Plitzuweit

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She’s got the team to buy in, improved the defense and turnovers and has kept the team together. How many teams can say they’ve only had 1 transfer out this year? She’s in her 3rd overall at a P5 school and navigating the NIL landscape. Shes steadily improved the team and was without Braun and Woodson for nearly the entire season. You’ll only see all negatives if that’s the only thing you’re looking for. I’m all in for coach P.
 

samloupete said:
What has she done in the portal? NOTHING!!
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Don't need to do much in the portal when you've already got a team with a lot of talent that wants to stick together! Also, last year she had picked up Stewart, who ended up being a high impact player on offense, and Rose, who ended up being a very high impact player on defense. I'm sure she actually will find some important pieces for the team this year as well. It's just not an immediate process.
 

samloupete said:
Just keep scheduling low hanging fruit so you can build up your win total so you can get into a tournament where you can beat up on that same low hanging fruit to impress the unaware. Beyond that she's done nothing. What has she done in the portal? NOTHING!!
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as far at the portal..

we HAVE 10 RETURNING PLAYERS

2 incoming freshman, so that leaves 3 roster spots open..

it's not like we lost 7 or 8 players and have 3 returning players and we need a whole new team..

calm down.. we are bringing back the WHOLE CORE of our team next season. we truly just need a player or two, to kind of plug and play. To give some of our starters a breather or a break.
 

We're one of the few teams in the country that has retained almost all of its players (except one) and someone is now complaining because the coach hasn't signed anyone from the portal yet? USC, UCLA, OSU, Notre Dame, South Carolina have all lost key players to the portal. Coach hasn't suffered these kinds of losses and you're calling her a 'dog'?
 

samloupete said:
Just keep scheduling low hanging fruit so you can build up your win total so you can get into a tournament where you can beat up on that same low hanging fruit to impress the unaware. Beyond that she's done nothing. What has she done in the portal? NOTHING!!
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Marlene Stollings is that you?

I would like to know what D1 coach you are and what successes you have had in the portal to have such an experienced and knowledgeable opinion. Also please share with the classroom what they have scheduled for next year since you already know what opponents we have. If not maybe shut it till we see next season. or feel free to go watch a team more suited to your liking.

"Done nothing in the portal" ...Right Woodson and Stewart didn't help this season at all..Right? If you mean this year, correct CURRENTLY IN APRIL,TWO WEEKS AFTER THE SEASON, she has not gotten a commit YET.

I guess we are also forgetting they retained and returned 10 of the possible 11 returners, including 8 of the top 9 producers with the return of the two injuries. "beat low-hanging fruit" ....Like Florida who had a win over Alabama? Like Belmont who Gophers beat by more than Ohio State did. You know the same Ohio State team that lost to Penn State? Had zero quad 3/4 losses. Despite two of their top 7 out for all by 12 games. Low-hanging fruit right? What's your coaching record?

Now back to the portal which you know so much about. Tell us all who they have reached out and talked to since you must know. You must also be aware that multiple players are asking for money well beyond their worth and multiple players have demanded or stated they want a starting spot or no deal. You must know all of that to run your mouth like you do. Correct?

Please enlighten all of us oh all-knowing one. With your obviously massive amount of Coaching D1 experience.
 
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People putting pressure on Coach P now are a little out of touch. Won the WBIT down top player and another top 6 player.

Won with basically a 7-8 player rotation due to the two injuries. They were truly on the bubble and 1-2 more wins would have gotten them in.

I'd like to see them get more athletic but they will naturally happen if healthy. It's not worth blowing anything up with this core group that has stayed through a coaching change.

Have to make the tournament next year however.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
People putting pressure on Coach P now are a little out of touch. Won the WBIT down top player and another top 6 player.

Won with basically a 7-8 player rotation due to the two injuries. They were truly on the bubble and 1-2 more wins would have gotten them in.

I'd like to see them get more athletic but they will naturally happen if healthy. It's not worth blowing anything up with this core group that has stayed through a coaching change.

Have to make the tournament next year however.
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Agree. Next year we need to see top 25 wins, a stronger non con, and an NCAA tournament. We as fans won't have the excuse of saying "we're young" or "we don't have Braun and Woodson"

I really hope all the above come true! I will then be the first to admit I was wrong when I was being hard on Coach P. Go Gophs!
 

DietCokeFan said:
Agree. Next year we need to see top 25 wins, a stronger non con, and an NCAA tournament. We as fans won't have the excuse of saying "we're young" or "we don't have Braun and Woodson"

I really hope all the above come true! I will then be the first to admit I was wrong when I was being hard on Coach P. Go Gophs!
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I would think next year team better finish in the top third of the conference. Will they I don't know but a lot of people think this team does not need transfers and is loaded with talent. I just did not see much talent last year. Hope I am wrong but with the schedule they played they just did not win games against the tournament teams. Can they make the next step sure but with all the experience on this team they better or it might be a long stretch of mediocrity.
 

samloupete said:
Just keep scheduling low hanging fruit so you can build up your win total so you can get into a tournament where you can beat up on that same low hanging fruit to impress the unaware. Beyond that she's done nothing. What has she done in the portal? NOTHING!!
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samloupete said:
Just keep scheduling low hanging fruit so you can build up your win total so you can get into a tournament where you can beat up on that same low hanging fruit to impress the unaware. Beyond that she's done nothing. What has she done in the portal? NOTHING!!
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It amazing the impatient of some adult - middle aged men regarding building a program.

They took a step forward by winning the tournament they were in, being ranked at one point and doing this mostly without Woodson or Braun playing.

If they would have flamed out in the first round then I could understand angst.

The joy is in the journey and seeing the evolution of the players, team and program.

Enjoy the process!!!
 

Just Gopher It!! said:
It amazing the impatient of some adult - middle aged men regarding building a program.

They took a step forward by winning the tournament they were in, being ranked at one point and doing this mostly without Woodson or Braun playing.

If they would have flamed out in the first round then I could understand angst.

The joy is in the journey and seeing the evolution of the players, team and program.

Enjoy the process!!!
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IN HER SECOND YEAR no less...
 

Gophers112233 said:
IN HER SECOND YEAR no less...
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I think coach P. Is a good coach but I still think year 2 was disappointing. I know about injuries but they just could not beat good teams. I believe we need to add 1-2 starting quality players to this team. I cannot believe all the people who think this team is loaded with talent that they don't want to add players and say in the next sentence they were happy with last years performance. 64 teams made the tournament we with all our talent did not. I think coach P. Is good I think people are way overrating our talent.
 
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It took Ben Johnson four years until he got his first ranked win. This is year three for Coach P. Yes, she has some more time to prove her self; but, with how the college game is moving with the portal every program is in a win now mentality.
 

I agree it will be more difficult for Coach P to quickly build a consistent winner here if they don’t have a successful season next year because she will need the positive vibes as she will be relying on new recruits and the portal much more than she has so far.

But I have no doubt that she will eventually have some great teams here regardless.
 

DietCokeFan said:
It took Ben Johnson four years until he got his first ranked win. This is year three for Coach P. Yes, she has some more time to prove her self; but, with how the college game is moving with the portal every program is in a win now mentality.
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Except last I checked, she was winning without what most people would say is their best player two years in a row. Do they need to get quicker, yup. They will be good next year provided they are healthy. You have maybe two openings, a point guard who can break down the defense and a big to improve the rebounding.
 

Finished 13th in B1G which put you on the bubble. Beat Illinois and Indiana which were round of 32 teams in the tournament.

Played some good games with upper teams like Maryland, Michigan, and Ohio State. Weak non conference had little impact on making the tournament.

They were out of gas in B1G play, but turned it around and won 5 straight to the WBIT title. We should see if continuity is better than dipping into the portal.
 

Gopher Mac said:
I cannot believe all the people who think this team is loaded with talent that they don't want to add players and say in the next sentence they were happy with last years performance. 64 teams made the tournament we with all our talent did not. I think coach P. Is good I think people are way overrating our talent.
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The 2022 recruiting class was the highest the Gophers have ever had, but due to injuries and less than ideal coaching in their first year, they haven't reached their full potential. Then beyond those four, we've also added immensely talented players like McKinney and Grocholski and have recruited others coming down the pipeline.

Players like Braun are force multipliers and tend to bring out the best in their teammates when they are on the court, but we just didn't get that effect in the past couple seasons due to her injury. It's hard to see now, but I do really think we have a talented and experienced team and it will show next season.

Minnesota is never going to be able to attract as much star power as the likes of UCLA, South Carolina, Ohio State, and maybe even Maryland. But the Gophers do have a lot of players whose talents fly a little under the radar and allow them to punch above their weight as a team when they all click together.
 

MaroonMagic said:
The 2022 recruiting class was the highest the Gophers have ever had, but due to injuries and less than ideal coaching in their first year, they haven't reached their full potential. Then beyond those four, we've also added immensely talented players like McKinney and Grocholski and have recruited others coming down the pipeline.

Players like Braun are force multipliers and tend to bring out the best in their teammates when they are on the court, but we just didn't get that effect in the past couple seasons due to her injury. It's hard to see now, but I do really think we have a talented and experienced team and it will show next season.

Minnesota is never going to be able to attract as much star power as the likes of UCLA, South Carolina, Ohio State, and maybe even Maryland. But the Gophers do have a lot of players whose talents fly a little under the radar and allow them to punch above their weight as a team when they all click together.
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I agree with your comments.

I recently listened to an interview with Janel McCarville by a local Stevens Point podcaster:
https://search.app/gtTqMZTT5tHY9JqTA
Janel had more coaching experience leading to her present head coaching job at SPASH than Whalen had for the Gopher job.

I have used the analogy of building the WBB program to that of building Williams Arena... a firm foundation and then the bricks.

Whalen was not prepared to be a D1 coach, but did a great job of rebuilding bridges with many of the area coaches... much needed infrastructure. This rebuilding of relationships perhaps led to the successful recruiting of the highly rated 2022 class.

Coach P has brought her skills and merged them with Whalen's to be able to successfully recruit in this area.... she is still building the foundation. It will take a few years to see the fruits of what Whalen started and Coach P continues... we gave Whalen five years.

I am hoping for a top third finish in conference play this season.
 


Year 3 will be a big year for her. If she chooses not to bring in anybody from the portal and ride her current players she needs to rotate more players into the game. She will have two injured players returning hopefully and two incoming freshman but she can't continue to run players out there for 35 plus minutes and expect to win big ten games. She knows her talent better then me. So it will be interesting if she adds anybody.
 


Gopher Mac said:
Year 3 will be a big year for her. If she chooses not to bring in anybody from the portal and ride her current players she needs to rotate more players into the game. She will have two injured players returning hopefully and two incoming freshman but she can't continue to run players out there for 35 plus minutes and expect to win big ten games. She knows her talent better then me. So it will be interesting if she adds anybody.
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Gophers only had one player average more than 33 minutes per game. 7 players averaged over 10 minutes per game. Add Braun and Woodson, who were injured and would have easily played more than 10/game and there you have your 9 player rotation. Look at most of the good teams around the country. They had a solid 8 player rotation with a 9th who would come in and average about 10.

Take away the season ending injuries and the Gopher numbers would've looked pretty similar. Unless you wanted her to run young players out there who weren't ready to win yet. Maybe with a season/summer of practice under their belts, they'll be more ready to contribute this season.
 

Chico Gopher said:
Gophers only had one player average more than 33 minutes per game. 7 players averaged over 10 minutes per game. Add Braun and Woodson, who were injured and would have easily played more than 10/game and there you have your 9 player rotation. Look at most of the good teams around the country. They had a solid 8 player rotation with a 9th who would come in and average about 10.

Take away the season ending injuries and the Gopher numbers would've looked pretty similar. Unless you wanted her to run young players out there who weren't ready to win yet. Maybe with a season/summer of practice under their belts, they'll be more ready to contribute this season.
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I quess you can make stats look however you what too. You think they had a good rotation i look at the stats and see 4 players with 28 plus minutes per game. Three over 30 minutes a game. All 5 starters with 21 plus minutes. I think that is too many minutes.
 

AllEars said:
Whalen was not prepared to be a D1 coach, but did a great job of rebuilding bridges with many of the area coaches... much needed infrastructure. This rebuilding of relationships perhaps led to the successful recruiting of the highly rated 2022 class.
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Mark Coyle should have lost his job for hiring Whalen, an individual with absolutely no idea how to coach a basketball (lead, communicate, defense/ offense schemes). Everyone knew Thibault was the recruiter and the coach behind the scenes. Plitzuweit has been able to lead this team to success in two short years and has maintained and added to their core players. Everyone bailed on Whalen and no recruits were going to come to play for her. Transfers and recruits want to play here now, they know the coach is good and the future looks bright.

At least Whalen can cash a check, hang out with Cheryl, and not worry about actually having to coach.
 

Gopher Mac said:
I quess you can make stats look however you what too. You think they had a good rotation i look at the stats and see 4 players with 28 plus minutes per game. Three over 30 minutes a game. All 5 starters with 21 plus minutes. I think that is too many minutes.
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Pretty much every good team I've ever covered over the last 40 years, had similar numbers. And again, you had 2 players who would have taken up some of that slack injured for the season.

Not sure who among the players that didn't play much you thought deserved more time. Maybe you were at practice every day and saw stuff that the rest of us did not see. I will tell you that most of the coaches I've been around, use practice to determine whether you're going to provide what I need in a game. Not gonna put a player in a game if they're not pretty sure what they're going to get from that player. Bad coaches in a desperate situation might throw some mud against the wall, hoping that something sticks, but coaches of Dawn P's caliber rarely do that.
 

Chico Gopher said:
Pretty much every good team I've ever covered over the last 40 years, had similar numbers. And again, you had 2 players who would have taken up some of that slack injured for the season.

Not sure who among the players that didn't play much you thought deserved more time. Maybe you were at practice every day and saw stuff that the rest of us did not see. I will tell you that most of the coaches I've been around, use practice to determine whether you're going to provide what I need in a game. Not gonna put a player in a game if they're not pretty sure what they're going to get from that player. Bad coaches in a desperate situation might throw some mud against the wall, hoping that something sticks, but coaches of Dawn P's caliber rarely do that.
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I agree with you. The two injuries killed them this year. They are not a very deep team. I don't think their were players on the bench that should have played. Thank God for Tori being so good as a freshman. I hope the injured players return healthy. But I also hope Dawn adds one or two players from the portal.
 

Gopher Mac said:
I agree with you. The two injuries killed them this year. They are not a very deep team. I don't think their were players on the bench that should have played. Thank God for Tori being so good as a freshman. I hope the injured players return healthy. But I also hope Dawn adds one or two players from the portal.
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Just from the little that I saw, I have hopes that Holloway and Klick will turn out to be 10+ minutes/game players at some point next season. A little more athleticism has been a need for this club and I think both Nia and Kennedy have that. There are some whispers on other forum posts hinting that a pretty good shooter may be coming in from the portal. I agree with others that we could probably use another athletic post to join the team.
 

MOGopher said:
Mark Coyle should have lost his job for hiring Whalen, an individual with absolutely no idea how to coach a basketball (lead, communicate, defense/ offense schemes). Everyone knew Thibault was the recruiter and the coach behind the scenes. Plitzuweit has been able to lead this team to success in two short years and has maintained and added to their core players. Everyone bailed on Whalen and no recruits were going to come to play for her. Transfers and recruits want to play here now, they know the coach is good and the future looks bright.

At least Whalen can cash a check, hang out with Cheryl, and not worry about actually having to coach.
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Perhaps you are right... I'll have to think about that.
 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion on the job Coach P has done but I think some people need to understand the state of the program that she took over. It's not as if Minnesota was making the NCAA tournament on a regular basis, advancing far into the conference tournament and winning 20+ games. The program hasn't made the NCAA tournament since 2017-18 and the winning percentage from 2018-2023 was 48.3%. Since Coach P has arrived, she has won 62.5% of the games coached and she had them most likely 1 win away from making the NCAA tournament this season, all without Braun and Woodson. She has this program headed in the right direction.
 

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