Before the season began, Kim Barnes Arico stood on the dais and reflected on the offseason to the media. The mood was open and honest; the Michigan women’s basketball coach was well aware of the implications of losing nearly all of her starters.
For a program built on player development, the Wolverines losing almost half of their roster to the transfer portal last summer was a reality check.
“I was crushed. I was really… I was hurt,” Barnes Arico said Oct. 22. “ … We really consider ourselves, in this program, builders, and what we do may be different than a lot of other programs. We’re not a program that’s based on the transfer portal, year in, year out, and that’s not the University of Michigan. That’s kind of not the culture of our university. It’s not the culture of our program.
“And when you come in as a freshman you’re here,” Barnes Arico continued, holding out her hand flat before raising it higher, “and when you leave as a senior, you’re here.”
It’s a message that would’ve been routine coach speak had it not been for Michigan’s sinuous summer. But after an offseason that will likely be looked back upon as a watershed moment for a program that felt every shift of collegiate athletics’ ever-changing landscape, that message only works if it’s followed by change. And for the Wolverines’ best interest, that part about the freshmen can’t apply this year.
Because right now, Michigan has a stacked freshman class. Syla Swords just dropped 27 points and 12 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass, on the reigning national champions and put the women’s college basketball world on notice. Olivia Olson had 22 and 10 in the Wolverines’ exhibition. And Mila Holloway is Michigan’s first true point guard in years and has the potential to compliment Swords and Olson’s games perfectly. If the Wolverines were hit this hard by the transfer portal in any other year, the argument for player development would be stronger. But with such a talented rookie class, this year is the year for Barnes Arico to hand them the keys.
It’s not just that it gives the Wolverines their best chance to win. As Michigan learned last summer, it’s not immune to the transfer portal — but it’s not bad at recruiting, either. In terms of silver linings, bringing in the best freshmen class in program history is about as silvery as it gets.
Moving forward, what attracts five-star freshmen more than showing that Michigan is a place where freshmen get to play? More than just setting up the Wolverines for success this season, sticking with the freshmen sets up the program for success in the future.
And if there were any questions that Barnes Arico would stick to tradition even amid untraditional circumstances, she answered them by starting all three freshmen in the season opener.
With Swords, Olson and Holloway in the starting lineup, Barnes Arico showed she trusts her team’s youth. It doesn’t hurt that the other two on the floor for tipoff were the team’s two seniors, guards Jordan Hobbs and Greta Kampschroeder. That pair reinforces the decision of starting Michigan’s touted trio, providing an experienced tandem Michigan can fall back on.
Because there will be nights when the freshmen don’t play like phenoms and instead like, well, freshmen. Barnes Arico is wary of that, too.
“This year we’re in a little bit of a different position, which I think is gonna make for some WOOooOOOooo because they are freshmen,” Barnes Arico said, moving her hand up and down as if it were on a roller coaster. “As Coach Beilein used to say, ‘The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.’ ”
Barnes Arico called it — in just two games, Michigan’s freshmen have already gone through their own ups and downs. Holloway had five turnovers and fouled out in the Wolverines’ exhibition. Swords had trouble finding her teammates at times in that same game, and Olson went 2-for-12 from the field against South Carolina. And Beilein is right — Michigan’s trio will only get better next year.
But right now, the Wolverines don’t really have anyone else to start. Against the Gamecocks, Michigan’s bench shot a timid 3-for-5. While freshmen can be a double-edged sword, Swords, Olson and Holloway have already shown what they can bring to the floor against premier competition.
Of course, the time will come when the Wolverines’ freshmen stumble. They’ll pass on good shots and end up forcing bad ones, commit some baffling turnovers and have scattered moments on defense. But it’ll be moments like those — moments when Barnes Arico will look to her bench for a player who’s been through at least a year of college basketball before — that the Michigan coach needs to trust her freshmen. For players who are so inexperienced, minutes on the court is the best way for them to iron out those mistakes.
All of this focus on the freshmen isn’t to say that player development should be ignored this season. Without that philosophy, Hobbs and Kampschroeder wouldn’t be the veterans they are. But the practice of letting freshmen grow in practice and come off the bench isn’t practical anymore, given this year’s class.
The Wolverines want to win as much as they can — and they can’t do that without trusting their freshmen.
The post Sam Gibson: For a program with a history of trusting player development, now Michigan must trust its freshmen appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
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