Many small make a great. — John Heywood, Proverbs (1546).

My fourth grade science fair project was not particularly scientific. After all, basketball is as much art as science.

Using basketball cards as reference, I graded NBA players in several statistical categories on a 1-10 scale, then added up the numbers to determine the best of the bunch. It was a rudimentary attempt to create an all-in-one stat before the days of player efficiency rating, win shares, and box plus-minus.

When I added up the columns, though, the numbers were all wrong. Hakeem Olajuwon was above Michael Jordan. Dennis Rodman, who I knew in my heart was the third-best player on the greatest team ever assembled, was off the board despite high scores in rebounding and defense.

So, as a budding sportswriter and a terrible scientist, I rigged the system. Introducing an “intangibles” column allowed me to manipulate the order as I saw fit. Jordan was at the top. Rodman leaped over the likes of Mitch Richmond.

I don’t remember if they gave out any prizes; I certainly didn’t win one. If there’d been an award for Most Discussion Generated Among Area Dads, however, I would’ve taken it in a runaway. My parents kept the posterboard for years. They still bring it up when we talk about how I got to be Like This.

In high school, Ben Wallace being the heart of Detroit’s 2004 NBA championship justified my belief in the unscientific method. The numbers couldn’t capture what he brought to the Pistons.

The same is true for Brooke Quarles Daniels, who would’ve broken my intangibles scale.

“A lot of what she does doesn’t show up in the stat sheets but a lot also does, like she’s been on triple-double watch I think the past two games. She needs to be on that defensive player of the year list. She is the best defender in the country. She fuels our defense. She allows [Olivia Olson] to pick up full court, she allows us to have a rest because she’s picking up the best player anywhere she goes.

“So she really fuels the way we play, the style of play, the fast pace, the fun pace. Her name needs to be heard. She needs to be on any and every list that’s out there. I don’t know what y’all need to do with social media but Brooke Daniels, DPOY.” — Syla Swords, after Michigan’s 86-65 win over Michigan State.

A lot of players say they go to a certain school or play a certain way because they want to win. At Michigan, Brooke Quarles Daniels backed up those words with unrelenting action.

In her first two years of college, Daniels was Oakland’s go-to player. She averaged 13.6 points per game as a Golden Grizzly. Nobody would’ve blamed her if she decided to finish out her career as the big fish in a smaller pond. But Oakland had a combined 25-34 record in those two seasons, going 8-12 in Horizon League play in both.

I can’t find the exact quote but on multiple occasions Kim Barnes Arico said that when Daniels arrived in Ann Arbor, she told her new coach she’d do whatever it took to help the team win, including changing her style of play.

In her first season at U-M, Daniels came off the bench and averaged only three field goal attempts per game, a nine-shot drop from the previous season. She went from playing 31 minutes per game to 18. When on the floor, she was no longer the primary ballhandler. Her scoring average dropped to 4.4 points, seventh on the team.

Michigan won 23 games, just two shy of the number of Oakland wins in her two years there. Despite the limited playing time, Daniels led the team in steals and finished third in offensive rebounds.

We measure that every day in practice too. We try to get ten stickers, we call them. You get a littler sticker on your locker for every loose ball, every charge you take. We each have a measurable of that, and you see how you're progressing.

I want to touch on a comment that Brooke said earlier about her offensive production. She's leading in the stickers on the team. You see her locker, it's full of stickers. While not every game she's the top scorer, she's assisting or creating opportunities for everybody to be able to score.

I like to think that we're one of the best offenses in the country, but a lot of that starts with her, and a lot of that is what she does. — Swords, prior to the 2026 Elite Eight.

Despite the critical role Daniels played as a junior, she was not considered a lock to fill one of the two open starting spots heading into 2025-26.

One would be taken by Bucknell transfer Ashley Sofilkanich, who was brought in to start at center. The other place in the lineup had plenty of competition. Te’Yala Delfosse displayed a ton of potential as a freshman. Alyssa Crockett and Macy Brown each had extensive experience in the program. UCLA transfer Kendall Dudley was a five-star talent with positional flexibility. Every one of them was bigger than Daniels on a team that had been seriously undersized the previous year.

Daniels came off the bench in four of the team’s first six games. Crockett started against Canisius and Howard, Dudley against Binghampton and Syracuse. But in the two most difficult matchups of that stretch, Notre Dame and UConn, Daniels rounded out the starting five.

The Syracuse game cemented Daniels’ place in the lineup. While Dudley struggled to make an impact, Daniels excelled on both ends of the floor with eight points, five rebounds (two offensive), seven assists, and three steals. In the 20 minutes Dudley played, the Orange beat U-M by four points. The Wolverines won Daniels’ 21 minutes by 23.

Daniels started every game from there on out.

She allayed any concerns about size (listed at 5’7) and shooting (3-for-45 career mark on three-pointers) by earning cult hero status with her defense, offensive rebounding, and hustle. There were two likely reasons for my Bluesky timeline to explode in a series of posts reading “Q. DANIELS, BRO” — the delightful way Statbroadcast displayed Daniels’ name on their live stats page:

In 2025-26, Daniels pulled down 106 offensive rebounds, 34 more than any other Wolverine despite being the shortest player on the roster by three inches. She added 82 defensive rebounds, the same number as starting center Sofilkanich. She had 86 steals, 23 more than any teammate. She finished second on the team with 99 assists.

Her signature play of the season didn’t fall under any of those statistical categories. Late in Michigan’s Senior Day blowout of Maryland, Sofilkanich overcommitted to a ball screen, allowing 6’3 Terrapins post Isi Ozzy-Momodu to slip to the basket for what appeared to be a wide open layup. In a flash, Daniels rotated into the paint, planted off two feet, and blocked Ozzy-Momodu’s shot.

The Crisler Center crowd gave one of its loudest cheers of the season as Sofilkanich gathered the ensuing loose ball. The game was no longer competitive, not that it changed the way Daniels played.

I wanna say you’ve never seen anyone as tough as me. — Brooke Quarles Daniels.

Senior Day was not Daniels’ final game at the Crisler Center. At 25-6 (15-3 Big Ten), Michigan secured a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament and the regional home games that came with it.

The Wolverines cruised through the first two rounds, beating Holy Cross and N.C. State by a combined 64 points. In a fitting sendoff, Daniels totaled 18 points, nine assists, seven offensive rebounds, and seven steals across the weekend.

In the Sweet Sixteen stomping of three-seed Louisville, she outdid herself, becoming the shortest player in NCAA Tournament history to grab seven offensive rebounds. For the 12th consecutive game, she pilfered at least two steals. There’s literally nobody who’s done it quite like her on such a big stage.

Two days later, the greatest season in program history ended with a thud against an overhwhelming Texas team in the Elite Eight. Daniels, emotional and defiant, sent a message after her final collegiate game.

“I think people are getting us now,” she said. “But it's not going to be that way the next year or the second year, so you got to get us now.”

It’s never been about Brooke Quarles Daniels. She came to Michigan to leave the program in a better place than she found it. Her impact will be felt long after she’s gone.

Some of that impact could be measured in the box score. A lot of it could not. Numbers be damned, she’s right up there with Naz Hillmon for my favorite player ever to don a Michigan uniform.

Photo credit: David Wilcomes/MGoBlog