Michigan’s women’s basketball team is positioned to set several new program benchmarks this season.
The seventh-ranked Wolverines are 21-4 and projected as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament in the latest bracketology from ESPN’s Charlie Crème. Their highest seeding in program history came in 2022, when they were a No. 3 and reached the Elite Eight for the first time.
Kim Barnes Arico’s team will have a chance to pad its resume on Sunday against No. 13 Michigan State at Crisler Center. The Wolverines, who are No. 6 in the NET rankings, won the first meeting this season in overtime on Feb. 1 in East Lansing.
Three of Michigan’s losses this season were against top-three opponents, and all have been decided by three points. Its latest was a 69-66 defeat against No. 2 UCLA on Feb. 8.
That was a first-place matchup in Ann Arbor, but the Wolverines still sit in second place in the second year of the expanded 18-team Big Ten. The program’s previous best finish also was in 2022, when the team finished tied for third.
Led by a trio of sophomores in Olivia Olson, Syla Swords and Mila Holloway, Michigan leads the conference in scoring and is No. 2 in point differential.
It has four games remaining in the regular season, and all are against ranked opponents: Feb. 22 at No. 15 Iowa, Feb. 25 at No. 8 Ohio State and Feb. 28 versus No. 20 Maryland.