In order to keep pushing forward, you have to take care of the checkpoints that lead you back to where you left off.

Michigan Women's Basketball has reached the second weekend in back-to-back NCAA tournaments,

but in order to get to those points in the previous seasons and to try to match and eventually surpass those showings this time around,

you got to take care of business in the round of 64.

Kim Barnes-RICO has had no issues with that stage.

Under KBA, Michigan is 6 and 0 in NCAA tournament openers.

While she was at St. John's, the record was 4-0 in the round of 64.

So 10-0 overall in Division 1, and get this, when she was at Division

2 Adelphi in her lone NCAA tournament appearance, they won their first game. And yeah, she's

7 and 0 as a coach in the WNIT in game number one. Those results speak to a ton about Coach Orico

and the recent success for Michigan about the program as it stands.

Remember, this team hadn't played a game since the Big 10 tournament quarterfinals exactly two weeks ago,

which is normally how things go around here at Michigan with an extra week of lead-up before selection Sunday, before you

find out who you're going to play in that first game, and then you've got to wait a few days

to finally get to tip off.

But those 14 days for Michigan were far from off days.

There is clearly a tried and true process that's generated a ton of success.

There's a period of time to improve,

to get better, to get ready for what's ahead. We are so much about this program being the

hardest working team in America. Well, give a team like that, a full two weeks to prepare,

to scout, to work, and the results speak for themselves.

And if you're a hardworking team, person, coach, whatever it might be,

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