It’s important to remember that as she enters her fourth year in the Big 10. She has proven that she can teach basketball and get players to perform at a very high level. Those aren’t skills that are forgotten, even though her won-loss record makes it tempting to think that she has.

Right now, she needs to show that she has the ability to adapt her style to play against much more night-in night-out competition than she ever has. So far, the results indicate that she hasn’t made those adjustments. She admits that her job at Michigan has been more difficult than she expected. She is trying to implement a system that has worked for her in the past. She has won by taking relatively unheralded players who outwork their opponents, frustrate them with defensive pressure and use that pressure to create offensive opportunities. Burnett is trying to win with overachievers and that rarely works in a major conference. She also is trying to win by forcing opponents to make mistakes. That is also not a strategy that produces many wins at this level.

That makes the future look bleak for her.

But remember where we started. Cheryl Burnett is a woman who knows how to win basketball games. She will have to make significant adjustments. She understands this. The freshman class of 2006 has several players who look to be more talented than any she has recruited at Michigan. It would be a mistake to write her off just yet.

There are many challenges that face any coach who is taking over a program that has as many problems as Michigan had. Burnett has handled those problems the right way and with class. She still needs to produce on the court.

If she is to turn the program into a winning one, she must make real progress this season. She will only have one senior and she has to put her players in position to make a major jump next year.

If the 2006 Wolverines don’t win more Big 10 games than Burnett has in her time, it will be almost impossible for her to turn things around. That would be too bad. She does so many things the right way, that she deserves to succeed.