The No. 2-seed Michigan women’s basketball team is in its third Sweet 16, two wins from making its first Final Four and four from winning the Wolverines’ first national championship. They have reached this point in large part thanks to sophomore guard Olivia Olson, the program’s second-ever AP All-American (third-team).
Olson is averaging 19.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in the NCAA Tournament, including a clutch 27-point second half to secure Michigan’s Sweet 16 berth. Her leadership and dynamic
play have been paramount to the Wolverines’ success, and began long before March. She has started every game in her Michigan career and was the first commit of the Wolverines’ transformative sophomore class.
“When Olivia was in her recruiting process and I was here, I was talking to her a lot just about what she wants from the college that she’s at,” junior guard Macy Brown said on March 19. “And she was saying, she wants to do something different. She wants to make a mark on a program. And I was like, this is a place to do it.”
Olson has already made her mark, setting the Wolverines’ freshman scoring record with 553 points in 34 games and becoming the third-fastest in program history to eclipse 1,000 career points Feb. 8 against UCLA. As Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year and now on the All-Big Ten first-team, named to All-American lists, she’s a matchup circled on every opponent’s scouting report.
Not that that’s slowed her down at all, as Olson has scored in double figures in each of the Wolverines’ 33 games this season, with 17 20-point games and a career-high 31 points in a Feb. 25 overtime victory against then-No. 13 Ohio State.
With that consistency, she is driving the Wolverines’ team success. She’s leading Michigan in scoring (19.2 points per game) and rebounding (6.2 per game), and piloted the Wolverines to their first-ever 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament, on the cusp of the second Elite Eight berth in program history. Against No. 7-seed NC State in the second round, Olson took over in the second half, dropping 27 points on 9-for-14 shooting including 3-for-4 from deep and 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
“She’s really good at getting to her spots,” sophomore wing Te’Yala Delfosse said. “And once she gets to her spots, nobody’s guarding, nobody’s gonna be able to defend that pull up that she has inside and and then she got her three so there’s that you gotta guard her inside and out. Do you give her a step or do you get up on her? And I just feel like it creates a lot of different mismatches.”
At 6-foot-1 and strong, Olson is a difficult matchup for opponents. She can score at all levels, post up smaller defenders and beat taller defenders with her speed and agility. Defensively, she steps up when Michigan — who deploys a four- or five-guard lineup — faces teams with an interior presence, defending Wolfpack All-American honorable mention forward Khamil Pierre and limiting her pick-and-pop game effectively. She’s guarding positions 1 through 5, ranking second on the team in steals (1.8 per game) and blocks (0.5).
But what stands out the most when Olson plays is her hustle. As a face of the “hardest working team in America,” Olson’s effort represents that moniker well. She’s a player coaches have to drag out of the gym. Teammates have to tell her to “chill out” in practice, diving on the floor the day after playing a full game. She’s early to arrive and late to leave, shooting on the gun before morning practices even begin.
It’s that leadership by example that raises the standard in practice for the Wolverines, and what motivates them to play harder for each other. Olson doesn’t shy away from coaching — she wants head coach Kim Barnes Arico to push her every day, and wants it for her teammates, too. But maintaining that high standard — even with the pressure of being the All-American, the big-time recruit, starting every game — doesn’t come at the expense of Olson’s attitude towards the game. Even with all that outside noise, she just talks about her love of basketball and the joy she gets playing it. She’s humble as ever, and is overwhelmingly positive with a resilient mental game.
“She’s always positive, like, whether someone else messed up or she messed up, like she’s always positive to herself,” freshman guard McKenzie Mathurin said. “…She shows up every day. She works every single day in practice no matter how bad her body is feeling or even like her mind, she shows up every day. She gives it all her energy.”
Olson comes into the gym every day, ready to go, and shows up to perform whatever role her team needs. With that love of the game, she keeps things light. A teammate described as funny, whimsical, goofy, bright and unique, she’s also known as one who would get a big head from anyone validating her sense of humor — despite remaining humble as ever on the court. From sharing her cat (described by teammates as more of a child than pet) to starting bits of humor that spread to the entire team, Olson doesn’t let the pressure take away from her joy or the moment.
“Olivia Olson is a beast,” Barnes Arico said Jan. 25 after Olson’s 24-point outing against Southern California. “One of the best players in the country, hands down in women’s basketball right now. … She just plays offense, plays defense, rebounds, has a toughness, has an edge, a three level scorer. … Olivia is so unselfish that she completely buys into that and does what the team needs her to do. The team needed her to score tonight, and when we needed her to score, she got every bucket that we needed.”
Olson committed to make a Final Four and win a national championship, trailblazing firsts for Michigan. Now, an elite scorer and defender, she’s spearheading the effort to get Michigan past the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend, still the player circled on every opponent’s scouting report.
