Michigan Wolverines women's basketball home venue Crisler Center
The Michigan Wolverines women's basketball team is the intercollegiate women's basketball program representing the University of Michigan. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Wolverines play home basketball games at the Crisler Center on the university campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan.History
Michigan began playing intercollegiate women's basketball in 1973–74, when inaugural head coach Vic Katch led the team to a 3–8 record (0–1 against Big Ten teams). There was no form of conference competition for the Wolverines until the 1976–77 season, and even then it was not officially sanctioned by the Big Ten until 1982–83. Michigan did not qualify for postseason play until earning an NCAA tournament bid in 1990 under head coach Bud VanDeWege, which would remain its only tournament appearance until Sue Guevara led the Wolverines to five straight postseason appearances (in both the NCAA and WNIT tournaments) between 1998 and 2002.The team's best postseason performance in the NCAA Tournament is advancing to the Elite Eight, which it achieved for the first time in 2022. The Wolverines won the WNIT tournament in 2017, and have also reached the WNIT semifinals twice: in 2010 and 2015. Michigan has never won a Big Ten championship, either in the regular season or in the conference tournament. The closest it has come is 2nd in the regular season and tied for 3rd in the tournament, both accomplished during Guevara's tenure. Guevara was the most accomplished coach in the history of the program, leading all coaches in both wins and winning percentage for conference and overall games alike.Since 2012, Michigan is coached by Kim Barnes Arico, the former St. John's Red Storm head coach and two-time Big East Coach of the Year. During a February 2017 game against Michigan State, the Wolverines set an attendance record of 12,707 in the first home sellout in program history, which more than doubled the previous record of 5,991. The second-largest home crowd (8,313) attended a January 2018 game against Ohio State. Later that same week, during the January 13th game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Katelynn Flaherty scored her 2,443rd point, surpassing Glenn Rice as the school's all-time leading scorer, man or woman. Flaherty would finish her career with a school-record 2,776 points.During the 2017–18 season, Barnes Arico became the winningest coach in program history. On July 12, 2018, Barnes Arico signed a contract extension with the Wolverines through the 2022–23 season.During the 2021–22 season, Michigan reached their highest ranking ever in the AP Poll at No. 4. On December 19, 2021, Michigan earned the program's first ever win over a top-five ranked team when they defeated No. 5 Baylor 74–68 in overtime. On January 31, 2022, Michigan earned their second ever win over a top-five ranked team when they defeated No. 5 Indiana 65–50.
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