The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/447116
BY BRANDON BROWN G rowing up in Grand Rap- ids, Mich., Cyesha Goree, or "Bird" as her friends and family affectionately call her, knew that basketball was going to be in her future. She started at a young age, fell in love with the sport and never looked back. "I've been playing basketball since I was 5," Goree said. "My mom put me in a YMCA league back in the day. The teams were pretty much all guys; they didn't really have girl's teams yet. Later on I got on an all- girls AYBT team and then from there I went up to high school basketball. I attended Wyoming Rogers my first two years of high school and then we moved so I finished up at Wyo- ming Park." While younger, her big head and little body made her resemble Tweety Bird and earned her the nickname, but she eventually grew into a 6-3 Division I prospect who was a two-time all-state first-teamer and an all-conference player all fours years she was in high school. When the time came for Goree to explore where she'd attend college and continue her basketball career, she didn't have to look very long. "My family always watched Mich- igan basketball and football," she said. "I attended a lot of the bas- ketball games when I was in high school. I kind of connected with the players at a young age even be- fore my recruitment ever took off. I had been going to the games and was around the program, so I was a familiar face early on. They got their eyes on me early at camps and stuff. Then they started following me around during travel ball in high school when my recruitment started, and that's what helped me get comfortable with the program. "There were other teams involved and I'd get letters from teams all around, but Michigan was always my No. 1 choice. I was always really interested in them and they were interested in me, and they wanted me to go there so I focused more on verbally committing to Michi- gan and then just enjoying myself in high school. My recruitment wasn't a very big process." FINISHING STRONG Cyesha Goree Is Playing Her Best Basketball As A Senior