The season is over but Michigan women’s basketball has a bright future ahead, largely thanks to an uber-talented freshman class. MORE:
The 2024-25 season for the Michigan women’s basketball team has come to an end. After beating 11-seed Iowa State in the Round of 64 — largely thanks to Jordan Hobbs scoring a career-high 28 points — the Wolverines fell in blowout fashion to 3-seed Notre Dame , 76-55.
Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico spoke to the media after the loss.
“They were the No. 1 team in the country at some point, and they are playing exceptionally well right now, especially at home, so great job by them,” Barnes Arico said. “And overall, I thought it was a special season for us, as well.”
The Wolverines end the season with a 23-11 record, placing tied for fifth in the Big Ten and earning an NCAA Tournament bid for the eighth consecutive season (excluding the 2019-20 season when the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the tournament). That’s the standard for the program at this point, but it’s impressive Michigan got to that point considering all the turnover on the roster.
Michigan only returned four players from last season and was one of the only DI teams to start multiple freshmen, with three first-year players — Syla Swords, Olivia Olson, and Mila Holloway — in the starting lineup.
Olson and Swords led the team in scoring, with Holloway being behind only that pair and Hobbs in points per game. The offense ran through all three players, with Michigan often running a five-out offense, which created driving lanes and opened up looks for shooters.
All three were honored at the All-Big Ten awards , with Olson being named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Year, Olson and Swords being named to the All-Big Ten Second Team, and Holloway earning an honorable mention.
Those three, along with Te’yala Delfosse and Aaiyanna Dunbar make up the highest-ranked class in program history . While we can’t rule out anything in the transfer portal these days, that group isn’t eligible for the WNBA Draft until 2027. Swords is a possible exception to that rule since she played for Team Canada in the Olympics last summer, but she played high school basketball in the U.S. Either way, Michigan fans can look forward to watching this group play together for the next few seasons.
Those freshmen are going to continue to get better while developing even more chemistry. And with all that star power combined with key role players like sophomore guard Macy Brown, junior guard Brooke Quarles Daniels and junior center Julia Grabovskaia, the future of the program is bright.
A little continuity will certainly help this group, and it can’t be forgotten that Barnes Arico has helped build this program back to national relevance. Big Ten titles and deep tournament runs are well within reach for the program for years to come.
“They can do whatever they want,” Hobbs said of the five freshmen after the loss. “They could go to a Final Four. They will be in a Final Four and they will go win a Big Ten championship. Those three (starters) are incredibly special and the experiences they got this year they will carry with them to the next three, and they will be able to learn from this. They are so talented, and they taught Greta and I so much this year. We are really grateful for them and how they showed up. They will be a special group for the next three years to come.”