Olivia Olson and Syla Swords have gotten the bulk of the media attention surrounding Michigan women’s basketball — which was voted the No. 2 team in the country in the AP Poll, the highest ranking in program history — the last few years.
It makes sense why Olson and Swords have been featured in most of the headlines about this team. They came to Michigan as five-star recruits, have led Michigan in scoring two seasons in a row, and have each racked up multiple Big Ten awards. The trio of Olson, Swords and point
guard Mila Holloway has led Michigan to becoming a very good team in the Big Ten.
To go from very good to great, college basketball teams need role players to improve season after season. And Michigan fans are witnessing Te’Yala Delfosse — a forgotten member of the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history — go from a key bench piece to a pivotal starter.
Delfosse had a hell of an introduction to a national audience last Thursday, as Michigan upset then-No. 2 UConn at Crisler Center, the program’s first win over a top-two team. Delfosse led the Wolverines with 22 points, knocking down clutch shot after clutch shot to help Michigan pull off the best win in program history.
Delfosse has come a long way from playing just 9.7 minutes per game as a freshman. Kim Barnes Arico, the winningest coach in Michigan basketball history (men’s and women’s), called Delfosse a “deer in the headlights” during that season.
Two years later, Delfosse isn’t a deer; she’s in the driver’s seat. After averaging 8.7 points and 4.7 rebounds off the bench last season, she had options in the transfer portal, but chose to stay.
“I think as a coach, and I could probably get emotional talking about it right now, that’s why we do it. We do it to see that improvement,” Barnes Arico said when Maize n Brew asked her about Delfosse’s development. “I think Te’Yala Delfosse is a kid who committed to us, and those of you in the room that watched her her freshman year, she might have only got 10 minutes a game, she had some really great games and she had some games where she really didn’t play.
“But she was like, ‘No coach, I believe in you, I believe in Michigan, I know you’re going to pour into me and help me be the player I can be.’ She’s never wavered. That kid could have gone anywhere last year for any amount of money, but she really believes in this program and I think the whole country had the opportunity to see Te today. And she’s only going to get better, I promise she’s going to get better.”
The phrase “those who stay will be champions” is gospel in Michigan households, and Delfosse embracing the grind has Michigan as one of the top teams in the sport. It took years for the New Jersey native to grow into the player she is today, but she has stuck with it, developing into a breakout player.
“That’s something that our program is based on,” Barnes Arico said. “That is something that we pride ourselves on as coaches, that I pride myself on is development, and that’s all we talk about. We pour into our kids 24/7. In this world of college athletics, with retention and with NIL and with collective, I think it says a tremendous amount about our current group of juniors that have stayed. But they stay because they believe they are getting better, that’s a really important piece. They stay for Michigan as well, but they want to be great, they want to be the best. So they want to know every single day that you are going to challenge them.”
The Wolverines were angry after last season’s loss in the Elite Eight to Texas, and Barnes Arico said Olson and Swords came right to her after that loss, asking how they can get better to avoid being embarrassed that deep into the NCAA Tournament.
In today’s college basketball landscape, Olson, Swords, Delfosse and others could have easily left for an opportunity at another program after that loss. But they decided to stay because of the belief they had in what was under construction in Ann Arbor.
“I think if you come to Michigan, you are going to get better,” Barnes Arico said. “That is something in the ever-changing landscape of college athletics that is very important to me and very important to our staff and very important to our players.”
It was abundantly clear the buy-in was there from the players before this season started. They knew what they were capable of. And now, the rest of the country is starting to see all those years of hard work come to fruition. Icons of the sport have taken notice.
“I think when you’re in a program that has not had the kind of success that they’re having right now, it’s hard to get players to believe that this recruiting class will make a difference,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said after Thursday’s game. “And that takes a while, and you almost have to prove it first. And so over the years, they were able to bring in the type of players that play the way she wants them to play, and they play an aggressive style of play. They have a team that’s more than just Syla Swords and Olivia Olson, they have a really good team. It’s one game for them as well, but they put themselves in a position where, ‘Why can’t we be a Final Four team?’ And that certainly wasn’t the case 10 years ago. So all the credit to her and her staff.”
