End of Season/Current Program Fan Grades

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bball_craz_31

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I will be doing a recap of the season along with a look ahead to next season and a program recap kind of thing for Jr-All Star coming up here in a few weeks and wanted to get fan input. Kinda looking for where fans are grade wise in certain areas of the program. I did it this way as can usually only allows one vote subject if I tried to add the quiz in the thread.

Please give your grade/thoughts on the following subjects of the Program. be honest about how you feel about each category and feel free to explain your reasoning. Grades A-B-C-D-F or "indifferent" or even "don't care"

Topic One: Direction of the program. Are they moving in the right direction? Are you excited about the future?

Topic Two: Style of Play/Identity. Does this staff/team/program have an identity?

Topic Three: Recruiting as a whole. Are they going after the right players? Have we brought in talented players you are excited to watch?

Topic Four: Local recruiting. have they improved from previous staff? are they meeting expectations? are they keeping the right local kids home? Is there players you feel they should be going after or are must-gets in 2023 or 2024?

Topic five: Whalen. How do you like her game management? What positives do you see? What needs to change? Have you seen growth from year one to three?

Topic Six: Staff. are you happy with assistants? are we missing something on the staff? would you like to see changes and if so, what kind?

Topic Seven: Roster/makeup of team. Do you like the roster? are their players you would like to see transfer? are their players you feel don't get enough credit? Is there a player or type of player you feel this team is in need of.

Topic eight next season. what is reasonable expectations for next season? can this be an NCAA Tournament team? or are we still a wide margin away?


Once again any feedback is helpful. feel free to simply put a grade by each topic, or explanation if you want. or ignore it all together if not interested.
 

1. I am excited about the future. They are headed in the right direction.
2. They are developing an identity but that identity will be more identifiable with the coming recruits that Lindsay is getting.
3. Love the recruits that have committed.
4. Definitely putting more emphasis on local kids with Brain, Holloway, Czinano, Heyerdahl and Borowicz. What’s not to like!! We need a dominating presence inside and a point guard that can break down the defense. Maybe we already have that with Borowicz and Cumming. Heyer and Braun will complete that.
5. Lindsay’s game management is improving. As players develop she can substitute more freely without a loss in the quality of play. Really liked the continued development of Strande, Borowicz, Cumming and Smith as the season wore on.
6. Staff is great as long as Carly stays!!
7. Like the roster a lot. If they can stay healthy they should be competitive. Can’t lose Scalia or Powell for extended periods of time. Sara has to build up that shoulder. To be a championship caliber team we need that dominating presence inside. I don’t care where we get it. With a Czinano type player (Iowa) we would be very very good.
8. If healthy we could win 20 games or more and get to the tournament. Micheaux and Czinano could make a real difference.
 

Some quick thoughts:
  • Direction: In Neutral. In season 1 Whalen was a part time coach with zero experience who later said she had a lot to learn. Season 2 featured a team implosion and a promise of more learning. Season three was Covid-19 dominated and Lindsay said everyone was emotionally and physically drained. The main take away I have is that these three seasons have been a grind. And I’m looking for anything or person that will add some fun.
  • Style of Play: Mismatched. To me, Whalen’s trying to run a Lynx style offense with a guard dominated team. We don’t have Brunson and Fowles. Early in the season I quoted Suzy Merchant on how she was simplifying the offense because of the uncertainty of who would be available. Whalen mentioned doing the same thing; but I don’t think it took. After the season’s last game Lindsay said, “I think in the second half we stopped worrying about things and who was playing what position…” The simplification never really took root.
  • Recruiting: Okay. You can certainly construct a decent team around Powell, Scalia, Smith, Mershon and Sissoko.
  • Local Recruiting: No opinion. I don’t follow it nearly as closely as others on this board.
  • Game Management: Not my biggest concern; although being able to run an occasional inbound play would be nice. And there often seems to be a disconnect between Lindsay and the players as to when to pressure the ball. I recall too many times when Lindsay seemed to waving them to press and the guards were already running back to mid-court.
  • Staff: One reason I really missed going to games is the chance to watch the interactions between the coaching staff and players. Lacking that, it’s a little difficult for to form some thoughts on who is doing what. In general, I don’t think this is a top level college staff. But we’ve made the NCAA with worse staffs.
  • Roster: Like I said earlier, there’s enough player talent to be an NCAA team.
  • Next Season: Looking forward to it.
 

1. I am cautiously optimistic about the direction of the program. I absolutely expected a slower improvement process than makes most of us fans happy. 2. Really frustrated with the # of TO's given our guard emphasis on O. I can chalk some of it up to youth but this team needs to learn to value every possession. We also need a big improvement in team D. I can see the work the coaches have put into our guards but now we need better balance with a true center and effective PF. 3. I have been pleased with recruiting but was surprised at the slow development of our only 5 star recruit, Smith. She had a lot of playing time and we saw a few flashes but overall inconsistent play. Hopefully, she will make a big jump. 4. I think Whalen has worked hard to develop relationships with local coaches and hope this translates into landing some big local talent in the next 1-2 years. 5. I have always supported Whalen. We have seen her struggle with the huge learning curve but I still believe her drive to win will make her successful. Even with Covid and injuries this season we saw her make adjustments and improvements. 6. Carly is an excellent recruiter and I hope we don't lose her to a head coaching job.7. I like our current roster but need more depth and consistency @ center n PF. 8. It feels like with the freshmen getting alot of playing time and if we get healthy this team can definitely make the tourney next year.
 

I would give them a "C." Their effort was good but it was a difficult season because of logistical problems with Covid and injuries to an inexperienced team. They have good players coming back. They have many good guards but need a dominant Big (or two). I hope they can get a great Big via the transfer portal. If this was the WNBA, I would trade two guards or a guard and a draft choice for a dominant Big.
 


D- at the beginning of the season (midterms) and a C+ by the end of the season (Finals) for a final score of C.
 


bball_craz_26 said:
Here is part one of the two part review. Its also a FREE article so no account needed to read it!

jrallstar.com

FREE: Minnesota Gophers 20-21 Season Review: Part 1-Injuries and Covid Leave a Feeling of ‘What If’ - Jr. All-Star Basketball

As the NCAA tournament continues to power along and the Women’s college basketball transfer portal seems to almost double in size every day, it’s never […] More
jrallstar.com jrallstar.com
Click to expand...
Good article with finally a lot of truth. Especially the Struggle Three: Third Quarter Woes and views from the observer.
"Not getting back on defense to stop layups is one thing, but not even getting past half court some of the times, is a lack of effort in my view. Too often the ball movement would evaporate, and it would turn into hero ball with players trying to force the issue going one on two or one on three and it resulted in a turnover or a contested shot that did not connect."
 

Eric Boogard pretty much nails it... continuity within the lineup could easily be the difference between winning and losing. There is such a fine line between playing to play and playing to win at this level. We have to get to the point where we are playing to win, whatever that takes, but to get to that level you have to also get lucky with injuries (and covid) and unfortunately for the gophers, having key players out prevented them from playing to Win.
 



Very good article and summary of the team. With so many players coming back in the Big Ten it is probable that we could see vast improvement with the Gophers but might not reflect on their W-L Record depending on their schedule. Would like to see them beat a top tier conference team but in order to do that I think a long off season of improving defense is mandatory
 


bball_craz_26 said:
Here is part two and final part to the gopher season review. Once again it is a free article so let me know comments, concerns or thoughts.


jrallstar.com

FREE: Minnesota Gophers 20-21 Season Review: Part 2-Return to Normalcy, Improved Recruiting and Core Group Returning Points to Golden Future - Jr. All-Star Basketball

As we were treated to an extremely entertaining NCAA tournament and the Women’s college basketball transfer portal seems to almost double in size every day, […] More
jrallstar.com jrallstar.com
Click to expand...
Great series, I too hope to be back at Williams arena. I do think that the turnover in players in the Big Ten and the Gophers consistent roster may catapult the Gophers over teams like NW, OSU, Rutgers maybe Nebraska but I don’t see this team leapfrogging over the conference favorites. Perhaps an upset or 2 can get them into the NCAA’s. Improving that defense will be paramount to accomplish that goal.
 

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