NCAA Tournament 2022-23

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SHGopher said:
Maryland's Diamond Miller projected to the Minnesota Lynx.

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Only reason I'm posting this is the Final Four and the broader landscape the Minnesota Gophers play in. I mean, the goal should be a Final Four against teams, dynamics, and players like this.
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They don't need someone who can't shoot. What they need is a healthy Bueckers or Clark, a woman who can shoot the lights out, create for others, and carry a team. Too bad this pick isn't next season when they could get one of those 2.
 

Gopherguy0723 said:
They don't need someone who can't shoot. What they need is a healthy Bueckers or Clark, a woman who can shoot the lights out, create for others, and carry a team. Too bad this pick isn't next season when they could get one of those 2.
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Yea next year will be stacked too with Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, and Hailey Van Lith.
 

SHGopher said:
Yea next year will be stacked too with Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, and Hailey Van Lith.
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Yep. This is a weak draft. It wasn't the year to pick high.

Diamond Miller isn't going to change the fortunes of any franchise.
 

Gopherguy0723 said:
Yep. This is a weak draft. It wasn't the year to pick high.

Diamond Miller isn't going to change the fortunes of any franchise.
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Mackenzie Holmes projects to be undrafted, I just read. Wow. WNBA is selective.
 




Coming to an NCAA Tournament soon.

Shooting guard Mara Braun and point guard Amaya Battle (both top-100 per ESPN coming out of high school and promising freshman seasons)


Power forward Mallory Heyer (top-100 and promising freshman season)


Wing/forward G-Money (Grace Grocholski) (top-100)


Center Sophie Hart (top-100 and unclear early career at NCS)


What the Gophers still need are:

A senior/fifth year veteran shooting guard/small forward/wing until G-Money is ready.

or

A sophomore to junior wing / shooting guard who can defend to start now and then later in a rotation with Braun and G-Money as a sixth (wo)man.

and also need

Who is going to play point guard when Battle is resting? Who is the rotation player there?

and need

A rotation center.

What we don't know yet is what forward Nia Holloway will add. She's a redshirt freshman coming off a knee injury. She played power forward in high school. While she didn't make ESPN's top-100 list she was seen as about a top-100 player. Unknown.

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Also, unclear what to expect from the incoming freshmen other than G-money. It does look like some wing / small forward / shooting guard type players will come from that group.

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Kennedy Klick, Ajok Madol and MyKynnlie Dalan. Could be some dynamite players from that group. All of them have good upside and no way to know how quickly they contribute and perform in a couple years from now.

And what is Maggie Czinano's position? She gave good minutes as kind of a utility player not highly specialized. I assume Aminata Zie is a backup center who came from JUCO, a stretch to play in the Big Ten.

Need a veteran shooting guard, wing, or small forward this season at least and even better if it's a sophomore or junior. Need a rotation center. Unclear how or how long until the new players contribute.

The Gophers have several players we just don't know yet. There could be some top players yet to emerge.
 
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SHGopher said:
Coming to an NCAA Tournament soon.

Shooting guard Mara Braun and point guard Amaya Battle (both top-100 per ESPN coming out of high school and promising freshman seasons)


Power forward Mallory Heyer (top-100 and promising freshman season)


Wing/forward G-Money (Grace Grocholski) (top-100)


Center Sophie Hart (top-100 and unclear early career at NCS)


What the Gophers still need are:

A senior/fifth year veteran shooting guard/small forward/wing until G-Money is ready.

or

A sophomore to junior wing / shooting guard who can defend to start now and then later in a rotation with Braun and G-Money as a sixth (wo)man.

and also need

Who is going to play point guard when Battle is resting? Who is the rotation player there?

and need

A rotation center.

What we don't know yet is what forward Nia Holloway will add. She's a redshirt freshman coming off a knee injury. She played power forward in high school. While she didn't make ESPN's top-100 list she was seen as about a top-100 player. Unknown.

View attachment 24903

Also, unclear what to expect from the incoming freshmen other than G-money. It does look like some wing / small forward / shooting guard type players will come from that group.

View attachment 24904

Kennedy Klick, Ajok Madol and MyKynnlie Dalan. Could be some dynamite players from that group. All of them have good upside and no way to know how quickly they contribute and perform in a couple years from now.

And what is Maggie Czinano's position? She gave good minutes as kind of a utility player not highly specialized. I assume Aminata Zie is a backup center who came from JUCO, a stretch to play in the Big Ten.

Need a veteran shooting guard, wing, or small forward this season at least and even better if it's a sophomore or junior. Need a rotation center. Unclear how or how long until the new players contribute.

The Gophers have several players we just don't know yet. There could be some top players yet to emerge.
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And the Gophers have a new coach known for strong defense, a systems viewpoint, and results.


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The last couple years the Gophers have been a soft defense, fold, upset defeats, and blow leads team. Gophers haven't been to the NCAA tournament in any of the last five years.


Some numbers to watch as we enter the next season:

-Opponents scored an average of 79.5 points per Big Ten game against the Gophers, second most points by opponents in the Big Ten. For comparison, Indiana opponents scored an average of 64.1 points per game. That's a gap of 15.4 points per game. Look for this gap to narrow.

-Gophers went 7-11 in conference games in 2020-21 and 7-11 in conference games in 2021-22 when the Gophers had veteran teams. This was year 3 and 4 for Whalen with recruits like Sara Scalia and transfer player Sissoko.

Whalen originally inherited some good players including former Big Ten Rookie of the Year Destiny Pitts who was Big Ten Second Team and Taiye Bello who was Big Ten Honorable Mention.

bigten.org

Big Ten Conference

The official athletics website for Big Ten Conference
bigten.org bigten.org

The Gophers made the NCAA tournament the season before Whalen and haven't been back since.


Despite her flaws, Coach Stollings before Whalen achieved three 11 conference wins in four years and two NCAA tournaments in four year. Whalen never achieved a 10 conference win season or an NCAA tournament and when she left the team was using walk-on players. Time to get back to winning basketball and the NCAA tournament.


en.wikipedia.org

Minnesota Golden Gophers women's basketball - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org


-Then the Gophers went 4-14 in conference games in 2022-23. This was after most the team left via the transfer portal before the season started. Three top-100 freshmen and one top-100 redshirt freshmen joined the team.

-Gophers had the 3rd most turnovers per game in Big Ten games at 18.2 per game. For comparison, Indiana had 13.2. That's a gap of 5 turnovers per game.

-The Gophers haven't been to the NCAA tournament in five years.


 
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Iowa is now favored by 3.5 points. The line has moved towards Iowa since opening yesterday, often a positive indicator for the team it moves towards, some say.




It's Iowa's championship to lose.
 



BBJones said:
One more strike against Stollings.
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Stallings was a complete turd when it came to recruiting Minnesota players. The fact she never recruited Czinano is an indictment on her short sited view of MN players. That and she coached no defense.
 

Iowa will be in the market for a center through the transfer portal. It shouldn't be hard selling a national title run.
 

I'm thinking that interest in women's basketball and the women's tourney will continue to grow substantially in the upcoming years. Reasons: 1) A lot of great players returning, including Clark and Bueckers. 2) The increased parity in the tourney itself. Traditional powers such as UConn, Notre Dame, Baylor are now beatable. 3) The fact that the best women's players are generally staying the full 4/5 years and the best men's players are bolting for the NBA.

I'm a Gophers fan, but I'll be a Hawkeyes fan today. I like the way Bluder and staff have built their program. At a time when most programs are getting lots of their players from the transfer portal, Bluder's program hasn't had much turnover and they've done a great job of developing post players (Gustafson, Czinano). I'm hoping our Gophers have the defending national champ on their schedule next year.
 






Bueckers could have been Minnesota's Caitlan Clark had she wanted that opportunity. Clark elevates that entire Iowa squad. All the marketing and SAME level of NIL for Clark would have been available to Buecker's, and some had she been a Gopher! If Buecker's would transfer home she would be beyond a Rock Star for the state of Minnesota. She would be this generations Whalen. I know she already makes a ton but it would give all the players in Minnesota and Buecker's more opportunity. UCONN already has tons of stars, if Buecker's came home to Minnesota and was a Gopher the opportunity for women's players would be to the Moon! At UCONN yeah she is star, but there is something to be great like Clark is and wear your home states colors and banner on your jersey. I get it she will be a star regardless, and water under the bridge, but what could have been would have been historical.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
Bueckers could have been Minnesota's Caitlan Clark had she wanted that opportunity. Clark elevates that entire Iowa squad. All the marketing and SAME level of NIL for Clark would have been available to Buecker's, and some had she been a Gopher! If Buecker's would transfer home she would be beyond a Rock Star for the state of Minnesota. She would be this generations Whalen. I know she already makes a ton but it would give all the players in Minnesota and Buecker's more opportunity. UCONN already has tons of stars, if Buecker's came home to Minnesota and was a Gopher the opportunity for women's players would be to the Moon! At UCONN yeah she is star, but there is something to be great like Clark is and wear your home states colors and banner on your jersey. I get it she will be a star regardless, and water under the bridge, but what could have been would have been historical.
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My first reaction is that UConn is in a different glamour category that makes UConn different, but then your pointing out Clark at Iowa shows it's possible elsewhere too. Great point.



Well that window came and went. Amaya Battle has the keys to the car at point guard. Braun shooting guard.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
Bueckers could have been Minnesota's Caitlan Clark had she wanted that opportunity. Clark elevates that entire Iowa squad. All the marketing and SAME level of NIL for Clark would have been available to Buecker's, and some had she been a Gopher! If Buecker's would transfer home she would be beyond a Rock Star for the state of Minnesota. She would be this generations Whalen. I know she already makes a ton but it would give all the players in Minnesota and Buecker's more opportunity. UCONN already has tons of stars, if Buecker's came home to Minnesota and was a Gopher the opportunity for women's players would be to the Moon! At UCONN yeah she is star, but there is something to be great like Clark is and wear your home states colors and banner on your jersey. I get it she will be a star regardless, and water under the bridge, but what could have been would have been historical.
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she also would have needed to be recruited by the coach at the time.. which she wasn't so...
 


Kim Mulkey's outfit for the championship game.



And FYI background information, before her "bold" fashion at LSU, Mulkey won three NCAA national championships at Baylor. She also won one as a player too. And she's a gold medalist.
 

Roland Brooks said:
And stay healthy
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I'm very worried that Bueckers' body is breaking down, and she can't handle the physical strain anymore.

She was going to be a WNBA all-star with HOF potential. Now she might be your classic example of, "If only she could've stayed healthy...."
 

BrettMP said:
Mackenzie Holmes is coming back to Indiana next season.
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Look at Sophie Gustafson a few years ago from IO. Too slow, could not shoot a 3 after being a star . Czinano will b the same…z
 

Gophers112233 said:
she also would have needed to be recruited by the coach at the time.. which she wasn't so...
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If U r suggesting that Whalen didn’t recruit Beuckers U r 1000% incorrect ! I hope I am mis-interpreting your response. Paige was on the record multiple times on how often she spoke to Whalen and how she admired her career. She said she had a Fathead of Whalen in her BR growing up in MN. The original posters comments r spot on. She could have transformed MN woman’s team if she had any loyalty….I admire CC 4 her loyalty to her team and state.
 

What an annoying broadcast with the sidebar of continuous talking heads.
 




Katogopher said:
Disappointed in the officiating in this game, seems too touchy ofcalls and taking stars out of the game
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I don’t watch a lot of women’s games, but refs are consistently bad. Terrible today on huge stage. Announcers aren’t great but at least calling out the terrible refs.
 



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