FORT WORTH, Texas — Mila Holloway prepared to jump on Olivia Olson’s back for an early morning piggyback ride down the interview dais stairs. After a few looks from those around them, she thought better of it the day before their first Sweet 16.
There is a fearlessness that naturally comes with youth, as those on both sides of this matchup know well. Holloway and Olson are two of No. 2 Michigan’s three-star sophomores who will line up across from three more from No. 3 Louisville with an Elite Eight berth on the line in the Fort Worth 3 regional on Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET).
Advertisement
That’s six sophomores taking the floor for the tip, a rarity in an era of reloading with experience through the transfer portal in order to compete immediately. The two programs concentrated the talent of a deep class headlined by UConn’s Sarah Strong, Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes, Ohio State’s Jaloni Cambridge and South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards.
A junior and a senior start alongside each trio, but it’s the sophomore class leading the winding path. While other teams and players in the field have been here, done that, Louisville and Michigan are playing in relatively new territory.
“Youth is wonderful because they don’t sometimes realize what they’re really doing, what they’re playing and what this means to be one of 16 teams left,” Louisville head coach Jeff Walz said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Walz, back into the Sweet 16 for the first time since Louisville’s 2022 Final Four, integrated his young players into one of the most balanced teams in the country. Seven players are averaging between 8 and 12 points per game, led by sophomores Tajianna Roberts and Imari Berry, the ACC’s Sixth Player of the Year winner.
Advertisement
Berry is one of the most dynamic, energizing players in the class, a key cog whose patience has led to a sophomore emergence. She’s started only two of 68 career games, despite leading Louisville’s scoring offense in six games, rebounding in four and assists in another four.
“She got a feel for the game that you can’t see,” senior starting forward Laura Ziegler said. “You either have it or you don’t have it, and she does crazy things all the time where I’m looking at her and I’m, like, you did not just do that, and she makes the shot.”
Michigan’s upperclassmen understand the look. They’ve been doing it since Holloway, Olson and Syla Swords arrived on campus as starters on a team depleted by a transfer exodus two years ago.
It was the first time head coach Kim Barnes Arico had been impacted so sharply by the transfer portal, as many coaches were in 2023 as it began to explode in use. It is no longer uncommon for players to transfer two, three, even four times during the extra COVID-19 year.
Advertisement
Four players Barnes Arico dubbed the “Quad Squad” remained on the roster, and the longtime Wolverines coach called her high school seniors to inform them of the situation.
They didn’t waver.
“When we committed, we committed to Coach Arico and we committed to Michigan,” Olson said on Friday. “We were going to follow through with that. We believed in her. We believed in each other.”
Imari Berry (right) has been a standout off the bench for Louisville all year. (Photo by Grace Bradley/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
(Grace Bradley via Getty Images)
To them, a depleted roster also meant an earlier opportunity to perform. It didn’t matter that they would open their collegiate careers against South Carolina, an annual contender coming off their second national championship in three years.
Advertisement
“I’m like, oh boy, all right,” Barnes Arico recalled. “They don’t know what they don’t know.”
Holloway started at point guard against Dawn Staley’s established defensive wall. Swords, a member of Canada’s national team, scored 27 points with 12 rebounds, and Michigan’s fearless trio nearly upset the reigning champs on opening day, ultimately losing 68-62 in Las Vegas.
“I was, like, OK, maybe they know more than I know. I don’t know,” Barnes Arico said.
They went 23-11 as freshmen, peaking at No. 20 in the Associated Press poll, earning a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament and falling to Notre Dame’s All-American guard duo of Olivia Miles and Hannah Hidalgo in the second round. As sophomores, they’ve led Michigan (27-6) to the second-most wins in program history, a 28-game mark they could tie with a win on Saturday. They have the program’s best win-loss percentage both overall and in the Big Ten.
Advertisement
The fearlessness has never left. It’s only become bolder.
Michigan is the only team to keep the margin within single digits against the bulldozer that is UConn, and one of a few to do it to UCLA, the clear No. 2 in the field. They lost by three to each, as well as to Vanderbilt. The sophomores are averaging more than half of their team’s average scoring output (46.6 of 83.9 points).
The Sweet 16 matchup likely won’t be the last for these groups of emerging sophomores. Louisville nearly took a piece of the ACC title this year, and will be heavily favored in future seasons should they return. Michigan, which tied Iowa for second in the Big Ten, could seize a league opportunity if UCLA can’t reload in the transfer portal to backfill their six seniors.
Advertisement
Nothing is guaranteed in this era of college athletics, roster retention and reaching the Sweet 16 included. It took Ziegler, a transfer from A-10 mid-major Saint Joseph’s, four years to achieve this dream of the second weekend. She doesn’t want the youth to lose sight; this isn’t the norm.
“It’s something that I hope they take in, but I also know they have years in front of them where they can do it again,” Ziegler said. “It’s going to be fun to watch, because it’s a very special group.”
