Olivia Olson's decision: Why the Benilde-St. Margaret's basketball star is going to Michigan

Olivia Olson never intended to be first. She insisted only on being right.

She can't fight the facts. They say she's first. She also can't ignore her heart. It says she's right.

Olson is the first player in the top 40 of the ESPN HoopGurlz national ranking of 2024 recruits to reveal a college choice. A Benilde-St. Margaret's guard ranked third nationally in her class, she has decided to play college basketball for Michigan and coach Kim Barnes Arico.

"Coach Arico is building something special, and I want to be a part of it," she said. "Everyone loves each other there, and I could feel that on the visit. She loves them, too, and that helps."

The visit was a Labor Day weekend getaway to the Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. She didn't even get back out of town before she told Barnes Arico what she had decided. She revealed the decision to the public a few days later via Twitter.

Olson still has two seasons of high school basketball to play.

"I just feel like I knew, and I can't even explain the feeling," she said. "I wasn't expecting to commit, but there was this feeling and it was emotional and I felt like I had to because I loved it there so much, and I didn't want to come home and do it on the phone in a week. It was important to commit in person."

Sounds like Benilde-St. Margaret's coach Tim Ellefson heard the same message, often.

"The whole recruiting process, she systematically would compare everywhere to Michigan," he said, "whether it was the coaching staff, the campus programs they offer, what kind of team they have, who the incoming recruits were going to be. All of those things Michigan led in her mind."

Ellefson is in his first year at Benilde-St. Margaret's but has long ties to Olson as a coach in the Minnesota Fury AAU program. He said it's not an early decision in the big picture.

"She's been recruited since she was a seventh-grader," he said. "It's a long process."

Olson, who averaged 22.8 points a game last season and led the Red Knights to the Class 3A state tournament, had listed the Gophers among the final 10 teams she was considering.

"I considered them the whole time," she said. "They were my first offer from my top 10, and I was really grateful to them. I just wanted a new area but still to stay close to home."

Playing in the Big Ten, in the same conference as the Gophers, will get her all the way home routinely. Also, the Big Ten tournament is being played in Target Center the next two years and likely beyond.

"I kind of wanted to play in the Big Ten because my parents will be able to get to a lot of games," she said.

Michigan appears to be a team on the rise. The Wolverines tied for third in the Big Ten last season and reached the final eight of the NCAA tournament. A year earlier they made the Sweet 16, and they've made the tournament the past four times it was held. Barnes Arico has coached there since 2012.

Another Minnesotan will have arrived in Ann Arbor by the time Olson gets there. Taylor Woodson, a 6-foot guard from Hopkins ranked 53^rd nationally in the Class of 2023 by HoopGurlz, also is committed to Michigan.

"I know her, and I got to know her better over the weekend," Olson said. "I really like her and I look forward to playing with her.

"I think more people from Minnesota will go there. The way [Barnes Arico] does things is so good and so genuine. I think a lot of people are drawn to that. That's what drew me to her."

Olson can't sign a letter of intent until November 2023, but now she can relax with her decision in place. Getting recruited, she said, is difficult but beneficial.

"It was really stressful for me at times, but on the other hand it helped me mature earlier than other kids my age," she said. "Being able to have a conversation with people older than me, I learned a lot about myself.

"It was really stressful with all the calls. Now I'm just excited to focus on the high school season."