If you believe basketball is most compelling when styles contrast, then the first-round women’s throwdown between the Michigan Wolverines and Iowa State Cyclones was the matchup for you. (And if you believe basketball is most compelling when styles contrast, you’re wrong. Glad we had this talk.) It felt like two math teams huddled in separate corners, trying to solve the same problem, then emerged with radically different but sensible solutions.
The No. 6 seed Wolverines beat the No. 11 seed Cyclones, 80–74, but the how was much more interesting than the what. Iowa State was led by Audi Crooks, a powerful and nimble third-team All-American center with soft hands. Michigan got every one of its 80 points from guards, which was not surprising—just about everyone on the team is a guard.
Michigan had no answer for Crooks, but that was clear the moment the bracket was revealed. Senior Jordan Hobbs drew the assignment, with the implicit understanding that nobody expected her to stop Crooks in the post. She was just supposed to hang in, make things hard, hopefully not get beaten up too much, and maybe hit a few shots herself. Michigan would lose this matchup, obviously; the key was not to lose it too badly.
Crooks was her usual, dominant self—the Wolverines sent defenders in to help Hobbs, but Crooks still scored 28 points on 13 shots. But Hobbs was magnificent. She scored 28 points herself. That, as much as anything, explains why the Wolverines are moving on.
This is how a team full of guards defeats a paint presence like Crooks: eventually. In the second quarter, Iowa State found all sorts of success by running its offense through its star. Crooks is not a conventional playmaker, but she is such a tough cover that she creates spacing advantages for her team. Michigan kept doubling her, and Iowa State’s shooters kept hitting open threes.
It felt like it might go on that way all game. But by the fourth quarter, the game had flipped. Crooks was saving energy defensively—parking herself in the paint, even if there were no Wolverines in the neighborhood. That meant the Wolverines always had somebody open.
Michigan has too many weapons to leave one open all the time. The Wolverines have three outstanding freshmen: Big Ten Freshman of the Year Olivia Olson, a 6' 1" playmaker; leading scorer Syla Swords; and point guard Mila Holloway. They combined for 39 points, 19 rebounds, 14 assists and nine steals.
Most impressively: In the final quarter of their first NCAA tournament game, those three kept making winning plays. Swords and Olson are the most celebrated recruits of coach Kim Barnes Arico’s tenure; they arrived in Ann Arbor pre-conditioned for pressure. Facing Crooks in the NCAA tournament is not a big leap from playing in major international competitions (Swords for Canada, Olson for the United States).
At some point in this tournament, a more complete team than Michigan will end its season. The question is who, and when.
The Wolverines will play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend on Sunday. The Fighting Irish will and should be favoritesbut probably not by as much as people think.
Yes, Notre Dame spent a portion of this season as the top-ranked team in the country. And yes, Fighting Irish guard Hannah Hidalgo is the best player on either team. But Michigan has played teams and players as great as Notre Dame and Hidalgo.
Michigan opened its season by playing the South Carolina Gamecocks tough in Las Vegas. Last week, in the Big Ten tournament semifinals, the Wolverines were tied with the USC Trojans with fewer than seven minutes left before the Trojans pulled away.
They did not win either of those games. But after playing JuJu Watkins twice, Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice once, and South Carolina, why should the Wolverines be intimidated by Hidalgo?
There have been moments this season when Michigan’s youth showed; most notably during a second-half meltdown against the Michigan State Spartans at home. But the Wolverines are resilient. They won the rematch with the Spartans in East Lansing, Mich. They hung in there against USC. They did not let Crooks’s clear physical advantages faze them. They are a threat to beat Notre Dame and make it to the second weekend.
