The Fox Sports 1 director cut away so quickly I missed it live.

Moments before the second overtime, the broadcast showed Michigan’s Olivia Olson and Oregon’s Sarah Rambus preparing to take the jump ball. Olson forced the second extra session with a driving finish through contact, arguably the play of the season so far. One look at her face, however, and you knew the ensuing missed free throw consumed her thoughts. In her mind, the game should’ve been over, and that’s on her. In the screencap, she appeared to be staring a hole through the FS1 score box.

A Macy Brown steal and layup put the Wolverines up six before UO’s Katie Fiso cut the deficit in half with an and-one. A rare block* of Olson’s next attempt gave U-M an inbounds under the basket. With point guard Mila Holloway fouled out of the game, near-disaster ensued. Syla Swords sailed the throw-in over Olson’s head, requiring center Ashley Sofilkanich to make an impressive no-look save on the run. The ball bounced between Olson and two Ducks.

Watch Olson through the whole play. Even before the save, she’s bounced off a defender, who fell to the deck as Olson kept her balance. Olson didn’t hesitate when Sofilkanich’s save put the ball in a spot where going for it guarantees a collision. Olson got there first, so when the inevitable occured, the foul went on the defense.

This time, Olson sank both free throws, saving the arena from immolation via staredown. Oregon never got within a possession again.

Even the best teams run into the occasional Murphy’s Law game. Michigan held an 18-point lead late in the first half before it all went sideways. The focus has rightfully fallen on a woeful 16-for-38 performance at the free-throw line, the team’s 26 turnovers, and officiating best described as “overactive,” but U-M also finished with a 2-for-17 stretch on three-pointers after going 6-for-9 in the first half.

Most teams lose these games. Olson picked up her fourth foul late in the third quarter and caused multiple tie-ups afterwards; given the spin-the-wheel nature of the officials, she could’ve been out well before the second OT. Holloway fouled out with two minutes left in the fourth, leaving Brown and Swords to handle point guard duties.

The Wolverines found a way, and that way was effort. They won the offensive rebound battle 28-6(!) with a magnificent Te’Yala Delfosse grabbing as many as Oregon’s entire team. Solfilkanich had maybe her best game as a Wolverine, finishing with strength and drawing eight(!!!) fouls. The team took seven UO offensive fouls, threw their bodies all over the floor, and never stopped playing hard. Swords logged nearly 47 minutes, Olson a touch over 43.

Michigan leaves Eugene with plenty to work on. The sloppy turnovers were reminiscent of past Kim Barnes Arico teams struggling against pressure, an issue we hadn’t seen this season. Free throws are a concern, with nobody shooting them particularly well and a few rotation players really struggling. They’ve been streaky from beyond the arc.

They still have only one loss, that to the best team in the country. They’re a projected two-seed. Just look at Olivia Olson’s eyes before the second overtime and you’ll know why.

[*I evidently cursed this in the last newsletter. Olson had one shot attempt blocked all season entering the Oregon game; the Ducks blocked her twice in the overtime periods.]

This isn’t going to be quite as comprehensive as I planned because (1) the holidays occurred, which I should’ve seen coming and (2) Monday night’s game called for an extensive writeup. If you missed Part One, it features the sophomore star trio of Holloway, Olson, and Swords. Now, let’s look at how the next three players in the rotation get it done.

I could’ve pulled several clips from Monday night but this video is ideal for the exercise: watch it and then tell me whether Ashley Sofilkanich is right- or left-handed.

It’s really difficult to tell, huh? For what it’s worth, she’s right-handed. I had to watch her shoot a free throw to be sure.

Sofilkanich boasts an effective drop-step that she utilizes on either side of the hoop, a couple counter-moves so defenders can’t overplay the drop-step, enough strength to score through contact, and good touch at the rim. While she’s not as physically dominant as some elite centers, she gets a lot of her work done early by running the floor and carving out position.

On a team that likes to push the pace as hard as Michigan, Sofilkanich fits really well. She’s not the focal point of the offense like she was at Bucknell, but U-M’s guards look for her early in the shot clock, and she’s earned those touches. When a right-handed post player can finish on the move with her left hand like this…

…and the defense is likely leaving one of U-M’s stars open if they double the post, someone is going to get a great look at the hoop.

Brooke Quarles Daniels (aka Q. DANIELS, BRO thanks to statbroadcast) has earned Michigan’s fifth starter spot by virtue of being an unrelenting pest. I say that in the most laudatory way possible.

Listed at 5’7”, three inches shorter than anyone else on the roster, Daniels is:

BQD is quick with a preternatural instinct for finding the basketball. She’s an on- and off-ball menace on defense, swiping 3.9 steals per 40 minutes, putting her among the elite in that category. Her offensive rebounding offsets her complete lack of three-point shooting. If you don’t get a body on her, she’s going to disrupt the play. Here she is tipping an offensive rebound to Olson, gathering her own miss in traffic, and finding Holloway wide open for a three-pointer:

That about sums up BQD’s offense: the miss isn’t ideal but the rest more than makes up for it. She’s not an incapable scorer, either; she was Oakland’s points leader as a sophomore before transferring to Michigan, and while she wasn’t an efficient player, she learned how to get shots to the rim in traffic. Even if they don’t go in, those are often quality offensive rebound opportunities.

Meanwhile, her defense is remarkable. I could’ve just included the charge she takes by beating her matchup to the spot below, but first you have to watch her warp around a pick in the backcourt without breaking stride:

That’s even more useful in halfcourt defense, as BQD rarely gets cleanly screened in pick-and-rolls. She’s a nightmare matchup because she never, ever stops moving, and the moment her opponent lets up is the moment she capitalizes.

The most pronounced sophomore leap hasn’t come from one of the three headliners but 6’3” guard/forward Te’Yala Delfosse, whose athleticism and size combination leaps off the screen. Few players her size can smoothly transition from grabbing a defensive rebound to dribbling out of traffic to initiating the break and then going off the bounce for the layup:

Last year, Delfosse averaged 3.4 points and 1.9 rebounds in 9.8 minutes per game; this season’s she’s at 11.4 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds in 19.9 minutes. While she’s mostly doing cleanup work in the halfcourt offense, she’s dynamite in transition. In addition to the run-out layups, she’s developed her three-point shot, which she mostly uses on the fast break or in scramble situations — like right after one of her own offensive rebounds:

As for effort, well…

…yes.

If Michigan makes the incredibly difficult jump from a program that regularly appears in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament to one that can threaten to make the Final Four, Delfosse’s breakout will be one of the biggest differences. They simply haven’t had a player with her size, athleticism, and potential, because those players usually wind up at the UConns and South Carolinas of the women’s basketball world.

Oh shit, I don’t feel the need to write a preview for Thursday’s game at Washington (3 pm Eastern, Big Ten Network) because the one and only Hockeybear has jumped into the women’s hoops newsletter fray:

UW is a fringe NCAA Tournament team with an experienced rotation, including a very familiar face starting at center in Michigan transfer Yulia Grabovskaia, who’ll provide a fascinating measuring stick for Sofilkanich.

Meanwhile, you should be subscribed to Hoopla, where Wyatt Crosher continues his excellent Big Ten WBB coverage with a midseason rundown of the conference’s top 40 players. Olson is second behind only UCLA All-American Lauren Betts. I’m not one to argue.