| Olivia Olson | |
| Team: | Michigan Wolverines |
| Number: | 1 |
| Position: | Guard |
| League: | Big Ten Conference |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 1 |
| Birth Date: | 2 November 2005 |
| High School: | Benilde-St. Margaret's (St. Louis Park, Minnesota) |
| College: | Michigan (2024–present) |
| Highlights: | |
Olivia Olson (born November 2, 2005) is an American college basketball player for the Michigan Wolverines of the Big Ten Conference. She was a five-star basketball recruit and one of the top players in the 2024 class. She has competed in basketball for Team USA at the 2021 FIBA Under-16 Women's Americas Championship and the Nike Hoop Summit. She is a 2024 McDonald's All-American. In 2023, she won Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) state championships as a senior goalkeeper in soccer and as a junior guard in basketball for Benilde-St. Margaret's. She helped Benilde defend their basketball title in 2024. She earned Minnesota Miss Basketball and Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year recognition.
Olson has trained with her father Chris from a young age; practicing her ball-handling skills. She began playing varsity basketball in eighth grade. As an eighth grader for Benilde-St. Margaret's, she tallied 40 points against a talented DeLaSalle High School team. She also played varsity soccer as an eighth grader, but sat out her junior season before returning as a senior goalkeeper.[1] By January 2021, the freshman had 17 athletic scholarship offers and was the number 9 prospect in the national class of 2024. She averaged 23 points as a freshman. Late in her sophomore season, she was the number 3 ESPN-ranked prospect of the national class of 2024 with over 40 college scholarship offers.[2] She averaged 22.8 points as a sophomore.
On September 8, 2022, Olson gave a verbal commitment to Kim Barnes Arico and the Michigan Wolverines after the program reached its first two NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament Sweet Sixteen appearances in 2021 and 2022 and the 2021–22 Michigan Wolverines, posted the best season in school history.[3] National class of 2023 top-30 prospect, Taylor Woodson, from Minnesota had also committed to Michigan by September 2022.[4] She was the first top-40 player in the national class of 2024 to give a verbal commitment.[5] Olson led her school to a 2023 MSHSL Class 3A State Championship averaging 25.6 points, 12.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.[6]
On November 8, 2023, she signed her National Letter of Intent (NLI) to play college basketball at Michigan.[7] In November, she was the goalkeeper for the MSHSL Class 2A state champion soccer team. Then, on November 25, 2023, she broke a bone in her left hand in the season opener and did not return to action until January 4, 2024, when she posted her 2000th career point.[6] Her father's Twitter explained that Olson's surgery required 2 plates and 12 screws.[8] Ranked at number 15 in the national class of 2024, she is the second (to number 11-ranked incoming Michigan freshman classmate Syla Swords) highest-ranked recruit in program history at the time of signing her NLI.[9] The class of 2024 was the highest ranked class in school history (ranked number 4 on signing day).[7]
At the MSHSL Class 3A State Championship tournament, Benilde-St. Margaret's won its three games by margins of 35, 31 and 23 to defend its championship.[10] [11] In the championship game, Benilde-St. Margaret's (who was seeded first and ranked second) faced DeLaSalle High School (who was ranked first and seeded second). Olson had 30 points, 15 rebounds and 6 assists.[12] [13]
She was named to the April 2, 2024 McDonald's All-American Girls Game at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Olson, along with incoming freshman Swords, are the program's first high school signees to earn the honor.[14] [15] Olson and Liv McGill were the eighth and ninth Minnesotans named McDonald's All-Americans.[16] [17] She has also been selected for the April 13 Nike Hoops Summit at the Moda Center in Portland Oregon.[18] During her senior year she averaged 24 points, 10 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 3.6 steals through 28 games and was named Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year.[19] She was also awarded Minnesota Miss Basketball.[20] Although she was not a big scorer in the McDonald's All-American Game, MaxPreps writer Aaron Williams used the phrase "The highlight reel dish of the night" to describe her pass to her future Michigan teammate Swords.[21] The play received lots of public praise, with ESPN's color commentator mentioning it as possibly "the prettiest play we've seen all game".[22] [23]
Olson began her Michigan career in the starting lineup wearing the #1 in a November 4, 2024 68 - 62 loss to a number-one ranked South Carolina Gamecocks team that had not lost in a year and a half.[24] [25] At the 2024 Fort Myers Tip-Off, Olson earned All-Tournament honors as 7 - 1 Michigan stretched its win streak to 7 games.[26] Her performance in the tournament included her first NCAA career double-double with a 19 point/11 rebound effort in the first game against on November 29.[27]
Olson has represented the United States women's national under-16 basketball team, winning a gold medal at the 2021 FIBA Under-16 Women's Americas Championship.[28] She was one of only 3 15-year-olds selected for the team.[29]
By her high school freshman season, she had about a dozen landscaping customers. Her father and brother, Morgan, kept her business running while she was training with and playing for Team USA in 2021.[29]