In early October no one knew what to expect from the 1998-99 Michigan women's basketball team.
Six months later, reflecting on a season that ended Sunday in a heartbreaking loss to Michigan State, the once nagging questions about the youth and inexperience of the team have been answered.
Throughout the course of a tumultuous season that featured record-breaking performances as well as lengthy losing streaks, one constant emerged - the team grew. It grew with every victory and with every heartbreaking loss.
"We did a pretty good job this year," Michigan captain Stacey Thomas said. "It was a learning process for everybody and we had high expectations."
At the start of the season, the Wolverines were young. Four freshmen would be forced to play pivotal roles in order for the team to experience any success at all. And the critics were out in force.
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| DANA LINNANE/Daily The Wolverines endured both winning and losing streaks this season, and came out on top making it to their second-straight postseason appearance.
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As a result, no one expected the Wolverines to go very far or do very much.
Even Michigan assistant coach Eileen Shea had a few reservations.
"I think because of our youth, I wasn't sure what to expect," Shea said. "Looking back it was a year we spent building for the future."
The returning players, however, would not be taken lightly.
"We had high expectations heading into the season," Thomas said. "We expected to make it to the NCAA tournament and win the Big Ten tournament. We knew losing Pollyanna that it would be tough.
"Though we didn't meet most of our goals, overall we did a pretty good job."
Along the way, the Wolverines played some exciting basketball nearly knocking off No. 2 Purdue and always competing though they had a challenging schedule.
The season started off slowly with an opening game loss to perennial powerhouse Vanderbilt followed by a string of nine victories over powderpuffs like Bowling Green and Central Michigan.
Once 1999 arrived, things began to pick up. The new year brought a tough Big Ten schedule, a game versus No. 4 Louisiana Tech., and national exposure.
As January and February sped by the intensity of the conference season heated up and Michigan was right in the thick of a very close race.
As captain, Thomas developed into the team leader both on and off the court and in the process scored her 1,000th point and broke her own career steals record.
All the while the growing process continued. And, it wasn't just the Wolverines who noticed the development of their team.
"It's pretty fun," sophomore guard Anne Thorius said. "I was talking to my friend (Michigan State forward) Pernille Dalgaard who said that the first time (the Spartans) played us their coaches told them to only worry about our perimeter game with me, Stacey and Ann (Lemire).
"But before the last two games against us, their coaches have been telling them to not leave Raina (Goodlow) and Ruth (Kipping) open on the inside. That shows how much we've grown as a team."
Michigan coach Sue Guevara always remarks that her freshmen aren't freshmen anymore. And now, it's true.
The next time they take the hardwood as a team, they definitely won't be.
The four freshmen will have transformed into leaders in their own right.
But though they've grown on the court and now have the experience of another year of college basketball, perhaps the most important story about these Wolverines is that they've grown together.
Instead of merely being 10 players who meet daily at the gym, they have all become friends.
"We do a lot of fun stuff together," Thorius said. "With six of the players living in South Quad, we all hang out.
"People really get along on this team. That's what makes it fun, and I think that's why we improved this year."
Though memories of Sunday's gut-wrenching loss may remain for a while, eventually only memories of the successes and the camaraderie will linger.
Basketball
03-16-99
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