Suited up in her basketball uniform, 16-year-old Mila Holloway and her mother, Robin Ramey, were sitting in a restaurant waiting for their food when they were approached by Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico.
While both parties were in town for the Boo Williams Nike Invitational in Virginia, neither was on the other’s radar. But in that restaurant, curiosity got the best of Barnes Arico.
The conversation was casual — a few words on Holloway’s high school career and collegiate recruiting. Barnes Arico mentioned the Wolverines’ tendency to not recruit down near Holloway’s home in North Carolina, as too many players were hesitant to brave the cold, distant north.
“I said, ‘Oh, well we go north,’ ” Ramey told The Michigan Daily. “ ‘You know, she’s supposed to play for Team Canada.’ And she was kind of like, ‘Whoa.’ It just kind of happened by chance.”
The chance exchange lingered. While Barnes Arico hadn’t circled Holloway on her scouting report, following their conversation, she kept an eye on her — both in Virginia and beyond. In doing so, all of the qualities that have come to define Holloway became clear.
There is the unselfishness — the way she lifts her teammates, always finding the extra pass. Then, there’s her poise and ability to stay calm and confident in her skill, even in high-pressure situations. And, to boot, she has the skill to make her vision come alive on the court.
“I like to see other people who succeed, and especially if I can assist them with that,” Holloway told The Daily. “It just puts a smile on my face. My teammates always joke with me on how I never get too high or too low. I’m always kind of just calm. They say I’m poised.”
But Barnes Arico had a vision beyond what Holloway showed on the court. She saw what others — including Holloway herself — couldn’t. She saw a Power Four prospect, a high-caliber starting point guard and a team leader ready for molding under the maize and blue.
“Mila Holloway is what drives our train, what steers our ship,” Barnes Arico said Oct. 28 at Michigan Media Day. “… I don’t think sometimes she understands what she brings and what she does for our program as much as the people in the program and the coaches in the program understand. … We are not Michigan Women’s Basketball without Mila Holloway.”
Like Barnes Arico, many may not have heard the name Mila Holloway prior to last season. But Holloway has never felt the need to be recognized. She leaves it all on the court, letting the poise of her game speak for itself.
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While she currently holds the role of starting point guard for the Wolverines, elementary-school Holloway lived by a very simple fact: she did not want to play basketball. At least not for a team.
Instead, she much preferred playing basketball in her driveway alongside her older brothers Leito and Aden Holloway. Undeterred by them having both years and inches on her, Mila was, even then, the ultimate competitor. It didn’t matter if they “destroyed” her or if she got hurt. Every time, she’d bounce back with a spirit and resolve that towered even if she physically didn’t.
When not playing the sport alongside her brothers, Mila was watching them, shuffling around their games and practices, slowly fostering a deep personal tie to the sport. It just wasn’t one she wanted to take onto the court.
“I was always going to their games, and I would always be in the stands watching, cheering them on,” Mila said. “And I always hated the thought of me playing organized sports. I just liked playing with them in the driveway.”
Despite her hesitance, she couldn’t help but be drawn in as she entered middle school. She wanted to further foster her connection to the sport.
Playing competitively for the first time, Mila fell in love once more with basketball. Part of it was her love for the game that consumed her life, but more than that, it was the sense of camaraderie and competition that enamored her completely.
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Midway through high school, the prospect of collegiate basketball started to become a reality for Mila. She spent her first two seasons at Julius Chambers High School, playing varsity from day one and eventually helping lead her team to two state championships.
But as transformative as her time at Julius Chambers High School was, it also revealed a new truth. If she wanted to push herself further — to face higher-level competition, to gain visibility, to see just how far her talent could take her — she needed to up the competition. So, as a junior in high school, she left home to play for Legacy Early College and the Carolina Flames.
“Prior to me playing with Carolina Flames, my ninth grade year and 10th grade year, I hadn’t really played at that level before,” Mila said. “Just adjusting, especially being a point guard, having to keep up with the responsibility of it and just working on being more vocal, I had to adjust to all of that.”
For Mila, that adjustment came sooner than she expected. In her senior year, one of her teammates, and a critical starting guard, tore their ACL. Subsequently, whispers around the league began to spread. Some competitors began to assume that Mila may not be able to fill the big shoes left behind and that Legacy was a team to be counted out completely.
That didn’t happen. Instead, Mila did what she does best. She put her head down, and once more, let her game do the talking. She filled the shoes that needed filling and then some, adapting into not just a better player, but the player that her team needed.
“Mila really stepped up,” Legacy coach Latrese Davis told the Daily. “She really stepped up in terms of being that leader and setting the tone for practices and games. Her work ethic and her competitive drive, it just turned up another notch.”
That season, Mila led Legacy to a state championship — and in the process, her name began to surface in conversations that had long overlooked it. The murmurs and chatter sweetened into praise and recognition that stretched beyond her team, and began to turn a few ears.
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Amid the whirlwind of competitions, travel and increasing pressure to prove herself, Mila also began to look to her future.
“I got my first offer at a team camp in 10th grade from Presbyterian,” Mila said. “She offered me on the spot there and I was so excited that I got my first offer. Honestly, I didn’t think I would get an offer before that, but after that, it was still slow.”
With Presbyterian as her only offer during her sophomore year, and a small batch of offers coming in her junior year, Mila wanted to step it up as she entered her senior season.
Enter that seemingly-fated encounter with Barnes Arico.
For the remainder of the tournament Barnes Arico stood in the stands, watching Mila play. But as the invitational drew to a close, there was no offer. They continued to stay in contact here and there, but again, there was no offer.
“She said she was just waiting to see me push to another level,” Mila said. “With my scoring more so because I was very passive in high school, extremely.”
While Mila might have seen it as being passive, the truth was that she was always just selfless. She was the solid support that her teammates could stand on, constantly elevating and setting up opportunities for those around her. Barnes Arico saw this and more in her. She knew that Mila could take a shot, could be the star herself and so Barnes Arico pushed her and waited.
Three months later at Nike Nationals, Mila found her stride not just as a support for the team, but as one of their top point scorers.
“Seeing her go to another level, even when the competition got tougher, it really opened my eyes,” Aden told The Daily. “I always knew she was good since she started playing with us as little kids, but that really opened my eyes, made me really proud.”
It was clear that Barnes Arico saw that too, as a few days later, Mila’s offer came.
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One year later, Mila found herself on a Michigan team in need of a complete rebuild.
From her first day, Mila did what she does best — build the foundation. She penned the first page of this new chapter in her first game of the season against the then-reigning champions and No. 1 team in the country, South Carolina.
“We were preparing her and being like, you don’t you might not understand what’s about to hit you,” Michigan assistant coach Justine Raterman told The Daily. “… And I remember after the game, she was like, ‘Man, I could have done this better. I could have done that better.’ And I was like, ‘You just handled that, you got us into offense. You didn’t turn it over.’ Her poise going against those guards, it set the tone.”
While her teammates racked up points in the narrow loss, Mila quietly controlled the game. She excelled as a point guard, distributing the ball, creating opportunities and making sophomore guards Olivia Olson and Syla Swords’ jobs effortless. As the season wore on, she blossomed into a key guard alongside Olson and Swords, with the three becoming a dynamic trio whose chemistry became the Wolverines’ heartbeat.
“The first thing she looks at is her assists,” Raterman told the Daily. “ ‘How am I getting people shots? I could have passed this. My past could have been a little bit better here. It’s got to be on time, on target.’ At the end of the day, we got a reminder she could score the ball. She’s a great scorer as well.”
Even when scoring is within Mila’s reach, her first instinct is to elevate those around her — the hallmark of a point guard who doesn’t chase headlines, but rather focuses on her team functioning at the highest level.
Yet, that same selflessness can sometimes obscure her contributions on the national stage. While her teammates’ high point totals grab attention, Mila’s machinations that create those very points often fly under the radar.
For Mila, that doesn’t matter, though. She simply tunes out the noise and focuses on the game.
“I say I go out there, I play my game,” Mila said. “No matter what the media is saying, no matter what the commentators are saying, I’m gonna go play my game. Do what I feel needs to be done to get a win.”
Those around her, however, know what she is just now recognizing: as the heart and soul of the team, her impact is felt through the success of others — and she’s capable of more. Mila herself is a driving force that can change the game, redefine expectations wherever she goes and step up to be whatever her team needs her to be.
“I try to keep a chip on her shoulder, because I don’t want her to be comfortable with that,” Raterman said. “I don’t want her to just be like, ‘Yeah, that’s what I do.’ I want her to push for more. I think she has greatness inside of her, and I think that she’s going to reach it here at Michigan.”
That push is deliberate. Michigan’s staff sees a player with no ceiling, one whose story is still unfolding. It was evident in how she stepped up at Legacy, in her Nike Nationals performance that led to her recruitment and in her poise and consistency throughout the season. Now, Mila’s ready to expand her role as not only the team’s biggest amplifier, but to take on scoring, leadership and even wider recognition too.
“I’m not a freshman anymore,” Mila said. “I’ve taken on more of a leadership role, guiding (the freshman) throughout the process… I’m also taking on more of a scoring role this year with (former guards Jordan Hobbs and Greta Kampschroeder) being gone, and I’m excited to see how that plays out.”
Mila’s not just defying the expectations of others; she’s building upon her own. Her greatness doesn’t hinge on leading the scoreboard — it’s in the rhythm she sets, the trust she commands and the pulse she gives this team elevating its place.
She’s been the steady tide that’s carried the Wolverines forward and as she steps into her second year, she’s grown into the compass that points Michigan in the right direction. Whether it’s her basketball IQ, her seemingly innate selflessness that gives her teammates every chance to score or her ability to go beyond the call of order when necessary, Mila has shown that her impact goes beyond a statsheet, a headline or any external commentary.
Rather, it’s her game that speaks louder than it all.
