The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1510053
[ 2023-24 BASKETBALL PREVIEW ] 46 THE WOLVERINE ❱ NOVEMBER 2023 BY ANTHONY BROOME W ith the beginning of U-M women's basketball sea- son approaching, it is hard to avoid the feeling that this is a page turned to a new era. The Wolverines spent last season without All-American Naz Hillmon following her graduation, but they still were led by program stalwarts Emily Kiser and Leigha Brown en route to a 23- 10 season and the team's fifth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Brown was selected in the 2023 WNBA Draft, and Kiser is playing over- seas. That leaves junior guard Laila Phelia to lead the 2023-24 squad that brought in three transfers in guards Elissa Brett and Lauren Hansen and forward Taylor Williams plus a pair of top-75 freshmen in Macy Brown and Taylor Woodson. "Laila had a great summer," head coach Kim Barnes Arico said at Big Ten Basketball Media Days. "She played USA Basketball this summer and has just really worked incredibly hard on her game. She gets better and better every time out. "She's just a special player, and I'm excited to have her lead our team this year, as well as Cameron Williams, who is a returning starter for us. She's a 6-foot-3 post player who we're ex- pecting to follow the lead of a Naz Hill- mon or an Emily Kiser and try to average around a double-double for us. That would be nice. "We have a number of grad trans- fers, which is something that we really haven't had in the past, but with the landscape of college athletics changing, we went into the portal this year. "It's a different team than we've seen in years, but a team that has a little bit of a chip on its shoulder, a little bit of something to prove. We've had a tre- mendous couple of weeks working. "We had an exciting international trip this summer to Croatia and Italy, got a chance to get acclimated with each other, and are really enjoying practicing and getting the chemistry going with our team this year." Phelia projects to be the feat ured pie ce head ing into her third year with the program and has taken on more of a leadership role a f t e r a v e ra g - ing 16.7 points per game last season. Hav- i n g p l a y e d with Hillmon, Brown and Kiser, she is now the face of the U-M program. "She knows, being a junior on our team, that it's her turn to have that lead- ership role and to give back, and her turn to pour into the younger kids, while at the same time continuing to im- prove her game," Barnes Arico said. "I think when she went with USA Basketball this summer she had an opportunity to play a different role. For us, we needed her to score so Over the summer, Phelia helped lead the USA U21 team to a silver medal in the Women's AmeriCup in Mexico. She is a preseason All-Big Ten selection entering her junior campaign. PHOTO COURTESY USA BASKETBALL NEW-LOOK NEW-LOOK WOLVERINES WOLVERINES U-M Will Lean On Laila Phelia And Fresh Faces To Tip Off New Era