2021 ncaa wbb tournament

All typed out, it's something to behold. To finish the best season in program history, Michigan pummeled upset darling Florida Gulf Coast, knocked off three-seed Tennessee, and took powerhouse Baylor to overtime in one of the best college basketball games of the season.

This was no fluke. Michigan made Baylor work hard to hit 50% from the field and the Bears wouldn’t have done so without a record-tying 11-for-11 performance from All-American NaLyssa Smith, who threw up a Jordan Shrug after drilling yet another long jumper late in the game. Michigan’s All-American, Naz Hillmon, had a quiet game by her standards—14 points, seven rebounds—but Leigha Brown poured in 23 points while dicing up the vaunted BU defense.

In their first-ever Sweet Sixteen, the Wolverines were leading the reigning national champions in overtime, and they had two shots to extend the game to a second extra session. They put on a show on ABC that was objectively better than the much-hyped matchup between UConn’s Paige Bueckers and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark that preceded it. They positioned themselves where a bounce here or a call there could swing the outcome. That’s another big step.

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While Michigan’s best season ever didn’t need any more validation, it got plenty last night. Baylor and UConn played what may stand up as the true national title game in the Elite Eight. The Bears controlled the game until the third quarter, when point forward and defensive stalwart DiDi Richards exited the game with a hamstring injury that she ultimately couldn’t play through.

The Huskies ripped off a 19-0 run, only for Baylor to push back despite the absence of Richards. The game came down to the final seconds, when BU’s DiJonai Carrington drove into traffic with the Bears down one and missed, probably because the officials swallowed their whistles while she was fouled at least two different ways. UConn added a free throw, stole a desperation inbounds, and extended their Final Four streak to 13 by a whisker.

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— CJ Fogler (@cjzer0) March 30, 2021

In the postgame press conference, Kim Mulkey fumbled with a mask as she attempted to put it on while complaining about the final non-call. She held up her phone as if it held the earth-shattering reveal behind a global conspiracy. It contained “still shots and video from two angles” of the non-call.

There’s no conspiracy, of course. Women’s college basketball officiating is notoriously bad. Late-game non-calls are common even in well-officiated games. This observer doesn’t remember Mulkey mentioning anything about Carrington getting away with an obvious carry before scoring critical points in overtime of the Michigan game, either. Ditto Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico, for that matter.

Mulkey kept futzing with her mask and said much more.

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54 minutes. We’re doing that thing again where we publish a partial pod between games then finish up after the next one.

The Sponsors

Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.

And let’s not forget our associate sponsors: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, and Information Entropy, the Raw Power app for iOS by Gentleman Coders.

And introducing SignalWire, which is the virtual office platform we recorded this on because we’ve had it up to here with Zoom (use the code MUPPETS and they’ll buy your team lunch!)

1. Recapping FSU

starts at 1:00

Put that in your Seder. Florida State didn’t know what to do about Franz, Johns came alive. First time we’ve gotten to see Johns after a week to practice in this role, and first time we got to see Juwan coach with a week to prepare for a tournament opponent, something Beilein was always so good at. Chaundee can rise. FSU’s switching nerfed some of their better qualities.

2. Previewing UCLA

starts at 25:21

Weird team that wants to be big but lost two bigs and now overplays their 6’9”/260 foul-prone guy because the next biggest player is 6’6”. Kind of like Maryland in that they have a lot of scary wings who take a lot of jump shots, plus a wild-haired point guard who can pass (top-50 assist rate). Were underrated with the rest of their conference but drill down into the Synergy numbers and there are a lot of weaknesses, not to mention they’re all way smaller than Michigan’s frontcourt and no bigger in the backcourt.

3. A Farewell to WBB, Hockey, and Giles Jackson

starts at 42:57

Naz and the Browns took us as far as it could be believed, and further. Kind of like the 2009 basketball team that beat Clemson and hung with Blake Griffin, proving this is a program you can compete at. Hockey, man, at least it’s either star-touched Duluth or a team that’s never won it. Giles Jackson, man, at least we’ll always have the Indiana “return.”

[The player after The Jump]

When I started getting into sports, Tennessee was women's basketball. The legend Pat Summitt coached all-time greats like Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings, Kara Lawson, and Candace Parker to three straight national championships from 1996-98, back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008, and near-annual Final Four appearances in between.

I grew up vaguely aware Michigan had a women's basketball program. The only way to see them was to go to a game in person. Finding someone else interested in watching one of the athletic department's least successful programs was difficult even if one scraped up the motivation to try. They were ignored in favor of football, hockey, men's basketball, softball, baseball, swimming, wrestling—most everything, really.

The three-seed Tennessee team that took the court yesterday wasn't a peak Summitt squad. The uniforms still read "Tennessee"; Kellie Harper, their second-year head coach, was the starting point guard for those back-to-back-to-back champions; they boasted a national player of the year candidate in Rennia Davis, another all-SEC wing in Rae Burrell, and a 6'5 board-crasher and shot-eraser in Tamari Key.

Six-seed Michigan had never made a Sweet Sixteen in program history; they'd reached the second round only five times. Even in the best of years, this is when the Wolverines can't overcome the talent gap.

Good morning! #goblue #ncaaw pic.twitter.com/WEarX80717

— Michigan Women’s Basketball (@umichwbball) March 24, 2021

Good morning.

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