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February 26, 2011 There weren’t a lot of parallels between how the Michigan men’s and women’s basketball teams played Wednesday and Thursday night of last week. The men’s team played intelligent and fundamentally sound basketball against one of the best teams the Big Ten has to offer. Like its football team, Wisconsin’s men’s basketball team simply refuses to beat itself. And every once in a while, beats you with a buzzer-beating banked-in three-pointer when you don’t make your free throws. The Michigan women’s team on the other hand, did the opposite, completely laying an egg in the first half. They shot just 27% from the field (7-26) and just 16% (2-12) from three point range, their specialty! But they too stuck with their opponents to the very end, rallying from nine points down, and at the very last second, hit a half court three pointer that sent their game against Minnesota into overtime. Unfortunately, after two overtime periods, the women’s team also fell short in a heartbreaker, missing a potentially game-winner to end the first extra session. While it seems nonsensical, Michigan basketball fans, upon further review, should smile, not cry, about these heartbreaking defeats. These losses are merely the growing pains of two rising programs. It’s been 10+ years since the women’s team finished in the top 5 in the Big Ten, and new coach Kevin Borseth, in his fourth season, has set a winning tone with the previously morbid program. Coach John Beilein, also in his fourth year at UM, too has turned around a team that never would have contended consistently with top-15 programs even five years ago. But here’s the kicker: the two teams combined, will lose just one player next season. The women’s team loses leader Veronica Hicks. Her presence off the court and on (she leads the Wolverines in scoring and rebounding) will be missed. But the rest of the women’s team remains intact, and should benefit from the addition of three signees next fall. On the men’s side, literally everyone returns, and two mega recruits, Carlton Brundidge and Trey Burke will be added. Coming into this, my last year at UM, I thought I would be most disappointed that I wouldn’t get to see the football team hit its stride. Before its season, it was clear that next season, not this past one, would be when the team finally put things together, and I wouldn’t be in Ann Arbor to see it. Things obviously didn’t work out as planned on that front. I never would have guessed however, that the thing I’ll potentially miss the most won’t be a vastly improved football team, but two basketball teams that have seemingly limitless potential. (c) 2011 Novi
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Alex Prasad is a life-long Michigan resident, a student at the University of Michigan and a 2007 graduate of Novi High School. He was the Novi.org school and sports reporter while he was at NHS. Alex was also a captain of the NHS Cross Country Team and Track Team under legendary coach Bob Smith. Alex is currently General Manager of WOLV-TV, the student run television station at UM, and produces shows on both the Michigan Football and Michigan Hockey teams. You can also see his work on Big Ten Network coverage of Michigan baseball and softball this spring. This column is shared by Alex Prasad, Lance J. Lilla and Bernie Fratto on alternating weeks.
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