With a balanced attack and a clear-cut identity, the No. 6 Michigan women’s basketball team looks tough to stop. Aside from their lone loss against No. 1 Connecticut, the Wolverines have posted dominant victories over every opponent they’ve faced.
So in an effort to understand the plight of opposing coaches, I am trading my seat in the press box for a spot on the sideline as I outline how I would plan to topple Michigan.
For the parameters of this experiment, let’s assume I’m leading a high mid-major or lower-tier Big Ten team in a neutral-site game.
Let’s start with the lineups; I would put my two best ball handlers on the floor, alongside two secondary guards and one forward down low. The two point guards will have to carry a heavy load as we will need to keep turnovers to a minimum — a challenging task as the Wolverines have forced the ninth-most turnovers per game — and have a dependable backcourt for all 40 minutes.
After the ball is tipped and Michigan’s first made basket, it will immediately go into a stifling full-court press. Aside from the game against the Huskies, the Wolverines have thrown their press at teams for almost the entire game. My keys here are twofold: Don’t dribble near the sideline by half court and keep the ball away from senior guard Brooke Quarles Daniels.
All season, Michigan has remained efficient in sideline traps. Sophomore guards Te’Yala Delfosse, Olivia Olson, Mila Holloway and Syla Swords have double-teamed deep in the half court and wreaked havoc before half-court offenses can even be set up. Additionally, Quarles Daniels is a bulldog on defense so her active hands and defensive IQ are things I want to avoid if I want to pull off the upset.
“They move really well laterally,” Syracuse coach Felisha Leggette-Jack said Nov. 23. “Their weight room coach must be really good because they’re really strong and they play really smart.”
Much of the Wolverines’ defensive strength comes from limiting the number of opponents’ possessions and scoring easy transition points. But let’s say we’re able to break the press and get into our half-court offense. Now it’s time to shoot the three.
Teams haven’t shot from beyond the arc exceptionally well against Michigan this year, but they have often had open looks. So settling into our half-court offense, slowing the pace, setting off-ball screens and trying to find open looks from three-point range would be the most effective strategy.
“I thought we became tentative,” Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said Nov. 21 after his team’s third-quarter woes. “ … With shots that we were willing to take in the first half, some guys became tentative.”
If Auriemma says you can’t get hesitant, I’ll echo that to my team to bolster our volume 3-point shooting. While simply breaking the press and shooting lights-out are much easier said than done, when the Wolverines’ opponents haven’t done these two things, they’ve been run out of the gym.
Things remain tricky on the defensive side of the ball as Michigan’s scoring attack is balanced and it can burn you from all three levels. To try and stop a deep roster that can pick its poison, I am opting for a 2-1-2 zone. In this scheme, our four guards will form a sort of shell while the forward sits in the middle protecting the paint.
Hopefully, the pressure in the high post can stop Olson from catalyzing the offense and our wings will be able to kick out to defend the three. This scheme is prone to lapses in the middle of the floor, but that’s just something we’ll gamble on as forwards sophomore Kendall Dudley and junior Ashley Sofilkanich haven’t been major producers on the offensive side of the ball.
The kicker, though, is the Wolverines’ depth. They are comfortable going 10-deep into the rotation, and those fresh legs keep the press tight. With the fear of turnovers keeping my two best ball handlers from resting on the bench, they will likely tire as the game wears on.
Clearly, Michigan can beat opponents in many different ways. This entire gameplan hinges on my hypothetical guards breaking a well-functioning press and then shooting lights out from deep. Even if the offense goes according to plan, the Wolverines will still likely be able to get in transition for easy buckets as they’ve been doing all season. And who’s to say Swords doesn’t put on another miraculous shooting clinic just like she did against the Huskies.
Even in my own hypothetical, Michigan is a headache to compete with. With a deep roster that runs its system well, the Wolverines have blown out almost every opponent they’ve seen so far. So maybe it’s telling that — just like six other teams that have come before me have done — I might expect to leave the imaginary court with a front-row seat to a loss.
