With one weekend of play left before the Big Ten Tournament, the Michigan women's basketball team is beginning to take another look at its competition. Of course, the Wolverines first have to contend with Minnesota and Ohio State on the road next weekend, but the tournament is approaching quickly.
"It's not going to be easy," Michigan coach Sue Guevara said. "We're going to be on the road. They're going to be gunning to move themselves up in the tournament.
"Ohio State beat us. We owe them, and we owe them on their court."
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| ALLISON CANTER/Daily Michigan forward Kenisha Walker battles for a rebound with Northwestern's Leah Berki yesterday. The Wolverines beat the Wildcats, 70-64, in overtime. |
"You look at the Big Ten, and it's pretty strong top to bottom," Guevara said. "The way that everybody's been beating up on each other, I think there should be five teams that go to the NCAA tournament. There are some really tough teams that we have to play day-in and day-out.
"We have one day to prepare for the other team when we play on Sundays. You look at the teams that Illinois has beaten. You look at the teams that Indiana, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin have beaten, and we've beaten those teams. It's a very strong conference."
Northwestern coach Don Perrelli looks to Illinois and Iowa, as far as the cream of the crop in the conference goes.
"They are the premiere teams in the Big Ten, because of their depth and because of the talent level that they have," Perrelli said. "I just feel they're stronger than any team. Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue - stronger than any of those teams."
Guevara agrees, pointing out Illinois' physical game as one of its strengths.
"Illinois has good inside-outside," she said. "They've got good size."
Much of Iowa's success, as is the case with most good teams, arises from the number of talented players the Hawkeyes possess. Four players - center Amy Herrig, guard Angela Hamblin, guard Nadine Domond and center Tangela Smith - average double digits in scoring for the season.
"Iowa's not very deep, but it probably has the most talent of any team," Perrelli said. "The premiere player this year, in my opinion, is Tangela Smith. I won't go into any others, because they're all pretty close. But Tangela Smith is player of the year. She will get my vote."
Maybe one of the strongest indications of the strength of the Big Ten lies in Wisconsin.
Although the Badgers are in seventh place, they're the 19th-ranked team in the country. The third-place Wolverines lost to the Badgers on Jan. 23, 79-63.
"Wisconsin is sitting in seventh place in our conference, ranked 19th in the country, and they're 6-7 in the Big Ten," Guevara said. "We happened to play them without Pollyanna Johns that game, and rebounding hurt us."
Going into yesterday's game, Northwestern was 3-11 in the conference and 9-18 overall. But the Wildcats still took the Wolverines to overtime, eventually losing 70-64.
"I still don't think we've peaked," Guevara said. "I don't think we are on all cylinders. When we have all our shooters, when they're all on, I think we're a very, very tough team to defend."
02-16-98
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