Michigan women’s basketball adding first three jerseys to rafters

Three of Michigan women’s basketball‘s greats are set to be immortalized.

For the first time, U-M plans to raise three jerseys to the Crisler Center rafters to honor a trio of stars, the program announced Wednesday, Oct. 29: Diane Dietz’s No. 21, Naz Hillmon’s No. 00 and Katelynn Flaherty Yates’ No. 3.

Advertisement

Dietz, who starred for the Wolverines from 1979-82, will be honored during the Jan. 11 game against Wisconsin; Flaherty Yates (2015-18) will be commemorated on Jan. 25 against USC; and Hillmon (2019-22) has a ceremony set for Feb. 15 – when U-M welcomes rival Michigan State to Ann Arbor.

MAKING HISTORY: Kim Barnes Arico surpasses John Beilein as Michigan basketball’s winningest coach with win over Indiana

Dietz was the program’s first 2,000-point scorer – and the program’s all-time leading scorer until Flaherty Yates passed her nearly 3½ decades later – and her 2,076 points (set before the college game added the 3-pointer) still rank fourth all-time among Wolverines. Dietz is second in program history in field goals (940) and 30-point games (11), while her 45 points against Illinois on Feb. 27, 1982, stood as a program record for nearly 40 years.

Dietz also excelled on defense, finishing with a then-program-best 229 steals – now fourth in program history. Her success continued off the court;, a three-time Academic All-American, she was one of two Wolverines inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame (2009).

Michigan’s first female recipient of the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1982, Dietz was added to U-M’s Hall of Honor in 1996 and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.

Advertisement

No Wolverines, male or female, has more points than Flaherty’s 2,776 during her four years in Ann Arbor. She holds numerous program records including field goals (984), 3-pointers (410), double-digit scoring games (127) and 30-point games (13). She finished her career as the second player in NCAA history to make more than 400 3-pointers.

Flaherty Yates helped spark a program turnaround under coach Kim Barnes Arico, with U-M winning the WNIT in 2017 and returning to the NCAA Tournament in 2018 for the first time in five years. A three-time consensus All-Big Ten first-team guard, she became the program’s first AP All-American honorable mention pick in 2018, a year in which she was one of five finalists for the Nancy Lieberman Award (awarded annually to the nation’s top point guard.

Hillmon, the first All-American in program history, is the only player in Michigan basketball history (male or female) to top 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career. Hillmon left Ann Arbor as the program leader in rebounds (1,063), double-doubles (52) and free throws made (487) and is second all-time in scoring (2,183 points) behind Flaherty Yates.

Advertisement

She became the first four-time All-Big Ten player in program history, part of a run in which she was also named All-American by WBCA, USBWA, The Athletic and Sports Illustrated in both 2021 and 2022. She grew in her role every season and is one of two players in Big Ten history to be win Freshman of the Year, Player of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year in a career.

Hillmon led the Wolverines to a Sweet 16 and an Elite Eight in back-to-back NCAA tournaments, then was selected by the Atlanta Dream with the 15th pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft.

She was named WNBA Sixth Player of the Year this past season.

Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

Advertisement

Make “Hail Yes!” your go-to Wolverines podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan women’s basketball honoring first 3 stars with jersey raising