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
Sports

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

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JOHN

TONDORA

