FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — When Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico had each of her players bring in a quote that resonates with them, sophomore guard Olivia Olson provided one that truly encapsulates the Wolverines heading into the only women’s NCAA Tournament regional final matching the top two seeds.
“It goes something like, you had to be a contender before you were a champion. You know, you had to be there before you were on the other side,” the 14th-year Michigan coach said Sunday. “That’s kind of where our program is right now. You know, we’re a contender and we’ve gotten to this point. We have the pieces to be champions. So we are in the Elite Eight with a lot of programs that have rich basketball tradition.”
Michigan (28-6) will try to get to its first Final Four when it takes on top-seeded Texas (34-3) in the Fort Worth Regional 3 championship game Monday night.
The Longhorns (34-3), who have won their three NCAA Tournament games by an average of more than 35 points, are in their third consecutive regional final under coach Vic Schaefer. They went to the Final Four last year for the first time since 2003, and won their only national title with a 34-0 record in 1986.
Texas has an experienced group led by fifth-year guard Rori Harmon and AP All-America junior forward Madison Booker. The Wolverines depend heavily on sophomore guards Olson, Syla Swords and Mila Holloway, and second-year transfer Brooke Quarles Daniels. They lost a second-round game last year to Notre Dame but are still playing now after a 71-52 Sweet 16 win over Louisville.
“Last year, we kind of just went into everything saying we have nothing to lose, we have nothing to prove really, and this year, like, we have everything to prove,” Olson said. “We want to make it as far as we can and we want to compete with the No. 1 seeds. We’ve shown that we can.”
The Wolverines were the Big Ten regular-season runner-up behind No. 1 seed UCLA, which also made the Elite Eight. Their only loss in their first 13 games this season was 72-69 at defending national champion and No. 1 overall seed UConn. They have won 13 of 16 games since a 72-69 loss to Sweet 16 team Vanderbilt on Jan. 19, with a three-point loss to UCLA and two against Iowa, a No. 2 NCAA seed upset in the second round.
“They’re here for a reason. That’s something that you have to pay attention to, but yeah, having experience does help a lot,” Harmon said. “You understand the urgency that you have to have, the focus and the discipline that you have, and the connectivity and chemistry that you have to have with your teammates at this moment, because any game could be your last game.”
Short and to the point
While Harmon and Quarles Daniels aren’t the leading scorers, and are the shortest players, they are the spark plugs for their teams.
The 5-foot-6 Harmon had 11 points, seven assists, seven rebounds and six steals when Texas knocked off Southeastern Conference rival Kentucky 76-54 in the Sweet 16. The 5-7 Quarles Daniels had seven points, a game-high nine rebounds, two assists and two steals Saturday against Louisville.
Harmon returned for another season at Texas just for the another chance to win a championship.
“I’m not ready for it to be over either. I hugged her this morning at breakfast and said those same words,” Schaefer said. “I’ve seen her every day for five straight years. It’s going to be a little different. It’s going to be way different, you know, not seeing her.”
Barnes Arico spoke about stickers given to players recognizing intangibles in games and practices, like diving for loose balls, taking charges and winning 50-50 battles. The coach often looks at those basketball stickers affixed over a block M at each player’s locker.
Asked how many stickers she has, Quarles Daniels said she didn’t know. Swords quickly responded: “She’s almost got two blocks. She’s being humble.”
A premature placing?
When Texas was in its locker room after the Sweet 16 win and did what has become the tradition of placing its nameplate on the next line on an oversized bracket, the Longhorns put it on the line for the bracket winner that would indicate an advance to the Final Four.
While some Michigan players took that as a slight, Harmon said that it was unintentional during what is always a chaotic scene for the cameras.
“Of course, if you are the other team, you’re going to use anything for fire and anything for fuel, so that’s valid enough,” Harmon said. “But obviously we made a mistake and we owned up to it immediately as we recognized.”
The Longhorns didn’t realize what they had done until seeing videos after leaving the arena Saturday.
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