Twenty-five banners hang in Crisler Center.
Three Michigan teams compete in the 12,707-seat gym. On that stage, countless hours have been dedicated to winning tournaments, Big Ten titles and sometimes, on those glorious days that fans of the University crave to see once again, national championships.
Both basketball squads and the women’s gymnastics team call Crisler home. The athletes of the winning teams enter the gym on the day of a competition and look up at the rafters, comforted by their history and compelled to keep that success alive.
Out of 25 banners, however, not one belongs to the Michigan women’s basketball team.
They aren’t comforted by the rafters.
To them, it’s an empty space. It lacks history, with nothing to show for the toil of the past 41 years. But that doesn’t mean darkness isn’t compelling.
Thursday, after the Wolverines’ dominant win over Missouri pushed Michigan into the quarterfinals of the WNIT, it appeared that a new era could be on the horizon.
Athletic Director Jim Hackett stood up from his courtside seat and strode over to coach Kim Barnes Arico to congratulate her on the victory. Together, they walked over to men’s basketball coach John Beilein and his wife, Kathleen.
Beilein couldn’t help but smile, realizing that despite his team’s struggles this season, a banner could still be raised next to his program’s collection.
But now it’s time for Barnes Arico to earn one of her own.
All three seniors are fighting in every game to make sure it’s not their last. The most notable example is forward Nicole Elmblad, who is continually raising the bar when it counts.
After averaging 7.4 points and 6.8 rebounds in the regular season, she’s now averaging 9.0 points and 8.5 rebounds in the WNIT. During Sunday’s quarterfinal game, she scored 14 points, just ahead of senior guard Shannon Smith, who tallied 11 points, and just behind senior forward Cyesha Goree, who scored 15.
“Once we came back (from the Big Ten Tournament), we knew we had a lot of work to do,” Goree said after defeating Cleveland State in the WNIT opener. “Everybody really committed to being checked in, focused on being able to still do something that hasn’t been done yet. A WNIT championship (for Michigan) has not been done yet.
“There’s no reason to hang your head right now, because you still can do something great for this program.”
Wednesday, during the semifinals of the WNIT, they can do just that. They already know their names will be in the record books. Elmblad has played in 131 games, the most in program history. Goree has eclipsed 300 rebounds in two seasons, the only Michigan player ever to do so, and Smith is one of just seven Wolverines in school history to score at least 36 points in a single game.
But it’s safe to assume they want something more symbolic than a name and a year next to statistics. A WNIT title would represent what the team has done collectively, symbolizing something much larger than just individual feats.
This is Barnes Arico’s third year, but she has already made an instant impact. In her first year, she led the team to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In her second, Michigan made it to the third round of the WNIT. And now, the Wolverines are playing in April for the first time in program history.
The future is bright for Michigan.
Freshman guard Katelynn Flaherty leads the team in points, averaging 14.3 points per game. The younger players are getting a great deal of postseason practice, so it would come as no surprise if they made a run in the NCAA Tournament next year. The Wolverines have entered a new phase of Michigan basketball, one that’s past rebuilding.
Before the first game of the 2015-16 season is even played, expect Barnes Arico and the Wolverines to watch a banner-raising ceremony of their own. Expect the athletic director to be there, and maybe even the Beileins.
Most of all, expect the faces of Michigan women’s basketball to look up at the rafters to see that 26th banner, and watch them be compelled to put another alongside it.
Kelly Hall can be reached by email at hallkl@umich.edu and on Twitter @KellyHall20