Staring down the task of a total roster rebuild isn’t nearly as scary as it used to be. You’ve heard it time and time again — the portal, NIL, conference expansion — all of it makes constructing a team look and feel far different than ever before.
So roster turnover isn’t inherently a bad thing anymore. Just look at South Carolina, a 2023 Final Four team that didn’t return a single starter en route to the 2024 National Championship. Dawn Staley’s blueprint for success in Columbia transcended individual players. It was forward looking and, clearly, it worked.
A total roster rebuild induced by the Michigan women’s basketball team’s transfer-portal losses could work. It could lead to a more well-put together team that’s better suited to stay out of the bubble and land squarely in a higher seed. It could lead to a team ready to return to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in the post-Naz Hillmon era.
While the Wolverines’ roster rebuild could work, it also represents a missed opportunity. Because Kim Barnes Arico prefers to build her program around player development, not revolving doors. That’s been her M.O. throughout her 12 years at Michigan and it has worked, leading to six straight NCAA Tournament appearances. She wants to give most players their first shot at big minutes after working as proteges in her program and waiting their turn behind people who did the same and became better because of it. She wants talent up and down the roster, a bright present teaching a bright future.
And she had her best chance at that in years entering this offseason. Laila Phelia, Cameron Williams, Chyra Evans and Taylor Woodson — four of the six Michigan players who are in the transfer portal — all could have contributed significant minutes again next year, with star guard Phelia continuing to lead the way. Pair that with the Wolverines’ incoming No. 7 ranked recruiting class boasting two top-15 recruits in Syla Swords and Olivia Olson, and Barnes Arico would have had her dream scenario.
It’s one that includes having most of her key contributors back. It also includes high levels of talent waiting in the wings that can both replace production from departing players like graduate guards Lauren Hansen and Elissa Brett and develop for larger roles down the line when players like Phelia run out of eligibility. It’s a dream scenario that would have even had players like Elise Stuck and Taylor Williams — both of whom are also in the portal with one year of eligibility remaining — developing and expanding the overall vitality of the roster Barnes Arico is trying to sustainably build in her preferred way.
“Player development is really what we’ve built this program on,” Barnes Arico said Nov. 14. “That’s the biggest goal and that’s what players out there see. If you come to the University of Michigan, it doesn’t stop here. … We’re going to do everything in our power to help you be the best player that you can be at the University of Michigan.”
Now, Barnes Arico is losing a perfect chance to carry that out. Instead of mixing current stars with a crop of new ones, creating a litany of talent ideal for a player-development approach to roster construction, Barnes Arico is left with a near-total rebuild — meaning she’s left with plenty of what-ifs as well.
Yes, she’ll continue developing every player on next year’s roster and, yes, players who become starters the moment they enter the program can still develop as the season goes on. Who knows, maybe Barnes Arico assembles a dream team ready to win right away.
But it marks a further departure of how Barnes Arico knows how to win. While recently relying on the portal more than before — and about to lean on it now more than ever with just four scholarship players currently not in the portal — Barnes Arico is forced to start looking toward quick fixes to field a team next year.
“It’s always looking for the next best thing or the quick fix or ‘How quickly can we get this done?’ ” Barnes Arico said Mar. 23. “I feel fortunate that at this University we have been given the opportunity to build something.”
In an era of quick fixes, Barnes Arico felt lucky to be able to build something more long term. That’s where the missed opportunity lies. A perfect scenario for Barnes Arico’s style is falling down the drain, and she’s now forced to approach the plug-and-play style to the highest degree yet in her coaching tenure as college basketball continues to change.
And while the players in the portal are still eligible to return to Michigan — maybe some will — the reality is that many, if not all, won’t. It means Barnes Arico is quickly losing the eligibility to return to the style of long-term roster building that she prides herself on.