Gophers vs U of South Dakota at Williams Arena, Sunday, March 20, 2 p.m.

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thatjanelpick

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A little post defense would be welcome and it would be nice if Banham didn't HAVE to be superheroic for the Gophers to win this one.
 

http://www.goyotes.com/news/2016/3/...es-advance-past-creighton-minnesota-next.aspx


Nicole Seekamp, the Summit League Player of the Year, scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half to help South Dakota rebound from a 33-30 halftime deficit. Seekamp also led the Coyotes with six rebounds, six assists and three steals. She'll enter Sunday's contest 13 points shy of 2,000 for her collegiate career.

[Tia] Hemiller was 4 of 5 from the field, 3 of 3 from beyond the arc and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. Her 3 with three minutes left in the third capped a 12-0 run and gave South Dakota its largest lead of the game at 48-38. She hit two free throws with 17 seconds left to put USD ahead 73-68.
 

How many games could Minnesota potentially host?

Will it only be games they host on BTN+?

I'd have to re-up BTN+ for the next game, so I'm wondering if it'd be worth it.
 


I think they get at least one more if they win on Sunday.

Prediction:

Banham 45 points - Gophers 90 - Jackrabbits 82
 


Shades said:
How many games could Minnesota potentially host?

Will it only be games they host on BTN+?

I'd have to re-up BTN+ for the next game, so I'm wondering if it'd be worth it.
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I re-upped last night.

If they keep winning, they keep getting home games.

Plus, I might get to watch some softball.
 

The Encore

South Dakota, the regular season Summit champs, were looking toward the NCAA tournament. The Coyotes, after all, defeated South Dakota State twice during the regular season. However, the Coyotes lost the championship game of the Jackrabbit invitational (61-55) and South Dakota State went dancing away to the NCAA.

It’s a veteran, high scoring, team led by one of the country’s best players the South Australian Nicole Seekamp. Last season, Seekamp, thinking her college career was finished, participated in Senior Day. However, in April, the NCAA granted her a previously denied fourth year and Seekamp responded with a Summit League Player of the Year Season.

South Dakota is 27-6 (15-1 in the Summit). The losses were: @Utah, (66-59); @ Northern Iowa (64-43); @ Kansas State (84-81 in OT); Washington (77-64), @Oral Roberts (60-56) and the previously mentioned third match-up with SDSU.

Points per game in conference play: 79.4
Opponent’s points per game in conference play: 61.6



Probable Starters

G Nicole Seekamp: 5’10 Sr; (17.1 points/conference game)
G Kelly Stewart: 6’0”, Sr (9.4 points)
G Tia Hemiller: 5’8”, Sr; (9.3 points)
G Caitlin Duffy: 5’10” (6.8 points)
C Margaret McCloud: 6’2” Sr. (6.9 points)
 

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/031816aaa.html

Some pre-game Gopher sports notes:


3 Banham scored a WNIT and Williams Arena record 48 points against Milwaukee. She is the first player in program history to tally three career 40-point games, all of them coming this season. (She tied an NCAA record with 60 at Northwestern and poured in 52 at Michigan State.) Banham is the NCAA's active leading scorer, and the all-time Big Ten leader with 3,056 points. She passed Cheryl Miller (USC), Chamique Holdsclaw (Tennessee), Maya Moore (UConn) and Elena Delle Donne (Delaware) Wednesday to move into sixth on the NCAA all-time scoring list. FIU's Jerica Coley (3,107) is in fifth. (Missouri State's Jackie Stiles is first with 3,393.) Banham is second in the nation averaging 28.3 points per game this year.

4 Carlie Wagner, the other half of the nation's top scoring duo, is 14 points from becoming Minnesota's 22nd 1,000-point scorer. The sophomore All-Big Ten Second Team honoree is averaging 15.4 points per game through her first 64 collegiate contests, including 19.0 per game this year. At 588 points for the year, Wagner ranks eighth on Minnesota's season record list
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
The Encore

South Dakota, the regular season Summit champs, were looking toward the NCAA tournament. The Coyotes, after all, defeated South Dakota State twice during the regular season. However, the Coyotes lost the championship game of the Jackrabbit invitational (61-55) and South Dakota State went dancing away to the NCAA....
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A little context: USD won both regular season games against SDSU but both games came down to the wire. I point that out because SDSU and USD were very closely matched. USD's senior-laden roster is as good a reason as any why they won two of the three contests. My point: SDSU was widely predicted to advance in the tourney and is doing so (SDSU, a 12-seed, won tonight over 5-seed Miami). If USD had been in the tourney in place of SDSU, I'd make the same prediction about USD. They're a very tough team, not real flashy but all business and a lot of grit. Their experience results in few mistakes. Seekamp is like having a great coach out on the floor.

You should have a good game to watch. The average Summit team does not have the post players like you have in the B1G. The Summit guards, however, are good and USD guard Hemiller will play well. Stewart is solid. Duffy, a Rapid City product, is a transfer from Colorado State and is a nice player.



Funny reference to the "Jackrabbit Invitational". The Summit Tourney drew close to 10,000 fans to the title game between USD and SDSU and, granted the crowd was overwhelmingly Jackrabbit blue. But nobody is stopping other teams from buying tickets.
 



The winner of Coyotes and Gopher game faces Northern Iowa. The Panthers defeated Missouri Valley rival Drake 64-58. UNI (who took out Nebraska) knocked down 12 three pointers.
 

I can't believe I'm thinking about renewing BTN+ just for this game. Somebody stop me. Convince me that radio is just as good.
 

This won't be an easy win. Seekamp is a very good player. Stewart is also and is a great athlete. Hope Banham and all the girls are all good tomorrow, play well and pull this game out
 

Shades said:
I can't believe I'm thinking about renewing BTN+ just for this game. Somebody stop me. Convince me that radio is just as good.
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Next weekend's softball series is on BTN+


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I'm in line for tickets right now. It is about 20 deep each in 5 lines. I don't know how long it has been like this, but it should be OK attendance.


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The Gophers are shooting better today. It's 26-19 after 1.


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So you have to rebound and play defense to win basketball games?
 


i'm officially off the Stollings bandwagon.

Bring on Lindsey.
 

station19 said:
i'm officially off the Stollings bandwagon.
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I've got one foot off the wagon. If she is running the same zone D next year (which I suspect will), I'm jumping off.
 

Frink said:
I've got one foot off the wagon. If she is running the same zone D next year (which I suspect will), I'm jumping off.
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Ditto. If there is no defense again next year an we are losing 100-90 games I'm off it. I don't think we'll be scoring in the 80's and 90's routinely without Rachel.
 

See what she does with next year's transfers and recruits. They had no post defense this year. Edwards got pushed off the block because of a strength issue. Barns was the women's version of Buggs. At times she looked absolutely lost out there.. We weren't that quick on the perimeter. Gidiva
Hubbard should help quite a bit on the defensive side. The ladies toward the end of the year looked woefully slow.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
See what she does with next year's transfers and recruits. They had no post defense this year. Edwards got pushed off the block because of a strength issue. Barns was the women's version of Buggs. At times she looked absolutely lost out there.. We weren't that quick on the perimeter. Gidiva
Hubbard should help quite a bit on the defensive side. The ladies toward the end of the year looked woefully slow.
Click to expand...

Really hard to watch them standing around on D, rarely boxing out for rebounds and allowing wide open shots repeatedly from the key. Stollings has given them the green light to shoot now she needs to teach some stop light red D. She has said she does not have the depth and team speed for 1 to 1 which is true but she will need to recruit, teach and upgrade their D to be competitive. It was also painfully obvious that SD wanted this W and being in the WNIT was not as disappointing to them as us. Their cheerleaders were loud and annoying and their chants of Defense made our cheer team seem lame. RB barely broke a sweat for her 37 and sadly at times looked disinterested and yelled at Hedstrom for dropping a poorly thrown pass. You do not see her express frustration at her teammates very often and speaks to her frustration. I will be giving coach more time to recruit and develop this team but this was a team we should have beaten with an average effort.
 

They had the special type of player who comes around to your program once every century and still were an awful team. The following years without Banham look grim. Stollings clearly has no grasp of how to enact an effective defense in the teams she's coached. Consider me unimpressed. Me thinks she'll be gone within 3 years. Also, Wagner's field goal percentage this year was terrible. She's clearly skilled, but needs to improve this offseason on shot selection, her actual shot, and becoming less predictable.

On a positive note, what a memorable career Banham had here for the Gophers. 6th all time scorer in NCAA history. 35+ point nights far to many to count. Clutch shot making, leadership, coming back from injury and heartbreak. She's going to have a fantastic career in the WNBA and you better bet your boots that I'll be following her every step of the way! Thanks Rachel for everything you've given this program.
 

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