There’s a changing of the guard coming for the Michigan women’s basketball team.

Michigan coach Kevin Borseth’s team had an excess of experience with four seniors in the starting lineup, and there’s never a shortage of leadership on the floor.

But with a once-commanding lead beginning to dwindle last night against Minnesota, Borseth decided to go with fresh legs. Not because his senior leaders were tired, but because they had lost their rhythm.

And after losses in nine of their last 10 games, the Wolverines have ridden the rhythm from a 7-4 non-conference start into the Big Ten basement.

So in desperate need of a playmaker last night, Borseth didn’t turn to one of his veteran starters. He turned to a freshman who had played just nine minutes in the team’s first five games.

With the way forward Carmen Reynolds has been playing lately, leading Michigan (3-11, 10-15) in scoring with 34 points in the last two games, she deserves a spot in the starting lineup. With Reynolds on the court, the Wolverines don’t have to wait for rhythm to find them. She creates rhythm for them.

“She’s good in traffic,” Borseth said last week. “She can shoot well. She passes well. She sees the floor. She’s got really good hands ... She’s just able to make some real quick decisions that most players aren’t able to make.”

Borseth has made it clear several times in his two seasons at Michigan that without rhythm and quick playmaking, this team won’t succeed.

"Shooting is all about rhythm," Borseth said after losing to Michigan State in the WNIT quarterfinals last season. "If you can't get rhythm shots, they're hard to make."

At Big Ten Media Day in October, Borseth said senior point guard Jess Minnfield would be one of the keys to making that offensive rhythm thrive. She was his "floor general".

But Minnfield is not the pure scorer that Borseth wanted her to be at the beginning of the season. Minnfield excelled in a distributor’s role last season, running the team like any pure point guard should. That mentality carried over into the beginning of this season with victories against ranked Notre Dame and Vanderbilt, in which she carried the team on her shoulders.

But with the offense faltering and no threat of dribble penetration into the paint, Minnfield and fellow senior Carly Benson have been forced to throw up ill-advised shots from behind the arc. In a 45-40 loss to rival Michigan State, Benson and Minnfield combined to shoot 6-of-23 from 3-point range. Even Spartan coach Suzy Merchant said that was the cause of Michigan's downfall.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that this team isn’t about the seniors anymore. It’s about the future.

With eight minutes remaining in the game and the momentum finally shifting back in Michigan’s favor, the Wolverines looked like their offense was coming together.

Sophomore Veronica Hicks stole a floating pass and charged down towards the basket. Hicks tossed the ball into Reynolds' hands for an alley-oop layup.

On the following play, Reynolds returned the favor with a steal and a long pass to Hicks at the other end for an easy lay-in.

Now that’s what you call rhythm.

On the Michigan sideline, Borseth looked up after the four-point swing and smiled like he rarely does during a game. Sure, he didn’t know the Wolverines would lose the game in the last minute like they have so many times this season, and that smile would disappear soon enough.

But for a second, Borseth saw the future in Reynolds and the rest of the young supporting staff. And it sure looked like something to smile about.