Coming off of its first Sweet 16 appearance in 20 years, Colorado women’s basketball coach JR Payne turned to the transfer portal to reload and help her squad take the next step.
The Buffs needed another shooter on the outside to open up the floor, and a veteran presence to replace the departing Tayanna Jones. New addition Maddie Nolan kills two birds with one stone.
Nolan, a four year contributor at Michigan, is one of the most experienced players on a veteran-laden CU squad, having appeared in 111 games with 75 starts during her time in Ann Arbor. Over that time, she grew accustomed to a winning culture, consistently doing the things teams need to gain an edge.
“I’m not the tallest, I'm not the fastest, I wear a big knee brace,” Nolan said. “But you can make up for a lot of that stuff by just being tough. Getting on the floor, taking charges, doing the intangibles. I think that’s another thing that I can bring to this team, whether I’m scoring or not, just doing the little things that help teams win.”
Nolan did just that at Michigan: win. During Nolan’s sophomore year, the Wolverines reached their first Sweet 16 in school history. The following season in 2021-22, they took it a step further, reaching the Elite 8.
Over that time, Nolan learned plenty about being a part of a winning culture, something that the Buffs have been building over the past few seasons. As Colorado tries to reach its first Elite 8, or even more, Nolan and the Buffs form a perfect marriage.
“(I bring) that hunger to achieve more, knowing how they feel in that sense… They’ve made the Sweet 16, they’ve finished really high in the Pac-12, but how do you take the steps to get even better? By holding each other accountable in practice, just to play as hard as we can, to be vocal, to talk. I think I can bring that to the team.”
But Nolan doesn’t just show up and magically win. She contributes plenty on the floor, specifically in what Colorado lacked a bit last season. Nolan ranks seventh in Michigan history with 167 3-pointers made, and she comes to a Buffs team that needed to reinforce its perimeter shooting.
Last season, the Buffs shot a solid percentage from deep, but Frida Formann was the only CU player to make multiple threes per game, something Nolan has done in each of the last two seasons. In just a few short weeks of practice, the two snipers are already feeling the benefits of sharing the court.
“Me and Maddie think very alike,” Formann said. “We understand the game in the same way, so it’s been fun to just talk about what to do on the court, and how to position ourselves.”
Beyond her skillset, Nolan has made an impression on her teammates and coaches with her voice and her leadership, one of the benefits of bringing in such an experienced transfer. When Payne spoke about the team leaders earlier this week, she listed off all of her returning veterans: Jaylyn Sherrod, Quay Miller, Formann, Kindyll Wetta, Charlotte Whittaker. But Nolan’s name made the list as well, even as a new face in a familiar group.
“Maddie, I would put right in line with Kindyll Wetta when I’m talking about players you love to coach that are just gonna work hard, do what they’re supposed to do, be great in the classroom, be a great teammate. You know, everything you want her to do, she’s doing above and beyond,” Payne said on Tuesday. “She’s not afraid to speak up, hold people up to the standard and things like that. She’s gonna be a great player. She’s not just a shooter. She is a knockdown shooter, but she can do a lot more than I think people know.”
Now, all that’s left to do is put it all together. When the Buffs take the court for their season opener on Nov. 6 against No. 1 ranked LSU, Nolan will be gunning to knock off the team that ended her season, and her Michigan career, in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
The Buffs come into this season ranked No. 20 in the AP Poll, the first time they’ve been ranked to start a season in a decade. With all of the players that will be departing at season’s end, it’s safe to say that expectations are potentially as high as they’ve ever been. But Nolan knows what needs to be done to meet them.
“Playing four years of college basketball, you kind of learn to use your voice and to be a leader and to hold kids accountable,” Nolan said. “That’s kind of, in a sense, what I learned from Michigan. If you’re not going as hard as you can, I’m gonna say something because I know that’s what is needed to be successful.”
