2024-2025

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Belzx009

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I fully understand that the Gophers have one maybe 2 possible games left, but I wanted to dedicate a thread for next season.

Two things I see helping the Gophers next season…1. Graduation I really feel like next year some of the better teams FINALLY lose a lot. Yes there is USC who will be scary good, but Iowa and Indiana should be down.
2. I feel like I am starting to see more and more NIL opportunities in the twin cities. I think that could potentially take off for a couple of the girls which would help entice others to come.
 

Belzx009 said:
. . . but Iowa and Indiana should be down.
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The pendulum may also swing back in the direction of the defense, which would be good for the Gophers. Since 2010, the 4 most efficient BIG offenses are 4 Caitlin Clark teams. The last 2 IU teams are also top 10 offenses since 2010. This year’s OSU, PSU and MSU teams are also top 16 offenses since 2010. They also lose a lot of key players. So this year might be the end of an usually great offensive era.

As scary as USC and UCLA look coming in, neither team was particularly efficient on offense. Don’t know if that is due to PAC-12 style of play differences, but will be interesting to see how they transition to the new BIG.
 

It’ll be interesting to see who leaves. I’d like to see a point guard and a center from the portal. There’s some talented players in the portal, hopefully Coach P can get some to want to play for the Gophers.
 

I hate the portal season. Historically I always think Gophers seem to lose more than they gain. I hope this team sticks together and that coach P can tip the scales in a positive direction
 

On a positive note, no one has entered the portal yet.
 



TruthSeeker said:
Only a couple players would be a true loss.
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That is problem number one. I believe Grace and Johnson were the coach P recruits that played this year. They both have potential but Grace is always going to be an average defender at best. She played a ton of minutes and averaged 10.8 ppg...she'll get better. She shot 34.6% from 3...she took the 2nd most shots on the team.

A Johnson avg 3.4ppg and 1.8 reb. I like her potential but she has a long way to go to be Big Ten good.

One of the new recruits is a Grace clone. The other IDK but she is pretty small.
So that's four new girls that are likely marginal contributors or have deficiencies you have to cover up.
We need better talent. Braun, Battle, Heyer, Hart are clearly a step up from the Coach P recruit level and and none of them are finished products either. We need somebody better than Braun to be good and Braun and the other three have to be available. That would just get us competitive.

And we need an offense next year.
 

60's Guy said:
That is problem number one. I believe Grace and Johnson were the coach P recruits that played this year. They both have potential but Grace is always going to be an average defender at best. She played a ton of minutes and averaged 10.8 ppg...she'll get better. She shot 34.6% from 3...she took the 2nd most shots on the team.

A Johnson avg 3.4ppg and 1.8 reb. I like her potential but she has a long way to go to be Big Ten good.

One of the new recruits is a Grace clone. The other IDK but she is pretty small.
So that's four new girls that are likely marginal contributors or have deficiencies you have to cover up.
We need better talent. Braun, Battle, Heyer, Hart are clearly a step up from the Coach P recruit level and and none of them are finished products either. We need somebody better than Braun to be good and Braun and the other three have to be available. That would just get us competitive.

And we need an offense next year.
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Yep. There's not enough talent.

Braun is an inefficient volume scorer.
Battle is a turnover machine who can't shoot. GG will be a good shooter, but isn't anything more than a starting role player on a good team.

They can be a tournament team with what they have through self-improvement because the team is young, as long as they stay healthy.

However, they cannot compete for a Big Ten title without better talent. Tessa Johnson is exactly what this team needs. She's an excellent shooter who will become an excellent scorer, and she plays good defense. She's going to be a good two-way player and maybe even an elite one.
 
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As said before the newcomers Johnson, McKinney and Klick will add a lot.
 

This will be an interesting offseason and into next year as Coach P has now had a year of assessment. Be interesting to see how things go and where they get to next year.
South Carolina had 9 players who played 14 minutes or more and only 2 players play over 30 minutes in a Championship game. I would like to think our team would welcome some talent from the portal and give up a few minutes to take this team to next level and keep developing. Next year we hopefully all will stay healthy and we get further into the Big Ten tournament and win an NCAA game. I hope our fans can get around Battle, Braun, Heyer, Holloway who seem committed to stay and put MN back on the map.
 

I think for years people have wanted a “local” team. As the team stands right now.
Minnesota Kids
Stewart
Hart
Czinano
Braun
Battle
Heyer
Holloway
Klick
Senden
McKinney

Wisconsin
GG
Johnson
Johnson

Washington
Dalan

If Dalan leaves. There literally could be a whole team of kids who I consider local. I would like her to stay not pushing it. Just my morning thoughts.
 

Belzx009 said:
I think for years people have wanted a “local” team. As the team stands right now.
Minnesota Kids
Stewart
Hart
Czinano
Braun
Battle
Heyer
Holloway
Klick
Senden
McKinney

Wisconsin
GG
Johnson
Johnson

Washington
Dalan

If Dalan leaves. There literally could be a whole team of kids who I consider local. I would like her to stay not pushing it. Just my morning thoughts.
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Annika Stewart's profile at Nebraska lists this:

huskers.com

Annika Stewart - Women's Basketball 2022-23

Annika Stewart - Women's Basketball 2022-23
huskers.com huskers.com

Before Nebraska
Stewart scored 27 points in her final game against Hopkins and Gatorade National High School Player of the Year Paige Bueckers in the 6-4A sectional championship game.

Stewart averaged approximately 20.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists while hitting 65.6 percent of her two-point field goal attempts, 41.5 percent (39-94) of her threes and 89.5 percent (51-57) of her free throws as a senior. She led Wayzata to a 24-5 record with three of its losses coming to national No. 1 Hopkins.

Over the final 12 games of the season, Stewart turned up her production to 25 points per contest. Stewart opened the 4A playoffs with 27 points in a win over Armstrong, before erupting for a season-high 36 points in a sectional semifinal win over St. Louis Park. Wayzata finished with a final No. 3 ranking in the state.

Stewart earned first-team Class 4A All-State honors from the Minnesota Girls Coaches Association, while also earning first-team All-Lake Conference honors. She was also an All-Metro selection.

Stewart averaged 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds as a junior for 26-3 Wayzata, while earning All-Lake Conference and All-Metro honors. She produced 10.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore for the 25-3 Trojans to earn All-Lake Conference honors in her first season at the school. She played her eighth grade and freshman seasons in North Dakota at Minot's Bishop Ryan High School, before her family moved to Minneapolis. Wayzata was the No. 2 ranked team in Class 4A in Minnesota in both 2018 and 2019.

After coming off the bench as an eighth grader, Stewart averaged 15.2 points and 7.1 rebounds as a freshman for Bishop Ryan. She earned all-region and all-conference honors while helping Bishop Ryan to a 20-5 record on the season. She totaled 1,675 points, 836 rebounds, 130 blocks and 119 three-pointers in her five high school seasons combined.

Stewart played her summer club basketball for North Tartan - the same program that produced Husker Sam Haiby (Moorhead). In the summer of 2019, Stewart earned an all-tournament selection at the Nike Boo Williams in Hampton, Va.
 



Belzx009 said:
I think for years people have wanted a “local” team. As the team stands right now.
Minnesota Kids
Stewart
Hart
Czinano
Braun
Battle
Heyer
Holloway
Klick
Senden
McKinney

Wisconsin
GG
Johnson
Johnson

Washington
Dalan

If Dalan leaves. There literally could be a whole team of kids who I consider local. I would like her to stay not pushing it. Just my morning thoughts.
Click to expand...

I would like to see Coach Plitzuweit recruit the most talented players. I do not care what state or country they come from. The 'recruit and play Minnesota locals' has never worked and is flawed thinking. Stollings did not believe in that philosophy and she was the last coach that was able to win here. I believe Coach Plitzuweit, as well, will recruit good talent from where ever she can find it.
 

MOGopher said:
I would like to see Coach Plitzuweit recruit the most talented players. I do not care what state or country they come from. The 'recruit and play Minnesota locals' has never worked and is flawed thinking. Stollings did not believe in that philosophy and she was the last coach that was able to win here. I believe Coach Plitzuweit, as well, will recruit good talent from where ever she can find it.
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There is good and bad to everything. I believe you can win with local. I think they will also get more fans eventually with a lot of local talent.
 

MOGopher said:
I would like to see Coach Plitzuweit recruit the most talented players. I do not care what state or country they come from. The 'recruit and play Minnesota locals' has never worked and is flawed thinking. Stollings did not believe in that philosophy and she was the last coach that was able to win here. I believe Coach Plitzuweit, as well, will recruit good talent from where ever she can find it.
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As MOGopher gets on a plane to recruit in Southern California. Good luck with that.
 

GopherMarroon said:
Annika Stewart's profile at Nebraska lists this:

huskers.com

Annika Stewart - Women's Basketball 2022-23

Annika Stewart - Women's Basketball 2022-23
huskers.com huskers.com

Before Nebraska
Stewart scored 27 points in her final game against Hopkins and Gatorade National High School Player of the Year Paige Bueckers in the 6-4A sectional championship game.
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The number of Minnesota players with a profile or article highlighting how they did when "matched up" against Paige is long. Stewart, Braun, McKenzie, Jensen all come to mind as examples.
 

Belzx009 said:
There is good and bad to everything. I believe you can win with local. I think they will also get more fans eventually with a lot of local talent.
Click to expand...
You can't win with local players. Check the rosters of the tourney teams and they are loaded with players from multiple states and countries. Coach Plitzuweit is a good recruiter, so I would expect a vast improvement this season or next. Once she gets this team competitive and winning, the fans will come.
 

MOGopher said:
You can't win with local players. Check the rosters of the tourney teams and they are loaded with players from multiple states and countries. Coach Plitzuweit is a good recruiter, so I would expect a vast improvement this season or next. Once she gets this team competitive and winning, the fans will come.
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I don't believe that's true. We must lock down the borders. Too many teams grabbing our top talent. Keep the talent...WINNER

SKI-U-MAH
 

MOGopher said:
You can't win with local players. Check the rosters of the tourney teams and they are loaded with players from multiple states and countries. Coach Plitzuweit is a good recruiter, so I would expect a vast improvement this season or next. Once she gets this team competitive and winning, the fans will come.
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Wrong! If the Gophers had Bueckers and Johnson this year they would be very good. The same with Olson and Crump next year.
 

You can win with local players the talent is there, but the options are small due to geography.

That said you get all the top ones you would very competitive. But your recruiting rate would need to be in the 90 percentile

It’s not a lack of talent, it’s the math.
 

MOGopher said:
You can't win with local players. Check the rosters of the tourney teams and they are loaded with players from multiple states and countries. Coach Plitzuweit is a good recruiter, so I would expect a vast improvement this season or next. Once she gets this team competitive and winning, the fans will come.
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SDSU seems to win fine with local players…..
 

2003-04 Roster shows we couldn't win with local talent. Andersson was from Sweden.


Player#ClassPosHeightSummary
Lindsay WhalenSRG5-820.6 Pts, 5.1 Reb, 5.4 Ast
Janel McCarvilleJRC6-216.1 Pts, 10.8 Reb, 2.9 Ast
Shannon SchonrockSOG5-68.9 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 2.9 Ast
Kadidja AnderssonSRF5-119.0 Pts, 4.2 Reb, 2.1 Ast
Shannon BoldenSOG-F5-116.0 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 1.2 Ast
Kelly RoyslandFRG5-95.6 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 1.5 Ast
Jamie BrobackFRG-F6-35.1 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Liz PodominickFRF-C6-24.1 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Christina CollisonSOC6-21.5 Pts, 1.1 Reb, 0.1 Ast
Hannah GarrySOG5-50.5 Pts, 0.2 Reb, 0.1 Ast
Lori DimitroffSRG5-9
 

Good one! That team was a while back but it shows how good Gopher teams with mostly Minnesotans can be. The Minnesota girls in recent years have been really good. If they got the top 3 each year with a few from WI and the Dakotas we’d always be near the top of the Big 10 every year.
 


This whole MN grown discussion is silly. Look at the teams in the top 10 year after year. UConn isn't full of Connecticut kids. South Carolina isn't full of kids from the Carolinas. LSU Isn't full of Louisianians (it's a word.. I looked it up). They get great players. Period. Regardless of where they're from. That is the top priority of any coach. Not the borders.
If we want a shot at the best MN players we need to win. But even then kids want to experience new things. I guarantee you some young women will want to see another part of the country, develop some independence away from home, regardless of whether we are winning or not.
One can always point to some outlier year. But programs that are successful year after year get great players from both home and other states. And they accomplish that by winning. Not by convincing great players that there's no place like home even though we don't win.
 

Aesop70 said:
This whole MN grown discussion is silly. Look at the teams in the top 10 year after year. UConn isn't full of Connecticut kids. South Carolina isn't full of kids from the Carolinas. LSU Isn't full of Louisianians (it's a word.. I looked it up). They get great players. Period. Regardless of where they're from. That is the top priority of any coach. Not the borders.
If we want a shot at the best MN players we need to win. But even then kids want to experience new things. I guarantee you some young women will want to see another part of the country, develop some independence away from home, regardless of whether we are winning or not.
One can always point to some outlier year. But programs that are successful year after year get great players from both home and other states. And they accomplish that by winning. Not by convincing great players that there's no place like home even though we don't win.
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I agree. I posted the Final Four roster to show we could win with local talent since so many said we couldn't.
 

Gophearl said:
Sorry to say that the great MN players go to the best bluebloods and not the gophers.
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Minnesota has had 9 McDonald's All Americans, only 2 of which chose a blue blood (Paige and Tessa). The in-conference recruiting losses to Ohio State, Northwestern and Michigan really hurt. Hill and Coffey had great college careers. Will be interesting to see Olson at Michigan (assuming she still goes there).
  • Olivia Olson, Benilde-St. Margaret's (2024) - Michigan
  • Liv McGill, Hopkins (2024) - Florida
  • Tessa Johnson, St. Michael-Albertville (2023) - South Carolina
  • Maya Nnaji, Hopkins (2022) - Arizona
  • Paige Bueckers, Hopkins (2020) - UConn
  • Nia Coffey, Hopkins (2013) - Northwestern
  • Rebekah Dahlman, Braham (2013) - Vanderbilt
  • Taylor Hill, Minneapolis South (2009) - Ohio State
  • Liz Podominick, Lakeville (2003) - Minnesota
 

EaganGopher22 said:
I agree. I posted the Final Four roster to show we could win with local talent since so many said we couldn't.
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That was 20 years ago. Recruitment has changed from local to national to international. Successful teams now are drawing players from a wide geographic area. I first got interested in women's basketball when I was at Texas Tech. I watched the Lady Raiders win the national championship in 1993. After watching the 1993 NCAA tournament, I remember thinking that this will be the last time that a women's team wins the national championship with almost exclusively home-grown talent. I think that is pretty much true.
 

Dalan is in the portal. The only question I have is Zie officially gone? I think everyone else will stay.
 

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