Today, we examine the ceiling of what the Michigan women’s basketball team is building under Kim Barnes Arico and the obvious choice for defensive coordinator if Wink Martindale returns to the NFL.
Welcome to Michigan Musings! Every Monday – at least until the start of football season – this will serve as your prime source for all things Michigan Wolverines ; a weekly digest featuring thoughts and commentary on (mostly) the top stories from the week that was. Similar to a newsletter (Brewsletter?), this will feature an assortment of stories and opinions from football to basketball to hockey to pop culture and everything in between.
Grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and let’s dive in.
The 2027 National Champions
The Michigan women’s basketball team currently sits at 13-5 on the season. Good, not great, but this team is building something. Something the program has never experienced–not even under Kim Barnes Arico.
Head coach Kim Barnes Arico (KBA) has helped the Michigan women’s basketball team evolve from an average Big Ten team into a perennial NCAA Tournament contender. Prior to KBA, the Wolverines had only qualified for four NCAA Tournaments since the women’s tournament was introduced in 1982. Since taking over in 2012, KBA has taken this program to eight NCAA Tournaments – six consecutive – and has never had a season worse than 20-14.
In 2022, the women capped off their best season in program history by reaching the Elite Eight, which most saw as the pinnacle of the program. An achievement that was outside the realm of possibility ten years prior. The 2022 season was the culmination of KBA’s decade of work, but it was also the start of the next chapter of her legacy in Ann Arbor.
Almost 18 months after that historic run in the NCAA Tournament, KBA signed the best recruiting class in program history. Ranked fourth nationally, the class included five players–Olivia Olson, Syla Swords, Mila Holloway, Aaiyanna Dunbar, and Te’Yala Delfosse. Each player brings a unique and complementary skillset to the team, but Swords and Olsen are the clear headliners representing the first two five-stars to ever sign with the Wolverines.
A dozen years of trials and tribulations have led KBA to the dawn of a new era and she understands that this beginning would not have been possible without the road less traveled. “A class like this does not happen without all of the players who have come before and laid this foundation,” KBA said when the signings were made official. Players such as seniors Jordan Hobbs and Greta Kampschroeder – the two 2025 seniors – are the only connective players from the Elite Eight team to today’s. Bridge players connecting the evolution and eras of Michigan women’s basketball.
This season, Swords and Olson are joined in the starting lineup by fellow freshman and floor general point guard Mila Holloway. The Fab Five parallels aren’t symmetrical, but, together, this trio is laying the foundation for something similar to the early 90s Michigan quintet. And the best part? Unlike the men’s game, women cannot leave for the WNBA until they are 22 years old. This heightened barrier to entry allows for this foundation to learn, grow, and win together for three more years.
It won’t happen this season, and likely won’t happen next season, but this trio, and the subsequent pieces that will be added around them, will win the 2027 National Championship. And then it will be time for KBA to turn the page once more and begin writing the next chapter of her legacy… Repeating.
The Wink Martindale Contingency
With Wink Martindale likely returning to the NFL, Michigan could be left looking for its fifth different defensive coordinator since 2020. After the hard pivot away from the Don Brown era and plucking from the Ravens’s defensive tree for three consecutive hires, the Wolverines should once more scour Baltimore’s branches for its next hire.
The choice here is obvious, Doug Mallory. Mallory is currently in his first year as the Ravens’s defensive backs coach after spending three years as a defensive analyst with the Wolverines. For those who don’t know, Mallory is a secondary and coverage savant. While in Ann Arbor, Mallory was a key mind in creating and disguising coverage variations and deciphering the best way to slow down future opponents’s passing attacks.
Following Michigan’s 30-24 victory over Ohio State in 2023, star wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. was perplexed.
“I don’t know if I got doubled any more in a game than today — the safety help over the top or inside,” said Harrison. “I’ve never really seen anything like it until today. The bracket coverage in the red zone that we got. I got doubled a lot more today than I ever have before.”
Those coverages Harrison had never seen before? That was Mallory.
Following Michigan’s national championship victory over Washington, wide receiver Jalen McMillan commented on the preparation displayed by Michigan’s Mike Sainristil.
“He was pissing me off…he was calling out formations…routes,” McMillan said when discussing the toughest player he faced at the 2024 NFL Combine .
The biggest coaching reason Saniristil was overly prepared for Washington’s passing concepts? That was Mallory.
Despite some fans’s unfamiliarity with Doug Mallory, he is a Michigan graduate who has been coaching defense for 35 years. He has national championship experience with two different universities (LSU , 2007; Michigan, 2023) and has also spent six years in the NFL. Most importantly, Mallory has a preexisting relationship with Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore and several players already on Michigan’s roster.
This isn’t the splash hire or the sexy hire. But Doug Mallory is the right hire to finally introduce some stability at the top of Michigan’s defense.
Quick Hits:
- Detroit Lions : It just had to be Mike Sainristil didn’t it?
- Transfer Portal: OT Jeff Persi is officially in the portal. This move comes as no surprise with a swarm of young talent already moving up the depth chart and more expected on campus in the coming months. Speaking of…
- Football Recruiting: Stay calm, but five-star OT Ty Haywood has officially decommitted from Alabama.
- Football Returnees: Jaishawn Barham did NOT enter the NFL Draft before the underclassmen deadline, which directly implies he is returning to Ann Arbor for his senior season. Rayshaun Benny and special teams ace Joe Taylor are also both returning. Now, we hold our breath for God Moore.
- Pro Blue: Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor scored a first-period natural hat trick – three consecutive goals – last week in a 6-1 victory over the Canucks. The former Wolverine is currently top-six in goals and top-seven in points in the NHL for one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cups. Although a darkhorse contender, Connor is making a case to become the first Michigan player to ever win the Hart Trophy (NHL MVP).
- CFP Thoughts: Again, with my chest, and subsequent chest pains, Go Irish.