For decades, basketball has been a mostly specialized sport, with specific, standardized roles drawn up for the different positions on the court.
Brendan Roose
Daily Sports Writer
Women's Basketball
With a full season under her belt, Dilk evaluated her weaker aspects and improved them. One area in particular is taking care of the ball. Dilk turned the ball over 3.4 times per game last season, higher than both she and Barnes Arico would like. Additionally, Dilk looked to improve her shooting (39.4 percent last season) and scoring (7.2 points per game) abilities during the offseason. With three other players averaging over 10 points per game and two other established scorers averaging over seven, she was not asked to be one of the Wolverines’ main scoring threats last season. But after losing three of their top four scorers from last season, Dilk will be relied upon as a distributor and a scorer.
However, with the impending graduation of the Wolverines’ two co-captains, seniors Hallie Thome and Nicole Munger — two other program legends who played alongside Flaherty the prior three seasons —the same questions are, once again, arising.
In a stunning turn of events, sophomore guard Deja Church announced via Twitter that she will not be returning to the Michigan women’s basketball team next season.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — From the tip, the game followed a frenetic pace. Egged on by a sea of red, the top-seeded Cardinals jumped out to a quick start.
Those plays may not have resulted in anything other a few extra bruises for Munger but they did set the tone early for the Michigan women’s basketball team in its dominant performance against the Wildcats.
In the Michigan women’s basketball team’s (22-11) 84-54 win over Kansas State, that statement couldn’t have been more true, as it used two lengthy scoring spurts and stingy defense to defeat the Wildcats (21-12) and set up a date with top-seeded Lousiville on Sunday.
But now in her seventh season at the helm of the Michigan women’s basketball team (21-11 overall, 11-7 Big Ten), Barnes Arico can contextualize Auriemma’s sentiment. On Monday, the Wolverines got a tournament bid for the second straight year — but it hasn’t always been that way.
As the No. 8 seed in the Albany Region, Michigan will face Kansas State in the Round of 64. The two teams will meet on Friday in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Michigan women’s basketball coach applauded the Wolverines’ effort and execution throughout the press conference, but when asked specifically about the development of freshman point guard Amy Dilk, she took her praise to another level.