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Posted on Sat, Feb 12, 2011 : 11:07 a.m.

No argument: Michigan women's basketball guard Kate Thompson is nice off the court, aggressive on it

By Michael Rothstein

KATE-THOMPSON.jpg

Michigan sophomore guard Kate Thompson is earning more minutes this season with her aggressive play and steady defense.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Kate Thompson never had a chance in an argument with her parents. Her mother is a psychiatrist and her father is an attorney.

“I would try, do my best,” Thompson said. “I never won an argument. Ever.”

Maybe that’s why Thompson, a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard on the Michigan women’s basketball team, is the nicest person teammate Nya Jordan has ever met or why Thompson is looked at as the team mother even though she’s just 20 years old.

When you can’t win an argument, you win with kindness.

Unfailingly nice off of the court — Thompson took Jordan to the hospital this year at 3 a.m. and as a child addressed every parent as Mr. or Mrs. — her aggressiveness on the basketball court has resulted in increased playing time.

That on-court aggressiveness out of a lanky shooter is why Michigan coach Kevin Borseth recruited her, even though her father, Jeffrey, went to Michigan State and Thompson was a fan of the Spartans as a child.

Now Thompson and Michigan (14-9, 7-4 Big Ten) travel to East Lansing to face the first-place Spartans (21-3, 9-2) on Sunday in a sold-out game at the Breslin Center (2:30 p.m., ESPN2).

When she arrived at Michigan, the aggressiveness she showed in high school initially disappeared. She wasn’t as comfortable with the faster college game.

It’s part of why she barely played last year despite her size and ability. This season started the same way, but Thompson started to believe in herself and rediscovered that aggressiveness.

And she’s turned into Michigan’s do-everything, come-off-the-bench player. She shoots well, making 37.7 percent of her 3-pointers and averages 7.2 points a game. She leads Michigan in blocks with 20.

Essentially whatever Borseth asks her to do in games, it’s, “Yes, Coach. OK, Coach. Got it, Coach.”

Lately, that’s been defense.

“She’s guarded the big shooter from the other team,” Borseth said. “So her defensive role is getting a lot bigger. She’s a smart kid, an aggressive kid, so she gets what we’re trying to do on the defensive end of the court.”

With her length — Thompson has long arms that increase her defensive capabilities — she makes the rest of Michigan’s defense easier to play.

“She plays more aggressive than her personality,” Jordan said. “There are a lot of girls that are timid because they are so nice. She’s good at balancing, I guess, because she’s good at being aggressive.”

Once she leaves basketball, though, the aggressiveness slips away. She returns to being the nice person.

Which is why when she was picking whether to follow her mother or father into a profession, she went with her mom. Instead of arguing for a living, she’s trying to go into medicine. Her reasoning isn’t surprising.

“I just like helping people,” Thompson said. “That’s the best way.”

Can’t argue with that.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein

Comments

mr_annarbor

Sun, Feb 13, 2011 : 2:11 p.m.

Engineer's comment is not surprising. He's made it in nearly every women's basketball article. He's either got a thing for Merchant or something against Borseth or both. I wonder if he even goes to the games. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. It's hard to recruit basketball players to Michigan, and I doubt that Suzy Merchant would have done any better as the Michigan coach. Michigan State is a basketball school, with an awesome arena. And, as the article says, today's game is sold out. That's never happened for a women's game at Crisler. Don't you think all that makes it much easier to recruit at MSU? Having said all that, I think Borseth's done a great job here. Kate Thompson is an example of that. Keep up the good work--all of you!

Blu-dogg97

Sat, Feb 12, 2011 : 11:49 p.m.

ZING.. drum roll...

GO BLUE!!

Sat, Feb 12, 2011 : 11:14 p.m.

Engineer what the heck are you talking about, Kevin Borseth has totally turned this program around. Without him at the reigns Michigan Women's Basketball would still be winning 5 games a year. He is establishing the program with recruits and will eventually get those big name athletes who are choosing MSU. Suzy walked into a program which was already established and doing VERY well. Why don't you take a look at stats and actually be prepared before you make comments about things you obviously have NO clue about. Dave Brandon would be a retard if he got rid of Kevin Borseth. Instead of being negative why don't you try and support our Wolverines for a change! Keep it up KB your doing a great job! GO BLUE!

Engineer

Sat, Feb 12, 2011 : 8:14 p.m.

Nice to see a story on womens hoops. How about some news on their recruiting. Latest I read Borseth lost out to Suzy Merchant on states top recruit. Not a suprise since she seems to be far above Borseth as a coach. I am hoping for a win on sunday but am expecting a sweep. Can't blame Suzy. Martin interviewed her and then went elsewhere. I will never understand why. She had killed us for several years with her Eastern teams and obviously knew the area. Now we seem to be settling for second fiddle again. Hopefully DB will right the ship in mens and womens BB soon.