Game 1: Gophers Host New Hampshire (11-9-18)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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Whalen’s Coaching Debut versus New Hampshire:

Yes it’s early; but so is the hype. We may as well start the game thread for the most anticipated Gopher coaching debut since Lou Holtz accompanied by some fake Lou’s first ran out of the tunnel and emerged under the Metrodome’s teflon sky. Gopher Sports anticipates thousands of fans Packing the Barn hoping to discover whether the near mythical Lindsay Whalen has more curative powers than the truly mythical Mankato Hot Springs.

Into this Gopher Den stroll the New Hampshire Wildcats. New Hampshire finished last season 9-7 (tied for 4th) in America East and 19-12 overall. The Wildcats averaged 59.8 points per game (57.13 in conference play) and gave up 57.3 points/game (58.44 in conference). This means very little since UNH’s four leading scorers and three additional seniors graduated.

So, as 9th year head coach Maureen Magarity said about her six player incoming class:

"We'll be looking at them to come in right away and play for us," Magarity said. "They're going to have a great opportunity and I think that was something that was definitely very attractive to these recruits. It's a really strong class for us and I'm thrilled with the class and excited to be able to work with the players once they get here this summer."

One of the new comers is a 5’9” shooting guard, Kali Grimm, from Norwood-Young America. About Grimm, Magarity said:

"Kali is a great shooter. She comes from a great AAU organization out of Minnesota [Minnesota Fury] that produces a lot of high level players so we're really excited to get her here."

Last season, there were two common opponents: New Hampshire lost at Xavier 66-71 and in OT at Boston College 55-64. At Williams, Minnesota defeated Xavier 74-62 and Boston College 78-68.

New Hampshire’s best recent season was 2016-17 when they finished 15-1 atop America East. Nevertheless, they lost in the America East semi-finals and instead of an NCAA selection the Wildcats went to the WNIT losing in the first round to Harvard.

Maureen Magarity is the daughter of Dave Magarity (current Army men’s coach) and in her eight years at UNH she has compiled 130 more wins than Lindsay Whalen and 112 more losses.

But enough about New Hampshire, most of our speculation between now and 9 November will be on the Gopher lineup, offense and what’s to be done about the defense.

The 2018-19 Gopher season is around the corner. Let the speculation begin.
 

Kali Grimm is a D2 player lucky enough to get a D1 offer. She'll be back in the NSIC by this time next year.
 

Just checked the website and best available i could get 4 tickets was in the upper deck. Could be quite the crowd for this one.
 

Normally, I'd make fun of someone who previews a November game in August, but I'm so anxious for the season to start that I was happy to read the preview. Usually, when I get this anxious for a season to start for any of my favorite sports teams, they disappointment me. Hopefully that won't be the case with Whalen's Gophers. Not expecting a Final Four appearance, but another NCAA tourney appearance would be a good start for this new coaching group.
 

So when this game rolls around, anyone have any thoughts on lineup? I know its hard to go based off the Italy trip but it seemed the starting five based on that was Lamke, Taiye, Bell, Hubbard, and Pitts. Do people like that lineup? its a little more traditional with Lamke really the only big body post that we have. Im just not sure how Lamke will fair against the likes of a fast team like Syracuse or bigs in the Big Ten like Gustafson or Thome. One positive is, it moves Taiye to the PF position and I think she has the athleticism to out rebound some PFs. One other questionable thing is shooting. Will there be good spacing if Lamke and Taiye don't develop a reliable jump shot? Will Bell or Pitts be able to drive if that paint is too crowded? Other question is Brunson/Staples probably firsts off the bench. What do people think? Is Byrne the only post we will normally play off bench? I guess there is the freshman Tomancova from Czech Republic but usually it takes international posts a little bit to get going in the college game.

Or would people rather see a starting lineup of Taiye, Bell, Hubbard, Pitts and Staples? More Scoring it would seem but then Taiye might get into early foul trouble guarding bigger centers. Maybe that's another positive to having Lamke guard the centers, it could pull some of the fouls off of taiye guarding out of position. Im fully aware injuries or other factors could determine lineup, but my biggest hope is this staff sets a lineup and runs with it. lets its work together. I always was bothered with Stollings different lineup almost every game. never could get momentum together as a group it seemed.
 


I'd prefer four guards; but as bball_craz said I'm assuming we are headed to a Lamke, T Bello, Hubbard, Bell and Pitts starting lineup. It's probably what O'Banion meant by "new structure" and it's what Whalen is familiar with. During the non-conference season it's probably the easiest lineup to rotate subs in and out of.

If Staples can knock down threes, then, yes I'd like to see Taiye Bello, Staples, Hubbard, Bell and Pitts. Of course that probably means the guards soak up a lot of minutes and the posts stay in a constant rotation (kind of like Stollings did).

However, what will we do defensively? Maybe a strong defender will force her way into the lineup.
 

Although I haven't yet seen the "new and improved" Lamke, I wouldn't be surprised to see her starting at the post position, at least at the beginning of the season. Then as they get into the season and Staples gets acclimated to the college game, I wouldn't be surprised to see them go with a four guard lineup with Taiye in the post. I don't think Bello will be in the constant foul trouble she was in last year. I got the feeling that she was often trying to do too much in the short time off the bench she was allotted. (And she often made that time a lot shorter with a couple of quick fouls.) I agree with bball in saying that that the different lineups and rotations Stollings kept coming up with were maddening and didn't allow for much continuity. I won't mind if the new coaching staff tinkers with the lineup during the non-conference schedule, but I am hoping that they've settled on a firm rotation by mid-December as the BIG season approaches.
 

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tripledouble said:
Although I haven't yet seen the "new and improved" Lamke, I wouldn't be surprised to see her starting at the post position, at least at the beginning of the season. Then as they get into the season and Staples gets acclimated to the college game, I wouldn't be surprised to see them go with a four guard lineup with Taiye in the post. I don't think Bello will be in the constant foul trouble she was in last year. I got the feeling that she was often trying to do too much in the short time off the bench she was allotted. (And she often made that time a lot shorter with a couple of quick fouls.) I agree with bball in saying that that the different lineups and rotations Stollings kept coming up with were maddening and didn't allow for much continuity. I won't mind if the new coaching staff tinkers with the lineup during the non-conference schedule, but I am hoping that they've settled on a firm rotation by mid-December as the BIG season approaches.
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IMHO, Mercedes Staples is easily one who will come off the bench and maybe become a three point threat once she gets acclimated in the rotation.

Secondly, I am looking forward to see if Whalen's teams will develop a strong defensive identity.

Watching the clip of a practice, she appears to be a positive reinforcement type of coach who sees each players strengths. She will be good at developing the players. I think it will be fun to play for her.

I can't wait!
 



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2300 season tickets sold. Do we know how many season tickets were sold going into last season?
 




Thanks, whalenfan. So we might have a chance to double last year's season ticket sales by the time the season rolls around. I've said it before, but I really like the "fill the arena" idea for the first game. There was going to be quite a bit of interest for this game anyway, with Whalen's first game as coach, but this might get some fans interested at a time of year where there usually isn't much interest. Maybe this will get some of these fans to come back again throughout the year or maybe even sell a few more season tickets. And, of course, with families who have a limited budget, this is a great way for them to get to see a game. Kudos to the U for getting this right.
 

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I’m guessing the television option will be BTN+?

It’d be nice if the ooc games showed up on ESPN+, which is a cheaper option.
 

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Must feel different practicing in a gym with large windows as opposed to one with none (referring to the video in the twitter).
 

http://www.startribune.com/lindsay-...hing-could-break-attendance-record/495086411/

Single game attendance record possible.


Whalen, in her first year coaching the Gophers women, has a lot of such memories to pull from. Most recently, the fall of last year when her Minnesota Lynx, forced to relocate to Williams for the playoffs, won Game 5 on the raised court in front of a loud house. But perhaps most powerful, is her memory of a day in early February of 2004 — Whalen’s senior year — when the Gophers whipped fifth-ranked Penn State in front of 14,363 fans.

That still stands as the biggest home crowd to watch the Gophers women play. Whalen has a picture of her and her teammates huddled before the opening tip on the wall in her office.

It’s a record that should fall in just a few weeks.

Less than 500 tickets remain for Whalen’s opener — Nov. 9, when the Gophers play host to New Hampshire. “If we sell out this game, that record is history” said Mills Armbruster, the assistant director of marketing at Minnesota. “I fully expect that number to be broken.”

Whalen and the marketing department have been working hard since she was hired last April to sell out Williams (capacity 14,625) for that night. The idea? To set the tone for Whalen’s first season, to pique fans’ interest by showing how a huge crowd can make a game special. And, for Whalen, to give her players the same experience she had.

...

Not surprisingly, Armbruster said Whalen has been marketing gold. For example: The day before the Whalen hiring, a total of 76 new season tickets had been sold for a team coming off a trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament. The marketing department’s new goal — which Armbruster expects to meet — is to have 1,300 new ones sold. Meanwhile, the season-ticket renewal rate is over 100 percent. And while that might seem impossible, turns out that not only have virtually all season-ticket holders renewed, several added seats to their package.

One more tidbit: Each year the program has a game where elementary and middle school fans are given seats if they can get to the arena. Last year the U campaigned for three months to get 2,500 to show up. This year’s game — Dec. 4 vs. Incarnate Word — was announced two weeks ago and already 5,000 have RSVP’d.
 

Made the STrib's list of the largest WBB crowd's in Williams Arena history into it's own thread.
 
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Like everyone else, New Hampshire freshman forward, Faith Bonnet, is looking forward to opening night.

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Question-does anybody know why the men’s exhibition games are public, such as the one on Thursday night, but the women’s on Saturday is not?
 

BballMama said:
Question-does anybody know why the men’s exhibition games are public, such as the one on Thursday night, but the women’s on Saturday is not?
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Does any school open these games up the public for womens? I cant remember the U ever doing that. Also who do they play this Saturday? I know they played st thomas the 27th. If anyone has info how that went it would be cool to hear.
 

Most schools that I have seen have these as exhibition games, open to the public. Several are even on ESPN3 and ESPN+
 

Exhibition games and closed scrimmages are different things. Stollings did away with exhibition games (I thought it was good move).

Exhibition games are open to the public; closed scrimmages are not. The NCAA requires closed scrimmages to be closed to the public and media; although they are staffed by game officials and stats can be released.

The Gophers men's team played a closed scrimmage versus versus Creighton a week and a half ago. It was closed to the public and media. Stats were released. The advantage of closed scrimmages is that they can be versus division 1 opponents; exhibition games cannot.

It's possible that St. Thomas and Minnesota held more of a joint practice. I don't know. Closed scrimmages are staffed like games with game officials.
 
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whalenfan said:
Does any school open these games up the public for womens? I cant remember the U ever doing that. Also who do they play this Saturday? I know they played st thomas the 27th. If anyone has info how that went it would be cool to hear.
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The Shonrock-coached Winona State game is the last exhibition I recall being public. That was a disaster best unrevisited.
 

thatjanelpick said:
The Shonrock-coached Winona State game is the last exhibition I recall being public. That was a disaster best unrevisited.
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Actually, in Borton's last season (2013-14) they avenged that loss with an 82-44 win at Williams over Winona State. The Gophers also played Minnesota State Moorhead winning 69-64. Those were the last exhibition games. Stollings was a fan of closed scrimmages.
 

Let’s open things back up. Stollings most likely was trying to hide how terrible her defensive schemes were.
 

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