Naz Hillmon

[Ed: Ace: Bumping matty blue again. All photos by JD Scott/MGoBlog.]

COVID.  That’s it.  That’s the intro.

Okay, fine, i’ll continue.  We knew that this was going to be a weird season, a ‘let’s cross our fingers and hope it all works out’ season.  Putting aside the obvious incongruity of even having a season when a meaningful portion of schools are limiting and / or eliminating in-person instruction, once it started you knew there’d be hitches.  UConn and Baylor were all set to play a hugely-anticipated game this past Wednesday.  It was scratched because of the euphemistic “COVID concerns within the programs,” one of which turned out to be Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey. 

Duke (once a Death Star program) shut its season down entirely, presumably setting the stage for Mike Kwerasdfdski to do the same so he can vacate the record of what appears to be one of his lesser teams.  Izzo preemptively whined about potential “asterisks” after winning at Cameron in one of the season’s early supposed marquee games.  Maybe he knew what was up - Coach K does like his asterisks.

But I digress.  The point is that something is gonna happen to every team.  What will separate good teams and programs from the rest is how they respond.  The Michigan women have spent the last month or so responding in some form or fashion: two games were cancelled / postponed and two more were spent with only eight players available.  They had, honestly, lucked out at that point - yes, several players had been unavailable, but none of them were starters. 

I happen to be of the mind that short-term injuries can sometimes be a net positive when players are challenged to do new or more or different things.  This seemed to be borne out when the ladies played one of their most complete games in KBA’s tenure on Sunday, blowing out a very good Northwestern team.  Backed against the wall of a short bench, with little or no margin for error, they beat the hell out of a good team.

Going into the season, I was curious about how Nebraska transfer Leigha Brown would mesh with a veteran team that returned everyone from an solid run in the B1G tournament.  I knew she was obviously a good scorer, but beyond that…well, you never know.  Sometimes a ‘scorer’ can disrupt the chemistry of a team.

She didn’t, and I think it’s because she’s not Just A Scorer (™).  She runs the floor, she facilitates, she defends.  She fits.  Naz Hillmon is obviously the engine that makes this team go, and Amy Dilk has been the driver, but Leigha Brown is the turbocharger.  She’s made every part of the team a little better.

[Hit THE JUMP for Naz carrying a Leigha Brown-less squad.]