2024 is a long way away 
I’m not a fan of early enrollment other than football…but maybe she can be among the first to do it for women’s basketball!
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Reclassify!
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Girls HS basketball does not have a ton of parity. And if there is no mercy rule (running clock) it can get bad.
Just saw Naz Hillmon doing analysis on the Big Ten Network. She’s a natural (even if she picked Iowa to win the Big Ten.)
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Just dropping in here as practice gets underway to say that I’m excited for another fun year for the women’s program! Going to be an interesting season as the program turns the page on the Naz years. Having Emily Kiser back (yay!) along with Cameron Williams and Isabel Verajao means we still have plenty of depth and experience in the post, but I assume that the offensive approach will begin to shift away from pounding the post and more toward letting guards like Laila make plays. I guess we’ll see.
Hoping some of the additions can help provide some scoring to spread the load around, especially in terms of the team’s perimeter scoring. This team really needs someone else to step up as a perimeter threat alongside Maddie.
My daughter and I will be watching on TV when we can and there in person when we can get to Ann Arbor on non-school nights. Looking forward to discussing it all with those of you who frequent this little niche part of the forum.
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I’m both excited and scared to see how they look post Naz
I think they will be really good. Kiser and Nolan are known, quality starters. I think Phelia can be a special player, and am excited to see what Wiggins can be when healthy. I think Cameron Williams won’t be Naz obviously but she should be a good solid center for us. Brown is going to be first team. That’s not getting into the transfer or what (if anything) the Freshmen can provide.
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I saw someone mentioning that Naz was doing analysis on a segment a while ago, but it’s become official she’s gonna be doing it all season long. BTN’s announcement has her listed as an “analyst,” but the other names for that position also do color-commentary on women’s basketball games. She might be on a Michigan broadcast this year?
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Interesting quote from KBA from yesterday’s media day at the end of this article: Michigan women's basketball excited for guard-dominated playstyle
“We’re probably going to play four guards, which is going to be fun because a lot of teams in our league do that,” Barnes Arico said. “So we just gotta make sure that we’re rebounding and we have an edge to us.”
That’s definitely going to be a departure, and I’m curious how often they’ll play with four guards vs. two of Williams, Kiser, Varejão. And if they even have the guard depth, two names we wouldn’t expect must be stepping up and having a good preseason
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Considering they have issues with guard plays, I’m not sure how they’ll play this year. I’m expecting a huge step back because they lost Naz and they ran the offense through her and the guards aren’t the greatest.
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I think Laila Phelia could be a special player this year.
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I mean, Brown is an all-conference player, Nolan is an established fit, and Phelia is assumed to be taking a big step forward. The big issue last year (and years past) was really at PG, where we were making he best with limited/injured players.
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Ari Wiggins could be a factor, as well. She’s very quick.
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The former 5 star Oregon transfer is a guard as well right?
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I forgot about her. I don’t think she’s a PG, or, at least assists aren’t mentioned in her bio.
I realized after we got home from Michigan Madness that Izabel Varejao was not with the team tonight. A quick look through the team’s Instagram posts shows her in the media day stuff and the first practice video, but I don’t see anything since then.
Any idea if her absence tonight is noteworthy?
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https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj-_c9XLyij/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Weird. She had a IG post about Michigan Madness earlier today
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Who knows? Covid is still a thing, she may have had something school-related going on, etc.
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In contrast to the secrecy of the men’s program, the women’s program is doing an all-access documentary. Pretty cool. There are weekly episodes on YouTube and MGoBlue.com. The first two episodes were released today.
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