The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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12 THE WOLVERINE ❱ MAY 2023 ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS LEIGHA BROWN SELECTED NO. 15 IN 2023 WNBA DRAFT Former Michigan guard Leigha Brown took the next step in her basketball career April 10 when the Atlanta Dream selected her with the 15th overall pick (the third slot in the second round) of the WNBA Draft. The move reunites her with former Michigan star and teammate Naz Hillmon in Atlanta, who also was selected No. 15 overall by the Dream a year ago. Brown helped the Wolverines reach new heights as a program in her three seasons in Ann Arbor after her first two years at Nebraska. Michigan went to the Sweet 16 in 2021 and 2022 and made it all the way to the Elite Eight in 2022. This past season, U-M made the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling 66-42 to eventual national champion LSU. Brown led the team in scoring in 2022-23 with 17.5 points per game, while adding 5.8 assists and 5.1 rebounds per contest. She earned first- team All-Big Ten honors as well as honorable mention All-America notice by the Associated Press. She is one of 12 players in program history with 300 career assists, and her 174 helpers this year were four shy of the U-M record. "Brown's versatility will give her a chance to make the Dream, who are clearly looking for that kind of player with the earlier selections of [Haley] Jones [from Stanford] and [Laeticia] Ami- here [from South Carolina]," ESPN analyst Charlie Creme said of Brown's fit with her new team. "Brown was one of just three Division I players to average 15 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds per game. At 6-foot-1, Brown is a physical guard who can get into the paint — and she's a good decision-maker once she gets there." With Brown following Hillmon in the WNBA Draft, Michigan is one of just four schools to have a player drafted in the top 15 in each of the last two years. Before then, U-M had not had a player drafted since 2005. — Anthony Broome MEN'S BASKETBALL OPPONENT SET FOR 2023 JUMPMAN INVITATIONAL The U-M men's basketball nonconference schedule is being put together for the 2023-24 season, and a major piece has been revealed. First reported by CBS Sports insider Jon Roth- stein, Michigan will head back to Charlotte, N.C., for the 2023 Jumpman Invitational in a show- down with the Florida Gators. Neither Michigan nor Florida made the 2023 NCAA Tournament, so the matchup could be an early measuring stick for both teams. North Carolina and Oklahoma will play in the other game of the nonconference showcase. The Jumpman Invitational will take place at the Spec- trum Center in Charlotte with dates and times to be determined at a later date. Michigan played in the event last year and lost 80-76 to North Carolina Dec. 21 in front of a crowd made up mostly UNC fans. The Wolverines have played Florida four times in program history, with three of the matchups taking place in the NCAA Tournament. The most recent game came in 2019 in a round-of-32 Mich- igan win by a score of 64-49 in Des Moines, Iowa. U-M fans remember the 2013 Elite Eight game fondly, bombing the Gators 79-59 on Easter Sun- day to advance to the Final Four. The other two matchups in the series came when Florida beat Michigan on a neutral floor in Miami 79-63 in 1998, while the Wolverines took care of business 108-85 in the second round of the 1988 NCAA Tournament. Michigan's 2023-24 nonconference schedule remains a work in progress, but the Wolverines will be in another showcase event at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas in November. The field also includes North Carolina, Villanova, Arkansas, Memphis, Texas Tech, Stanford and Northern Iowa. The Wolverines won the event in 2019, tak- ing down Iowa State, UNC and Gonzaga in head coach Juwan Howard's first season on the job. U-M and Kentucky played in London last De- cember, but they have a home-and-home series in their contract to fulfill. Michigan is expected to first make a trip to Lexington, Ky., before a show- down in Ann Arbor. — Anthony Broome MAIZE AND BLUE NOTEBOOK Leigha Brown was selected by the Atlanta Dream with the 15th overall pick in the WNBA Draft — the exact same slot and team as Naz Hillmon a year ago. Michigan is one of just four schools to have a player drafted in the top 15 in each of the last two seasons. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY