Ex-MSU star Kristin Haynie has Central Michigan women’s hoops relevant again

Twenty-one years after she last played for Michigan State, Kristin Haynie remains the program’s all-time leader in steals. So, yes, she loves herself some defense.

It’s no surprise, then, that the Central Michigan women’s basketball team’s rapid rise back to relevance has coincided with the team’s improved play on that side of the ball. In Haynie’s first season as head coach in 2023-24, the Chippewas ranked last in the Mid-American Conference in points allowed; her second season, they got it up to seventh; this year, they are fifth.

Kristin Haynie leads the Central Michigan women's basektball team into the Mid-American Conference Tournament this week. — Kristin Haynie leads the Central Michigan women’s basektball team into the Mid-American Conference Tournament this week.

“You just want to keep getting better,” Haynie said earlier this week, before departing for Cleveland for the MAC tournament. “I would like us to anticipate more … and cause more havoc.”

No. 4 seed Central Michigan (18-11) will get that chance to cause some real havoc this week in Cleveland, where it will open the MAC tournament at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday against No. 5 seed Ohio (17-12) in a rematch of their New Year’s Eve game in Mount Pleasant, won by Ohio, 85-83, in overtime.

That was the most points CMU allowed in a MAC game this season, as if it needed any more reminders on the importance of stepping up on defense.

Meanwhile, the Chippewas also will be defending the honor of the state of Michigan in Cleveland. Their program is the only one of the six from Michigan (men or women) to qualify for the MAC tournament this year.

“We want to be the state team from Michigan in the MAC, and we were super happy to be able to do that,” Haynie said. “We’re very fortunate to be in the spot we want to be in.”

Haynie’s team won just six games in her first season as a head coach; its goal was to more than double that in Year 2, and the Chippewas did, at 14-17. This year’s preseason goal was simple enough: win more games (check), including one (at least) in Cleveland.

Central Michigan finished fourth in the MAC in the regular season, at 12-6. There were promising signs early on, including a 57-55 home win over Purdue during a gauntlet of a nonconference schedule.

The Chippewas are led offensively by sophomore guard Madi Morson (Canton), the reigning MAC freshman of the year and a candidate for player of the year, averaging a MAC-best 20 points a game while shooting 38.8% from 3. She also leads the team in steals, with 38. Sophomore forward Ayanna-Sarai Darrington averages 14.7 points. Central Michigan has gotten most of its starts this year from underclassmen.

“We’re young. We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” said Haynie, an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan and Michigan State from 2012-23, whose contract as CMU head coach was extended by two years last month. It now runs through 2028-29 at more than $220,000 a year. “We’re getting there.”

The winner of Wednesday’s game advances to Friday’s MAC semifinals, against either No. 1 Miami (Ohio) or No. 8 Kent State. The championship game is set for 11 a.m. Saturday.

Central Michigan has secured its first winning season since 2020-21, when it made the last of its three consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament in a four-season span.