Next: Miami

Michigan hosts Miami (Florida) tonight at 7:00pm in the WNIT semifinals. Miami finished tied for 10th in the ACC this year, but have played a tough schedule. They have home wins over North Carolina and Florida State and played Nebraska close. On the flip side, their only road wins against BCS schools were against Maryland and Providence (in the WNIT quarterfinals).

Miami is lead by guard Riquna Williams (19.4 ppg) and forward Shenise Johnson (19.0 ppg).

Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students/seniors - I believe U of M students can get in free if they show their M card at Gate E.

WNIT

As almost anyone who follows the Michigan Women's Basketball Team knows, they have had a really strong run so far in the WNIT Tournament. With the exception of the first 25 minutes or so of the Toledo game, Michigan has pretty much dominated play in each game with strong defense and balanced scoring. They are taking care of the ball & distributing it well (the assist/turnover ratio is above 1.0 for the entire team over the four games).

Krista Phillips - 12.7 points/game 8.5 rebounds/game
Caremen Reynolds - 18.0 points/game
Veronica Hicks - 15.2 points/game
Dayeesha Hollins - 11.5 points/game

Lets hope this continues against Miami tomorrow night.

Michigan to face Kent State in the NIT

Michigan will host Kent State Friday night in the first round of the Women's NIT. Gametime is 7:00pm and tickets will be 6.00/adults and 4.00/students.

Next: Michigan State

Michigan faces second seeded Michigan State in the Big 10 tourney. There probably won't be any major surprises here - these two teams are very familiar with one another. There will be the usual questions - how will the Krista Phillips/Alyssa DeHaan match up play out? How will Michigan handle MSU's physical play? How effective will Hicks and Hollins be on offense?

Michigan State will be favored, but as mentioned yesterday - it can be tough to beat a team three times in a single season.

Michigan 67 Northwestern 54

Next: Northwestern

Michigan opens up the Big 10 Tournament as the number 7 seed and they face 10th seeded Northwestern. On the one hand, they've lost to Northwestern twice already this season so the Wildcats are probably feeling confident. On the other hand it can be really tough to beat a team three times in one season, particularly if there is not a large disparity in talent.

Northwestern is led by Amy Jaeschke who averages 17 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks per game. It will be interesting to see how Veronica Hicks plays - she often has good games against teams from her home state, Northwestern in particular.

If Michigan wins today, their task doesn't get any easier - they'll face 2nd seeded Michigan State.