BIG TEN BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYS

October 7, 2021

Kim Barnes Arico

Michigan Wolverines

Women’s Head Coach

KIM BARNES ARICO: Good morning, everyone. I actually called my son at college this morning and I told him that I had to follow Kevin Warren. I was the first coach that will be speaking.

He told me that, Mom, remember you always used to tell me that they put the best hitter in the leadoff spot. I was very nervous. He made me feel a little bit better.

Great to be here this morning. Great to kick things off. I just want to say a special thank you to Kevin Warren for having us here today. I think it's really important for our programs to be here today with the success that women's basketball has had recently in the Big Ten. I think it's a great opportunity for our student-athletes to be in this environment and to get this media attention.

I really would like to thank Kevin for that. I would like to thank the Big Ten for that opportunity, as well. I would also like to thank Kevin Warren for the opportunity he has given me personally and Naz Hillmon and our student-athletes this past year with the initiatives that he started with the Equality Coalition. I think that's been really important for us, for our program specifically, but for our conference. So thanks, Kevin. Really appreciate that.

To speak about our league, I think I'd really like to kick things off with that. We are stronger. I know I've said this before, but we are stronger than we have ever been from top to bottom. Obviously we had four teams go to the Sweet 16 last year, which is incredibly impressive because we weren't getting a lot of that buzz and that attention heading into the NCAA tournament. When it was all said and done, I thought the Big Ten was absolutely incredible.

We are stronger than ever before. I think we have some fabulous, fabulous young, up-and-coming coaches, new coaches in our league that are just absolutely terrific. Then we have some veteran coaches. It's a great mix of coaches, but really a great mix of players.

Obviously I have a favorite in Hillmon. She's an All-American, Big Ten Player of the Year. But Caitlin Clark, Ashley Owusu, Leigha Brown, we can go down the list of tremendous players we have in our league as well.

I think it's really a time to be excited about Big Ten women's basketball. I'm excited about our program. Obviously we have Naz returning. We lost two starters, but we have a great core returning, a great group of new assistant coaches, a lot of energy and enthusiasm on our campus for sure.

We get to work every single day with Coach Howard and our men's program as well. We work side-by-side. There's just a lot of excitement on the campus at the University of Michigan.

At this time I'll open it up to any questions that you have.

Q. Could you talk about dealing with expectations now. Actually going to the Sweet 16 for the first time, yeah, how does that change things inside the program?

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, it's definitely a little bit different, a little bit different of a role our team is this. I think we attack each day kind of with the same mentality: try to be the best that we can be today and not really look at the finished product. We were able to do that last year in a really tough and difficult year.

I think it's just trying to worry about improvement, trying to worry about getting better, and not worry about the wins and losses. So it's about the process and not the end result.

We got to concentrate on that. We can't read social media, get caught up in all that stuff, try to be the best Michigan team we can be each day.

Q. If you could speak a little more to the synergy with the men's program, how you two work together.

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, I mean, I'm sure you guys know in the room, but Juwan Howard is a pretty special man. When he first got to Michigan, I had been there for a number of years, and he'd be sitting and watching practice. I would say, Thank you, Coach, for coming to practice.

He would be like, Are you kidding? We're family, this is what we do. This is what we do at Michigan.

We'd have a game. He would be in the front row -- this is COVID -- of the arena. One of our players would make a play, have an and-one, he would get up, swinging his hands. After I'd say, Thanks, Coach, for coming to the game, bringing your family to the game.

He said, No, thinks what we do at Michigan. We're a Michigan family.

He does that with our program and also with every team in the university.

Our men and our women are together every day. We share the same facilities. We spend a lot of time with each other. I think we have a mutual respect for each other. It's a great relationship to have. It's really a difference maker, for sure.

Q. I know the NCAA recently used the March Madness slogan with the women's tournament now, for the women's game to be on a higher platform.

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, I think it's outstanding. It's incredible. I think last year there were so many tough things that happened through COVID, so many hard times through COVID. But there were some real positives that came out of it. An opportunity for the women's game to be on the big stage last year, for so many people to get to watch our game, for so many of the inequities to be shown I think really opened up a lot of people's eyes and has given us an opportunity to push the needle, move forward, use our platform to move forward.

This is just another great example and opportunity for our women, for women basketball players, but women basketball players and women in general.

Q. There was discussion a week ago about having Final Fours simultaneously in the same city. Do you think that was a good idea or whether it might be better for the women's game to follow the model that the softball World Series has used and done so well?

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, that's a great question. It's actually one we were on the plane last night, Naz Hillmon, Leigha Brown asked me how I felt about that. We were bouncing different things around.

I don't know. I think it's really a good conversation to have. I'm not sure if I have a real feeling which way that I would go at this point. But I think it's great that we're really having those conversations and really trying to figure out what is the best for the female student-athlete.

Is it best to put them in an environment where the men are having their Final Four, or is it best for them to have their own place? Where would we get more media attention, what would be the best situation for those student-athletes?

I don't know. I'm still thinking about that. I don't have my own personal opinion really on it. I think it's just great that we're having these type of conversations and that we're moving the needle forward.

Thank you, guys. Have a wonderful day.