Buckingham. There's a name from what seems like the distant past. (Just looked her up. She IS 23, so she has been around a while, plus she had a sit-out year.)
I was a bit disappointed to see Josie leave the Gophers for California since I thought she had potential, if only some coach could develop it; but I didn't blame her for jumping ship, since the Previous Coaching Regime (call it PCR - I'll refrain from using the S-word) treated her poorly. You can't deny she
https://lmulions.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=6246 had potential since during her high school career the 6' 5" center scored 1,432 points, grabbed 1,004 rebounds, and blocked 440 shots. Her 440 career blocks ranked fifth in state history at the time. And she had one Banham-like high-school game with 42 points, 17 blocks and 26 rebounds. Reason enough for the Gophers' Pam Borton to recruit her.
But of course she didn't run the court all that well, and wasn't a lights-out shooter, and so didn't fit too well into the PCR's run-and-gun style of play - seeing very limited action in her last year as a Gopher. So if she was #last on their pecking order of players - so be it - yet the coaching staff needs to be smart enough to realize that there may be niche moments when a player like Josie is the perfect solution to what is needed to win the game. But PCR was not that smart. In fact, rewinding the clock back to Rachel Banham's last game as a Gopher, their 2nd game in the WNIT tourney, against South Dakota, I claim that game was largely lost because PCR refused to put Josie into the game, when Josie was crucially needed to win that game. The Gophers arguably should have been playing in the NCAA tournament instead anyway, given the fact that in Banham and Wagner we had the best scoring duo in the country (capable of 45 up to as much as 75 points in a game), but probably thanks to poor PCR defensive schemes (coupled with low strength of schedule), we found ourselves in the WNIT instead. And after winning the first WNIT game, we were two-and-done in the WNIT - ending Rachel's Gopher career on a rather sour note.
Now South Dakota (under Amy Williams at the time) was a good team (who went on to win the WNIT) and played a good game. The first of two things that stood out about that game was that SD was never content to take a 16-foot jumper when a team-mate was open somewhere else for a 12-foot jumper. It was South-Dakota stop-and-pop short jumpers versus Gopher 3-pointers, mostly.
The pre-game analysis for that game is here
https://gophersports.com/news/2016/3/18/WNIT_Game_Preview_Gophers_vs_South_Dakota.aspx?path=wbball and the post-game analysis is here
https://www.twincities.com/2016/03/...ll-season-ends-with-wnit-loss-to-south-dakota and here
https://www.argusleader.com/story/s...20/live-blog-2-usd-vs-minnesota-wnit/81988782 .
But the second thing that really sticks out in my mind about that game - and something that nobody else has bothered to mention at the time - is that the Gophers largely lost to South Dakota on one ongoing massive coaching error by PCR (and by the way, an error that I simply cannot imagine Whalen and her staff making, thanks to the cumulative basketball IQ of Lindsay and her assistant coaches). Specifically, whenever the second units of both teams went into the game, South Dakota put in their own 6' 5" second-string center; whereas PCR refused to put in our own 6' 5" Josie Buckingham (as the proper countermeasure). While the 2nd units were playing, the South Dakota 6' 5" center hoovered up all available rebounds. We got squat for rebounds during that time. So during 2nd-unit time, South Dakota significantly outscored the Gophers - thus nullifying all the hard work put in by Rachel and Carlie during 1st-unit time. And all we had to do was put in Josie to contest those rebounds. That's it. It's that simple why we lost that game. And this is why I can sleep nights, now that Whalen is in charge - because I know that Whay is smart enough not to make such an obvious and avoidable (and costly) coaching mistake. A Banham-career-ending coaching mistake.
Now South Dakota was a good team, and they played well, but the Gophers played well too. The PCR was simply out-coached by Amy Williams in that game.
In the above analyses, various comments were made about things that led to the Gopher loss. Banham was apologetic, and wanting to assume much of the responsibility. And those comments were perhaps all true. But none of the comments mentioned the true reason for the loss - namely, a brutal coaching error. Here are some quotes from the above news articles.
Rachel: “I was settling too much for the outside game,” said Banham, who made six 3-pointers. “I should’ve attacked more. I should’ve been more aggressive.”
South Dakota went on to outscore Minnesota 25-15 in the third quarter for a 12-point lead entering the fourth. Both teams scored 31 points in the final quarter. (Note: I claim that much of that 10-point 3rd-quarter deficit came from lack of rebounding by the Gopher 2nd unit. And similar deficits for the other quarters.)
South Dakota’s 33-13 run had Minnesota facing an embarrassing 78-60 deficit early in the fourth quarter. It appeared the game was over then until the Gophers’ pride kicked in.
Banham’s deep three-pointer capped a 19-7 run that made it 85-79 with 4:37 remaining. South Dakota seemed to be reeling but Mullaney sprinted down court and missed an open layup that would have cut it to four. (Note: With properly playing Josie Buckingham against the South Dakota 6' 5" 2nd-unit center, the game would have been more like South-Dakota 75, Minnesota 89 at that point - for an easy win.)
Wagner had 18 points for the Gophers, and she went over 1,000 points for her collegiate career with a 3-pointer in the third quarter.
Banham finished with 37 points in her final game.
Finally, a post-game quote from the PCR architect of the loss ...
“It wasn’t our best defensive game, obviously,” Gophers coach Marlene Stollings said. “
Rebounding was the key to the game, and
they outrebounded us. We just talked about our seniors and what they meant to the program. This is going to be a really tough moment. Nothing we’re going to say is going to make that moment feel better.”
So, rebounding was the key to that game. Well duh! Then why didn't you sub in the appropriate (tallest) rebounder to go up against the opponent's tallest rebounder? Only for those 2nd-unit minutes - that's all that was needed, and then she could go back to the end of the bench where you kept her all year long. You could have put Josie in there and told her "Don't shoot unless it's a bunny shot - just pass out to Rachel or Carlie or some other guard at the 3-point line. But block out and get all the rebounds you can." That would have been a better plan. And Josie could have been the hero for one game (something I'm sure she would have been thrilled with), keeping the Gopher tournament run alive.
Like I said, I can sleep better at night, knowing that we now have a Gopher coaching staff that has incredible cumulative basketball IQ.