They’re coming, these young Wolverines. And have been for a while.
Michigan women’s basketball lived among the best teams in the sport all season, lodged firmly in the top 10 in both polls, week in and week out.
They took No. 1 Connecticut to the final minute.
Then it was then-No. 5 Vanderbilt.
Then, it was then-No. 2 UCLA.
They’ve got as much young perimeter skill as anyone, anywhere, and are learning to make up for their (relative) lack of size underneath with length and athleticism everywhere else. Still, they are sturdier down low than they were a season ago, when they lost to Notre Dame in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
That showed Sunday at Crisler Center, when the Wolverines absorbed North Carolina State’s double-big frontline, sped them up, turned them over, and shot them out of the gym.
Literally.
Sweet 16?
You bet. And for just the third time in school history.
All three appearances have come under coach Kim Barnes Arico, who has guided the program on a steady rise for most of her 14-year tenure, getting it to the precipice of something special.
Next week. Or next season. It’s coming.
These Wolverines are different than any team before it, fueled by a young core that’s aiming for more, hungry for more, capable of more, and looking to prove that Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas, where second-seeded U-M will take on either 6-seed Alabama or 3-seed Louisville.
Beat the Crimson Tide or the Cardinals and top-seed Texas could await in the Elite Eight. Beat the Longhorns and, well, that’d be new territory.
“We committed to Michigan to do this, and we committed to Coach Arico to do it for her and for each other,” said Olivia Olson, U-M’s All-American sophomore wing, who sat for much of the second quarter with foul trouble, didn’t score in the first half and still ended up with 27 points.
She committed to Michigan for these chances, these trips, like the one they’ll take this week to Texas for the opportunity to make history. Olson, a five-star recruit, said last week that she and her fellow sophomores – Syla Swords, Mila Holloway and Te’Yala Delfosse – came to get this program to another level.
That starts with not just making the NCAAs, but hosting during the first and second rounds, and making the Sweet 16, and giving yourself a shot at a Final Four. Getting to the doorstep of history is easier when a team has a player who can shake off foul trouble after a long stint on the bench and score 27 points in just 17:40 on the court after halftime.
“Is she an All-American or what?” Barnes Arico said. “Is she arguably not one of the best players in the country? … For her to come back in the second half and do what she did was phenomenal, absolutely incredible. For her to have that confidence, for her teammates to find her early, for them to give her touches, and for her to make plays and put on the performance that she did … it’s got to be one of the best halves of basketball of any player this season.”
Yeah, Barnes Arico is hardly objective. But she’s seen some things. So has Wes Moore, North Carolina State’s coach who’s been around the game for decades. He admired not just Olson, but the young core specifically and the entire team in general.
“They’re playing at a really high level right now,” Moore said. “I’m impressed with how connected they are, how bought in they are. They can hurt you a lot of different ways. I thought the first half we did a pretty good job of executing our plan and trying to slow down Swords and Olson, but again, they’re hard to contain for 40 minutes.”
Swords, by the way, struggled early, too, missing five of her first six beyond the arc. She found a few scores along the baseline, slipping and attacking, but didn’t find any rhythm until the second half.
She finished with 26 points and, like Olson, can score at three levels and pull up from anywhere in Ann Arbor. Their shot-making, along with Holloway’s playmaking (and shot-making) give the Wolverines a chance against almost anyone.
And everyone.
To beat anyone – and everyone – well, that’s the next step, and whether it comes this weekend or the next couple of seasons, Sunday’s performance at Crisler shows it should be coming.
Health will matter, of course. And Barnes Arico will have to keep the core together, not always easy in this era – not always easy when building a program and the bluebloods come poaching.
Olson and Co aren’t worried about that now. They’re thinking about the step in front of them. And fun. And how much they want to keep having it.
“That’s what it’s about …” Olson said, “like, we’re accomplishing the goals we set out to, and we’re not done yet.”
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan women’s basketball building something special in Sweet 16 run
Reporting by Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
