The Michigan women’s basketball team never raised a banner to the rafters of Crisler Center before 2017. Not historically known as a women’s basketball powerhouse, Wolverines coach Kim Barnes Arico inherited an inexperienced program in 2012. Michigan had played in just seven NCAA Tournament games and never went to a Sweet 16, let alone hosted the first weekend of the postseason.
While 2017 broke the bannerless saga when the Wolverines won the 2017 WNIT, the 2021 and 2022 seasons marked the first time in program history Michigan made it past the first weekend and into the Sweet 16 — eliciting the raise of a 2021 Sweet 16 banner and 2022 Elite Eight banner. Sunday against No. 7 seed North Carolina State, the Wolverines accomplished that feat again.
But this season is different. Now is the turning point for No. 2 seed Michigan as a program — and it needs to take full advantage.
“We even see the Elite Eight (banner), so it’s just the comparison of what we want to do more,” senior forward Ayssa Crockett said Sunday after its second round win. “Now is the Final Four. Now is the national championship. And we know we’re good enough to be there.”
This season isn’t merely about reaching that point again, it’s about propelling the program into the future. The Wolverines still have everything left to prove if they want to finally cement the program as a consistent title contender and a blue blood of women’s college basketball. And that starts by competing at the expectations it’s set for itself.
The 2021 and 2022 successes are often remembered as a byproduct of possessing a two-time All-American, Naz Hillmon. In 2021, No. 6 seed Michigan upset its way into the Sweet 16 to reach the new milestone. In 2022, it was then expected to reach the Sweet 16, eventually making the Elite Eight due to upsets around it.
When Hillmon and the nucleus of seniors on that team went away, so did the newfound success for Michigan. The Wolverines entered a dead period where simply making the NCAA Tournament seemed to be enough.
In the ever-changing landscape of college athletics with the transfer portal and NIL, it seemed like Barnes Arico trailed behind the wave. She lost nearly her entire roster to the transfer portal two seasons ago after losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and wasn’t delivering the same results she achieved during the Hillmon years.
But by rebuilding around her principles and not allowing the new landscape to change her approach, Michigan is already back on the national stage. This time with a new set of players led by a sophomore class of elite talent.
“Being able to kind of repeat history, it’s just such a great thing, and being able to do it for (Barnes Arico), I mean just two years ago people were doubting her and calling for her head,” senior guard Brooke Quarles Daniels said. “Just for her, I don’t think any coach in the country has been able to turn a team around in two years the way she did.”
That turnaround has nothing to do with a change in Barnes Arico’s philosophy. Following the departure of Hillmon and the accolades that came with her, Barnes Arico just needed to find a new leader for the future.
Luckily for Barnes Arico, that new leader comes in the form of a three-headed monster of sophomore guards Olivia Olson, Syla Swords and Mila Holloway. The level of talent within the class was something unheard of for a Michigan program used to developing lower-level recruits. And bringing in the group of leaders it now boasts wouldn’t be possible without the proven success from 2021 and 2022, or the Katelynn Flaherty-led 2017 WNIT Championship team.
“When our freshman class came in, it was kind of a mass exodus,” Holloway said. “We were coming into the unknown, uncertain. But as soon as we met each other, we had that talk and we had this belief in each other, belief in the program, belief in (Barnes Arico). We knew what the Michigan standard was and had to be.”
The switch flipped almost automatically after bringing in this new class. The foundation was laid, Barnes Arico just had to communicate her style to recruits. And now with the third Sweet 16 appearance, that transition is complete.
Although Michigan’s new core of leaders is young, that’s exactly why the Wolverines are at this turning point.
In the same way Michigan is on the brink of reaching a new echelon of national contention, this season the Wolverines have also come up just short of taking down those high caliber opponents it aspires to be. They lost to then-No. 1 UConn by three, then-No. 5 Vanderbilt by three and then-No. 2 UCLA by three. With just six losses all season, three of which by three against top-five opponents, Michigan proved it’s one step away from competing against the top teams in the country.
A Sweet 16 appearance for Michigan was expected this year, given its success in the regular season. Both exceeding its expectations and surpassing the achievements of the past can elevate the Wolverines to the next level — especially considering there are potentially two more years with the same core players.
Michigan has the opportunity to build on the foundation of excellence laid in years prior, all while sticking to the same philosophies Barnes Arico is accustomed to. The Wolverines have already reached the level of success as of the 2021 and 2022 seasons, but now is the time to reach new heights at the top of the stage of women’s basketball.
Michigan still has everything left to prove.
