It's going to be short intro this week, but I will probably make it up to you. Working on some extra content for next month...

Should you need more material to lust your insatiable need for Michigan WBB content (your need could be satiable, I don't know. There isn't enough Michigan WBB content to sate everyone), there is no better place than Sarah Spain's podcast from this past Monday, which features a thorough interview with KBA. You can even hear KBA say "Syler" as her Lon Gisland accent slips out.

There was even a post on the MGoBlog board about various sites, blogs, and newsletters covering WBB. Someone in the comments even wished that I was on Twitter! Rest assured I will not be returning to Twitter.

Can I Predict Ball?

If I'm going to make predictions each week, I should at least look back and see if they were any good.

Michigan 73, USC 67

Vibes-based prediction: This feels like a game where Davidson will have to do it all for the Trojans to have a chance at the upset, and she's not good enough to do it all yet. A double-double for her feels likely, but the Michigan offense has enough different weapons to ensure USC takes another tough conference L.

Davidson finished with 11 points and 7 assists, dishing out 6 of those assists during the horrible, very, bad, no-good third quarter. Four of those assists led to 10 of Kara Dunn's 26 points. But at the start of the fourth quarter, Davidson started settling for, and missing, mid-range jumpers, as Michigan restored its intensity back to first-half levels. Olivia Olson scoring 24 points made more of a difference than offensive balance, but all five Michigan starters finished the game in double figures.

Very specific prediction: I'll be testing the Galvan theory that one annoying little guard can live, but one must go through hell. One of Samuels or Jones will put up double digits. The other will put up her season low in conference (0 for Samuels, less than 5 for Jones.)

Jones had 12 points, while Samuels had 4. One of Samuels's buckets was on a fast break after she picked off Q. Daniels, and the other was when Michigan left her side of the court completely undefended. She didn't so much go through hell as she had her typical low-offense game. There was plenty of hell to go around, as Kennedy Smith finished with 8 turnovers, while Dunn had 5.

Jones's most unpleasant moment on the court came with 1:19 to go and she drove to the basket against Sofilkanich. It did not end well:

This is also what would happen to me if I tried to drive against Sofilkanich, and I would be way more embarrassed as I'm supposedly the same height as Sof.

Michigan 95, Indiana 67

Giving up 67 points is more tolerable when you score 95. It's also more tolerable now that my daughter has told me the 67 fad is over. Congratulations, adults, we ruined it for the middle schoolers.

Vibes-based prediction: Like several other games this season (vs. Iowa, @ Nebraska, @ OSU), Indiana hangs around for a half, but the Wolverines pull away for a comfortable win after the break. The lack of depth behind Ciezki and Beaumont means they don't have the legs for the fourth quarter.

Well, I was right the didn't have the legs for the fourth quarter. Or the third, second, or first. After a potential blowout against USC turned into a squeaker, making the first five shots from the field and shooting 63.6% in the first half was just what we all needed.

Indiana's depth was in even worse shape, as Zania Socka-Nguemen was unable to go after suffering an injury before the Purdue game. When all was said and done, we did see every healthy player from both squads, as there were several minutes of garbage time. (Except Aaiyanna Dunbar. Poor Aaiyanna.)

Very specific prediction: Ciezki has been the Hoosiers' leading or second-leading scorer in every game this season. That streak ends on Thursday, because BQD prison comes for all the short guards.

Ciezki had a miserable game, and only decent three-point shooting kept it from being a total disaster for her. When she fouled out with 5:45 left in the game with a season-low 13 points, this prediction was in extremely good shape. All it needed were two more points from Maya Makalusky and three more from Lenée Beaumont. Makalusky came through with a three-pointer, while Beaumont, an 88.5% free throw shooter this season, got her chances at the line. But the Michigan free-throw curse affects even me, and she missed both ends for just the second time all year. After getting two more FTs to tie Ciezki, she sat out for the final 2:53 as the deep benches got their minutes. Beaumont started the game by shoving BQD and ending it by denying me my prediction. A true heel.

As an experiment, I made this in Hoosier colors:

Gross. This must be how other teams feel when they see KBA rocking an awesome sweater.

The Week Ahead

Shifting some things around on the bench. After Delfosse and Dudley, the pecking order on the bench in conference play has been Brown, then Mathurin, then Crockett, so I put them in that order.

After 24 points against USC and 27 against Indiana, I should really make Olivia's crown more prominent.

@ Michigan State (2/1, 12:00 EST, FS1, MSU +5.7 Torvik)

Towards the end of Suzy Merchant's tenure, Michigan State was sputtering. Back-to-back near .500 seasons led to postseason misses, and Merchant resigned due to health issues at the end of the 2022-23 season. Alas, the Spartans made a good hire when they named Robyn Fralick from Bowling Green, where she had let the Falcons to a 30-win season. The Spartans and Wolverines has been on parallel tracks since them: both #9 seeds in 2023-24, a #6 and #7 seed last year, and both gunning for a top-4 seed this year. The more results-based rankings (wins above bubble, NET) put the two teams right next to each other, but the more comprehensive rankings are a little more disrespectful of the Spartans.

After reading about Friday night's rock fight between the men's teams, I'm proposing a theory that one of the many reasons for Tom Izzo's advanced crotchetiness is that MSU replaced a women's coach shorter than him (the 5'6" Merchant) with one taller than him (Fralick is listed at 5'10"). If you're objecting on the grounds that Izzo's listed height of 5'9" is a lie; well, the reporting of basketball player heights is prone to exaggeration, regardless of gender.

Players to Watch

I'm sure that the Michigan State team is no more, or at worst, only slightly more, irritating than a typical group of women their age. However! they will be wearing the green and white on Sunday, and thus you will find them annoying. How exactly will they rankle Michigan fans? Let's find out.

• Nolan & Hobbs called out the nettlesome Grace vanSlooten in their latest episode for the following quote after last year's season split:

  I think after the first game I kind of understood the rivalry but when you win by 30 you’re like, "where’s the competition?" Now it really feels like a rivalry and I really can’t wait for next year, get our get-back.

  VanSlooten leads the Spartans in scoring with 15.2 PPG and is one of the many ball thieves, averaging two steals a game. She'd be the team leader in rebounds, if not for the next person.

• I watched BTN's highlight video of Michigan State vs. Purdue, and Kennedy Blair was celebrating big plays with far more enthusiasm than is necessary for big plays against Purdue. While this would be the correct amount of enthusiasm for big plays against a top 10 team like Michigan, you will find it exasperating. As a rebounder, she is BQD's evil doppelganger: her lead in defensive rebounding rate among Big Ten guards is about as ludicrous as Daniels's lead in OREB rate.

• Purdue transfer Rashunda Jones is on the Naismith watchlist for Women's Defensive Player of the Year. Brooke Q. Daniels and Syla Swords, maddeningly, are not, on the off chance they needed a little additional motivation. Jones lead the Spartans in steals with 2.6 per game.

• MSU is missing two of its opening day senior contributors, as neither guard Theryn Hallock nor center Isaline Alexander has played since December 28. While they will unlikely be able to irk you on the court, they may have some bench celebrations that'll set your teeth on edge.

• With Alexander out, Inés Sotelo has moved into the starting lineup, occasionally being backed up with a few minutes from Montana State transfer Marah Dykstra. Soleto and Dykstra average 6.7 and 3.5 PPG, respectively; I'm sure one of them will peeve you by scoring way above their average.

• Jalyn Brown has DiJonai Carrington-like blonde hair now, a style that is delightful on your team's players and distracting on your team's rivals.

• Emma Shumate goes well past three-point specialist territory, and takes up residence in "three-point extremist" territory. She is 44/100 from three his season, and a mere 4 of 6 inside the arc. Juliann Woodard has put up double digits in scoring twice this year: once in the non-conference vs. Eastern Illinois, and once in the conference at Iowa!? She will vex you by hitting threes if Shumate does not.

• Amy Terrian and Anna Terrian will irritate you by being identical twins whose jersey numbers are off by one (Amy wears 24, Anna wears 25)¹.

Vibes-based prediction: When I look at this as a battle of one-on-one matchups, I feel the starting lineup matchups tilt slightly in Michigan's favor. Olson has a slight edge on vanSlooten, Swords against Blair, Holloway and BQD against Brown and Jones, and Sofilkanich against Sotelo. Once you factor in the rotation pieces, Dudley and Delfosse give Michigan the advantage inside, while Shumate's shooting gives MSU a chance to stretch the defense.

Both teams like to press and force turnovers. Michigan first in the conference forcing 23.8 TO per game, while the Spartans are third at 21.6. MSU is very good at holding on to the ball, second to only the extremely TO-averse Minnesota with just 12.1 TO per game. Sunday is going to be a big test for Mila Holloway: she is by far Michigan's best option at avoiding mistakes bringing the ball up court, and they're going to need her skill.

Two things that can go right for Sparty to get the win: either Holloway is ineffective or hampered by foul trouble (Michigan getting an unfriendly whistle at Breslin? That never happens.) or Shumate and/or Woodard shoot even more lights-out from three than usual.

Very specific prediction: Either vanSlooten hits a three-pointer or Shumate hits a two-pointer.

The Michigan defense will, at some point, discombobulate the Spartans enough that they're forced to take a shot they very much would rather not take. Sparty being Sparty, that shot will of course go in.

Nebraska (2/4, 7:00 EST, B1G+, -14.3 Torvik)

(I'm using generic roster positions for Nebraska because Torvik data thinks almost half the team is point guards.)

It took until December 29 for a Nebrasketball team to lose this season. While the men almost made it to February, the women started a mere 12-0, excluding their exhibition win overly the charmingly named NAIA Mount Marty University. Conference season has been more run-of-the-mill: they've mainly beaten the teams you expect them to (Penn State, Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana), and lost to the teams you'd expect them to (USC, UCLA, Iowa, MSU). They've had one surprise in each direction – they fell victim to the Trohl Center in a 63-60 upset to the Badgers, and pulled out an 81-75 win over a then-ranked Illinois right after. They also almost pulled off the upset at Breslin, but they gave up the final four points on free throws to lose to the Spartans, 73-71.

Nebraska is still missing 2024 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Natalie Potts, who is taking a second redshirt year to recover from a knee injury suffered early last season. The Huskers play in Columbus right before Ann Arbor, so there's lots of good info in this Q&A between Land-Grant Holy Land and Corn Nation.

Players to Watch

• Britt Prince is a shooting machine. She's in the 50-40-90 club right now, and her 57.5% shooting percentage is the highest among non-six-footers in the conference. Getting her to pass the ball is not necessarily a victory because she also leads the 'huskers with 4.3 assists per game.

• Logan Nissley is basically Prince if you take away the two-point shooting.

• Jessica Petrie missed her first game of the season on Thursday against Northwestern with an illness. She and Amiah Hargrove, who plays starter's minutes off the bench, are the team's leading rebounders, with 5.0 annd 5.9 per game, respectively.

• Kansas State transfer Eliza Maupin and Croatian Petra Bozan play up front. Both are among the team's strongest defenders, but both are prone to committing fouls.

• Callin Hake is the primary point guard. She is also the chair of the Big Ten Student-Athlete Issues Commission. Good for her!

Vibes-based prediction: With Sparty this Sunday and UCLA next Sunday, a borderline top-25 team like Nebraska feels like a classic trap game. Nebraska is behind only UConn, UCLA and Iowa State in effective field goal percentage nationally, and they do it without a dominant post presence like Audi Crooks. They're capable of punishing any lapse in defensive intensity due to a tough battle in East Lansing or looking forward to the Bruins. Depending on how accurate Hake's reported height of 5'8" is, she may or may not be tall enough to escape from BQD jail. They do have one big weakness: 2-point defense, where they are ahead of only Penn State in the Big Ten. I think Michigan pulls this one out, but both teams are going to put up a ton of points.

Very specific prediction: Nebraska goes up by double digits in the first quarter, but Michigan regains the lead at some point later in the game.

Final Note

Let's take a moment to remember Dan McQuade, one of the best to ever do this blogging thing. His ability to find and share joy was an inspiration.