the entire program,
threatened the lives of multiple
players, sidelining much of the team
and almost taking the life of junior
defenseman Steven Holtz.
The youngest team in college
hockey didn’t just need a coach.
It needed a mentor, a friend and a
shoulder to lean on.
It got one in Naurato.
“We didn’t talk about hockey too
much this week,” Naurato said after
the Wolverines lost to visiting Min-
nesota Nov. 17, starting a barely-eli-
gible lineup in the face of the virus.
“It’s been nothing but worrying and
thinking about our teammates and
their
mental
health
and
their physical
health. We got
a great group
of kids and
guys are still
fighting
the
fight.”
And that’s
the key to it all.
Amid a tumultuous season instigat-
ed by events out of his control, Nau-
rato continuously guided a group of
a dozen freshman, tasked with the
job of Atlas, carrying the weight of
the Michigan hockey world on their
shoulders. Through good and bad,
up and down, win and loss, Naurato
was there for it all.
Saturday night, those ups and
downs became all worth it, because
although Naurato could have never
entirely predicted himself lifting
a Big Ten Championship over his
head back in August, he certainly
put in the effort, guidance and dedi-
cation to do so.
And as freshman forward Rutger
McGroarty — who scored two goals
for the Wolverines on Saturday —
sat, laden in sweat during the post-
game press conference, he didn’t
point to his own immense talent,
hard
work,
or skill set.
Instead,
he
emphasized
the
neces-
sity of “a lot
of video with
coach Naur”
as the impetus
for his perfor-
mance.
Because Naurato’s personal lead-
ership is straightforward. It’s effec-
tive. It’s seemingly beloved by his
players. He keeps it simple — just
the way he likes it.
“I know how other people treat-
ed me, good and bad, and how I
treat other people,” Naurato said
March 6. “I think if you treat people
with respect and communicate and
you’re honest, life’s easy.”
Now, after winning another Big
Ten Championship, Naurato and
Michigan can breathe easy — if only
for a moment.
But what will define Naurato’s
time with the Wolverines won’t
simply be the singular moments.
It will be the long-lasting, institu-
tionalized change that he has gifted
the program. Changes that clearly
came off the ice, but have impacts
on it, too.
Naurato’s chance at the helm
was never about winning a Big Ten
Championship, though his career
most certainly hinges on winning
those. It was about everything he
could do off the ice and more.
Not to worry though, outside of
his own personal hockey expertise
and player development prowess,
Naurato has single-handedly con-
structed a formerly “non-existent”
JULIANNE YOON/Daily
analytics program, which has driv-
en an influential level of the Wol-
verines’ success.
But to purely ascribe Michigan’s
success to young talent, or analyt-
ics, or even Naurato himself would
be disingenuous. It’s a team, it’s a
program, and its fate relies on more
than one man. Yet what has made
Naurato’s short tenure so special is
his evidently outward investment
in the people that make these units
function.
“That’s why people are so impor-
tant,” Naurato said Feb. 6. “Strength
coach, medical guy, equipment,
social media, coaches — every-
body. If you’ve got the right people
in every area, you just ask for their
expertise.”
Because this isn’t an endorse-
ment of Naurato’s supposed perfec-
tion. He himself will even tell you
he doesn’t have all the answers.
Rather, this is an assessment. Cli-
ché lines say that ‘life is a test,’ but
for Naurato this season has been
just that — one big test. He’s passed,
and with flying colors.
Michigan Athletics needs to
remove the interim tag from Bran-
don Naurato. It’s a little late to do it
yesterday.
So do it now.
Angel Reese overwhelms Michigan in
season-ending blowout
LYS GOLDMAN
Daily Sports Writer
BATON ROUGE, La. — It was
almost impossible to take your eyes
off her.
All it took was a few waves of
LSU forward Angel Reese’s out-
stretched arms and the raucous
crowd at Pete Maravich Assembly
Center erupted. She was animated
and emotional, the epitome of a star
player who knows the impact of
her presence — on both the game’s
atmosphere and its final box score.
Reese was involved, to some
extent, in nearly every big play for
the third-seeded Tigers throughout
Sunday’s 66-42 win over the No. 6
Michigan women’s basketball team.
Whether those contributions came
in the form of emphatic layups, sti-
fling blocks, aggressive offensive
rebounds or the frenzies she drew
from the crowd, Reese was every-
where — and the Wolverines failed
to contain her in any facet of the
game.
“She’s just really special, I think,”
Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico
said. “Angel Reese’s don’t come
around the block every day.”
Putting up 25 points, 24 total
rebounds, six blocks and four
assists — all team-highs — in addi-
tion to firing up the crowd during
key moments, Reese showed exact-
ly what makes her so special.
A first-team All-American, she
stands at 6-foot-3 but plays like she’s
even taller — using her length and
strength to overpower opponents
on both ends of the floor. She didn’t
shoot efficiently Sunday night —
going just 8-for-23 from the field —
but she still imposed her will on the
glass after almost every miss.
“A lot of those rebounds came
from a lot of my misses,” Reese
said. “… Just paying close attention
to where the ball is. I have a really
good eye for the ball.”
Fourteen of Reese’s 24 rebounds
came on the offensive end, where
her length allowed her to overcome
the Wolverines’ attempts to box out.
Midway through the first quarter
— in one possession — she grabbed
three consecutive offensive boards.
While she wasn’t able to finish
any of those put-back attempts,
her intensity and physicality wore
Michigan down while disrupting
any semblance of defensive rhythm.
“It was super physical,” said
graduate forward Emily Kiser, who
was tasked with guarding Reese
for much of the game. “I struggled
a lot just blocking out. … (Reese is
a) super physical player, she finds
a way to get her shot off. (I’m) defi-
nitely going to feel that tomorrow
morning.”
In comparison, the Wolverines
finished the game with 26 total
rebounds, just two more than Reese
had herself. On the offensive glass,
they gathered just five boards —
nine fewer than Reese grabbed
individually.
“Obviously, Angel Reese is, you
know, one of the best rebounders,”
Barnes Arico said. “And we had
one of the best rebounders in Naz
Hillmon for four years. And Angel
Reese might even be better — I hope
Naz isn’t listening — than Naz was.”
As Barnes Arico alluded to,
Michigan had played against Reese
before Sunday’s game. Last year,
the Wolverines faced her when
she played for Maryland before
transferring to LSU — and she
secured 10 rebounds even with
Michigan’s former star forward
Hillmon in the post.
So, heading into the second-
round
NCAA
Tournament
matchup, the Wolverines knew
just how dangerous Reese could
be.
But within minutes it was clear
— they still couldn’t stop her.
In press conferences Saturday,
sophomore guard Laila Phelia
recognized Reese’s prowess as a
blocker while discussing transi-
tion offense.
“Personally, (I don’t want) to
get blocked by Angel Reese down
there,” Phelia said. “Maybe if I try
to hurry up and get it down there,
it might help us out a little bit.”
Phelia
ended
up
getting
blocked three times throughout
the game, two of those coming
from Reese. That premonition
serves as a microcosm for Reese’s
impact — despite knowing her
strengths, Michigan was simply
unable to neutralize them.
At the end of the day, Reese is
just “a heck of a ball player,” as
Barnes Arico put it.
And on the biggest stage, in a
do-or-die game with a trip to the
Sweet Sixteen on the line, she
stole the spotlight — and with it,
Michigan’s season.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
SportsMonday: Michigan’s uneasy path forward
Sixteen teams punched their tick-
et to the Sweet Sixteen this weekend,
advancing to the second weekend of
the NCAA Tournament.
For the first time since 2016, the
Michigan men’s basketball team
wasn’t one of them.
Of course, you know that by now.
March Madness is chugging along
without the Wolverines, who are
absent from the Big Dance for the
first time in eight seasons. Instead,
while San Diego State glided past
Furman to become this year’s first
Sweet
Sixteen
team,
Michigan
authored a stunning collapse in the
NIT against Vanderbilt — an abject
meltdown that brought a fitting, mer-
ciless end to its disappointing season.
There’s no need to rehash the
failures of the 2022-23 Wolverines.
Their shortcomings have been beat-
en into the ground, and with the sea-
son finally over, they should at last be
laid to rest.
What’s more intriguing is the
thought of where the program goes
next. Because the most important
offseason of Juwan Howard’s coach-
ing tenure is officially underway.
“This summer, including me, we
all have to get better,” Howard told
reporters Saturday, stating the obvi-
ous. “We have to get better on all lev-
els when it comes to what we want to
do to help serve our team to give us
the best chance.”
Through four years at the helm,
Howard is yet to experience a placid
offseason. Remember the melodra-
ma of five-star recruits Isaiah Todd
and Josh Christopher, each of whom
spurned Michigan in a 24-hour
stretch in April 2020? The 2021 off-
season was marked by the departure
of three starters; the 2022 offseason
one-upped that, with the Wolverines
losing four starters and retaining
only junior center Hunter Dickinson.
Each time, Howard — buoyed by
coaching stability, veteran presence,
strong recruiting classes and trans-
fers — handled the turbulence.
But this year is different. Those
offseasons followed successful cam-
paigns. This one comes off the heels
of the most deflating season in recent
memory, and Howard’s unadmirable
task is as follows: to claw his program
off the mat and back to contention,
even though there isn’t a clear way
forward.
Next year’s roster isn’t going to
look anything like it did this year.
Maybe that’s for the better, perhaps
it’s for the worst. Freshman wing Jett
Howard seems destined for the NBA.
In a more crushing blow, sophomore
guard Kobe Bufkin may very well
join him.
Say what you want about Jett’s
inconsistency or his inability to play
defense, or Bufkin’s recent turnover
woes. Their departures would cre-
ate voids on a roster lacking tenable
solutions. Michigan’s best coincided
with Bufkin’s best: He emerged as a
primary playmaker and a legitimate
scoring threat to complement Dick-
inson. Howard, meanwhile, is a bona
fide 3-point threat and shotmaker —
a unique skill set that no one else on
the roster has.
On top of that, their departures
would make for three consecutive
years without much personnel con-
tinuity. It’s hard to build a consis-
tent winner that way, unless you’re
reeling in dominant five-star talent.
Howard isn’t.
This incoming recruiting class
is Howard’s weakest group so far—
ranked 41st in the nation, according
to 247Sports, sandwiched between
the illustrious company of Georgia
and North Carolina State. It’s not fair
to expect Papa Kante and George
Washington III, two four-star pros-
pects outside the Top 100, to contrib-
ute immediately.
That means Howard will have
to turn his eye outside the program,
something he evidently recognizes.
While 68 programs were busy pre-
paring for their opening matchups
in the NCAA Tournament, Michi-
gan conducted a Zoom meeting with
Wofford transfer B.J. Mack — a burly
big man who averaged 16.6 points per
game in the SoCon.
The Wolverines have embraced
the transfer portal under Howard.
But how many transfers will Michi-
gan need to reel in this offseason in
order to assemble a holistic roster?
Two? Three? More? Maybe guard
Jaelin Llewellyn, who transferred in
from Princeton last offseason, comes
back from a season-ending ACL inju-
ry to play another season.
Still, there are no shortage of prob-
lems for the Wolverines to address
in the portal: Michigan’s power for-
ward spot was a recurring black hole;
its backcourt lacked depth and vet-
eran leadership; it often found itself
in need of more shooting, a program-
wide issue for two years now.
Internal development is just as
paramount. It’s easy to forget that
Bufkin was an unknown commod-
ity at this time last season, coming off
a freshman year in which he rarely
saw the floor.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer
ANNA FUDER/Daily
ANNA FUDER/Daily
ICE HOCKEY
10 — Wednesday, March 22, 2023
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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