After last week’s reintroduction and season primer, I had the full intention of writing a GIF-heavy post highlighting the signature styles of Michigan’s top players. This is that post. It’s still here. But first, the elephant in the room.
I’m going to keep this short because if I really start going I won’t stop. While we know far from everything about the events that led up to Sherrone Moore’s arrest, there’s enough to conclude this is not only yet another sexual misconduct scandal involving a University of Michigan authority figure, but yet another failure of school and athletic department leadership to stop one from happening.
The football program has a culture of sexual misconduct. The athletic department has a culture of sexual misconduct. The university has a culture of sexual misconduct. The specifics of Moore’s scandal are shocking. The fact such a scandal is occurring here is not surprising:
It’s becoming increasingly clear that a sizable portion of the athletic department has no intention of acknowledging the real Schembechler or scaling back his influence on their programs.
The statue of Schembechler still stands in front of the football facility that bears his name. His slogans, from “the team, the team, the team” to “those who stay will be champions,” are omnipresent throughout the athletic department, even in the women’s programs whose creation he fought after Title IX passed.
Meanwhile, notable figures either working for or associated with Michigan athletics continue to praise Schembechler as a leader and role model: Jim Harbaugh, Jim Brandstatter, Dan Dierdorf, Desmond Howard, and now the head of the entire department.
If there’s been any push from university leadership to stop this appalling behavior, it hasn’t been respected. The school has a terrible recent track record of addressing sexual misconduct. In the current leadership vacuum, the voices of Schembechler’s supporters fill the void. …
Michigan cannot move past the sins of its past without acknowledging them in the present. Otherwise, they’re doomed to repeat them in the future.
I wrote that in June of 2022. It’s depressing to be here again. The culture will remain until it’s actively addressed. That’s going to require a lot of changes. Warde Manuel would be just a start. Michigan’s board of regents have made a litany of failures on both institutional and moral grounds. Vote for Someone Else in 2026.
Olivia Olson’s Midrange Pull-Up
While Syla Swords received most of the post-UConn hype, Olivia Olson is the sophomore playing at an All-American level. She leads the team with 18.0 points per game despite averaging only 25.6 minutes because Michigan keeps blowing their opponents out.
Her shooting attempts are almost evenly distributed between layups, midrange shots, and three-pointers, and she creates about half of her scoring opportunities inside the arc on her own. At 6’1 with guard skills, Olson is a matchup problem, and her midrange pull-up jumper is particularly tough to stop. Purdue’s defender on this play has no chance to block that shot when Agent OO1 is a threat to drive all the way to the rim:
Olson is remarkable at getting clean looks. She had a layup blocked by Azzi Fudd in the waning seconds of the third quarter against UConn. That’s the only opponent block recorded on her 128 field goal attempts this season, which is particularly incredible given 48 of those FGAs have been at the rim.
Those looks also fall at an impressive rate. As of Monday’s games, 67 high-major conference players have attempted at least 40 two-pointers away from the rim (“Far 2s” in Bart Torvik’s vernacular). Making 46.5% of those, Olson is 17th among that group, one spot behind Fudd and well above the median of 39.8%.
Olson’s midrange accuracy is a huge asset on inbounds plays, at the end of the shot clock, and on the fast break. Watch how she manipulates Notre Dame’s players after this steal — the threat of the pull-up gets the defender to stop her feet, so Olson uses a nifty step-through to get an and-one layup:
If Olson isn’t an All-American this year, she’ll be one before she leaves Ann Arbor.
Mila Holloway’s Ambidextrous Scoop
Point guard Mila Holloway’s sophomore breakout has been the most pronounced among U-M’s three headliners. After averaging 9.8 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.9 turnovers per game as a freshman, Holloway has improved those numbers to 13.3 points, 4.9 assists, and 1.6 turnovers.
Holloway is playing with a lot more confidence, as well as more clubs in her bag. She’s been masterful on the fast break in Kim Barnes Arico’s up-tempo system, turning rebounds and steals — often ones she pilfered herself — into quick, easy points. The addition of a reliable running one-handed scoop has greatly helped her finishing at the basket:
She can make this shot with either hand, which helps ward off shot-blockers and keep her on the most efficient path to the hoop. She converts this beautiful outlet pass from Olson into an and-one because she can use her left hand:
According to Torvik, Holloway shot only 47.0% at the rim as a freshman; that’s skyrocketed to 71.1% this season. Even if that number comes down as we get deeper into Big Ten play, the leap forward is apparent when watching her play.
While a lot of Holloway’s improvement comes from the plays she’s not making, the elimination of turnovers born of inexperience, the scoop finish is a tangible addition.
Swords’ Fancy Footwork
This is cheating on my part because this isn’t really a signature “move” or even a skill specific to one part of the game. The next time you watch Michigan, do yourself a favor and focus on Syla Swords’ footwork. Where and when? Doesn’t matter. You’ll see something.
The most obvious example would be one of any of her step-back three-pointers in the waning moments of the UConn game. That’s a shot you don’t see many players hitting at the college level because of the difficulty maintaining good balance. Swords makes it work because she keeps her feet under her.
Here are three completely different plays that feature advanced footwork from Swords. While this transition catch-and-shoot three looks simple on the surface, it’s really damn difficult to go from running to an on-balance shot attempt in two steps:
Once Swords plants her right foot, everything looks like her usual shooting motion. That’s uncommonly smooth.
This next play from Saturday’s 85-59 win over Akron is impressive regardless of opponent. It again involves a quick change of speeds in transition. Swords receives an outlet pass from Olson, drives as hard as she can to the basket, then slams on the brakes with a jump stop. Swords is fouled as her defender falls into her on the way to the hardwood while she remains standing for the layup:
Other defenders may avoid the foul but few are doing much to contest that shot one-on-one. Swords is attempting a higher portion of her shots at the basket this year than last year, which is usually a positive shift, and she’s ticked up a couple points in her two-point shooting to 51.7%.
She’s also a superlative defender because her feet never stop moving unless she’s taking a charge. Here she picks up a bigger Notre Dame guard full court after a defensive rebound, stays in front of her, mirrors a crossover dribble without over-committing, then forces a traveling violation:
That quickness moving backwards is difficult to teach. Swords effectively pulls the chair out from the ballhandler by anticipating the spin move and getting deeper into the paint than anticipated. Swords, Holloway, and Brooke Quarles Daniels put unrelenting pressure on opposing guards, which has helped U-M be every bit as excellent on defense as offense this season.
UP NEXT
Michigan hosts Oakland on Sunday at noon in a Big Ten Plus game. I’ll conclude this series next week with a look at the signature moves of Michigan’s role players.