Sara Scalia enters the transfer portal

Donate To GopherHole
Rhinegator said:
Appears the possibility of four recruiting visits this weekend without leaving home.
Click to expand...

Ah, none of the Final Four teams are a destination. I've been trying to think of a good spot she would fit into and accomplish the "winning" goal without sacrificing starting and playing 30 plus minutes a game. Great three point shooter and free throw shooter but maybe not good enough player on defense or have the size for the elite teams. Maybe more options if she would accept a reduced role IMHO. Lots of teams will want her but might fall short on the winning side of the equation. Hard to figure with teams all over the country having their rosters turned upside down (or so seems at times). Close to home teams like Iowa or ISU would have made sense as a HS recruit (style match for the talent) but not now.
 

ISUnorth said:
Ah, none of the Final Four teams are a destination. I've been trying to think of a good spot she would fit into and accomplish the "winning" goal without sacrificing starting and playing 30 plus minutes a game. Great three point shooter and free throw shooter but maybe not good enough player on defense or have the size for the elite teams. Maybe more options if she would accept a reduced role IMHO. Lots of teams will want her but might fall short on the winning side of the equation. Hard to figure with teams all over the country having their rosters turned upside down (or so seems at times). Close to home teams like Iowa or ISU would have made sense as a HS recruit (style match for the talent) but not now.
Click to expand...
It's feeling like Wisconsin to me.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
This is alarming when your leading scorer and a MN native is choosing to leave the program. Are they scared of the players coming in? Are Whalen and staff failing in developing them? Is she being poached by one of the programs within a four hour drive that are really good programs?

No player has stepped up and become a true leader under Whalen and that is alarming.
Click to expand...
After watching the past two seasons, these kids are leaving because Lindsey Whalen, while being a great player, is not a great coach. The correct thing that the Snake should have done was to thank Whalen for her service, fired her, and went out to get a quality coach for this program.
 

whalenfan said:
Her dad said she transferring because she wants to win...
Click to expand...
Which school has a historically better track record of winning to back up a sales pitch that involves the phrase "you can help us win now"?
I don't discount poaching.
 

Why would a 4 or 5 star recruit in the portal come to Minnesota? They probably won't unless they have been unsuccessful (injury or whatever) at the school who recruited them. Who in the portal will come to Minnesota? Players who have had some success at a non-Power Conference and want the challenge of the Big Ten, or players who did not get much playing time at a Power Conference school. Why is Minnesota not attractive to outstanding players. The track record. The teams are seldom contenders. Minnesota has never won the Big Ten. Once, they finished in a tie for second. Their other positions were: 3rd, 5 times; 4th, 2; 5th, 4; 6th, 4; 7th, 2; 8th, 4; 9th, 5; 10th, 6; and 11th, 5 (some of these positions were ties). The median position is 6th-7th place. The mediocre-poor record is not Lindsay's fault but it is a huge obstacle for her to overcome. They say that recruitment and talent is a huge percentage of coaching success. Lindsay and her staff need to get better at recruiting great talent (and keeping them). Maybe, they need to hire a used car or a snake oil salesperson? Whether we like it or not, Lindsay will be the coach longer. As far as I know, Geno and Superwoman did not apply for the women's coaching position at Minnesota.
 




I don't blame her for wanting to win now. Any athlete approaching the apex of their skill development wants to be in the best spot to be noticed. That is how you move to the next level.

I sound like a broken record, but it is the truth: UMN has faculty, administration and a board of regents that varies from resisting athletic success to undermining athletic success. That opposition to athletic success is also an opposition to developing new methods of revenue, income and donations to the school.

The faculty's "students first, athletes second" creed is a venomous and ignorant attack on 25% of their own schools. Schools that focus on the function of the human body and the variety of elements that comprise it. The faculty doesn't understand, or care, that they are driving away students who enjoy athletics and basic physical activity. They are not only driving them towards other schools, but, thanks to technological innovation, other methods of accessing knowledge.

The administration, thanks to the demands of faculty, staff and associated interests, have placed disproportionately narrower behavior standards on student-athletes than they do on non-athletic students. It is all done under the guise of "meeting education standards" and "fulfilling federal funding mandates". UMN has intentionally designed tighter standards than required under state and federal Instruction. This is an actual disincentive especially when compared to how other land grant schools established their standards under the same parameters.

The Board of Regents is a power bottleneck which especially in terms of funding for UMN. A successful athletic department with winning teams and boosters who want to provide funds through that department is a threat to the Regents power and their financial trust.

Each of these entities is surrounded by a community of advocates and allies who work to keep this antiquated, authoritarian power structure and its ideology in place.

Compare the ascension of four new hockey programs in Minnesota to the vascilating results in the established hockey programs at both UMN and UMD. Everyone is bewildered by Wisconsin's rise in athletic stature when the formula is really simple: get unnecessary faculty, administration and Board of Regent-imposed obstacles to having successful sports teams out of the way and innovate educational access for all students.

Any athlete who wants to be successful and take their skills to the next level is no different than any student, undergraduate or graduate, who wants to get to the next level with their educational skills. They will go to the place that gives them the best opportunity to do so.

The difference is what return on investment do either provide their school or department within the university? The cash cow of medical innovation is drying up. Technological innovation is so spread out and in such demand that it works on thinner margins for the university. Business schools are in competition with rapid fire innovation start ups not associated with any particular university and half of successful business are started by college dropouts. Schools of public policy and political science are not, by nature, generators of disproportionately high income alumni. I think you get the idea that if you need funding infusions then you need to follow the money, which has been found, for the last forty years, in athletics, in competitive sports.
 




Ewert86PC said:
I don't blame her for wanting to win now. Any athlete approaching the apex of their skill development wants to be in the best spot to be noticed. That is how you move to the next level.

I sound like a broken record, but it is the truth: UMN has faculty, administration and a board of regents that varies from resisting athletic success to undermining athletic success. That opposition to athletic success is also an opposition to developing new methods of revenue, income and donations to the school.

The faculty's "students first, athletes second" creed is a venomous and ignorant attack on 25% of their own schools. Schools that focus on the function of the human body and the variety of elements that comprise it. The faculty doesn't understand, or care, that they are driving away students who enjoy athletics and basic physical activity. They are not only driving them towards other schools, but, thanks to technological innovation, other methods of accessing knowledge.

The administration, thanks to the demands of faculty, staff and associated interests, have placed disproportionately narrower behavior standards on student-athletes than they do on non-athletic students. It is all done under the guise of "meeting education standards" and "fulfilling federal funding mandates". UMN has intentionally designed tighter standards than required under state and federal Instruction. This is an actual disincentive especially when compared to how other land grant schools established their standards under the same parameters.

The Board of Regents is a power bottleneck which especially in terms of funding for UMN. A successful athletic department with winning teams and boosters who want to provide funds through that department is a threat to the Regents power and their financial trust.

Each of these entities is surrounded by a community of advocates and allies who work to keep this antiquated, authoritarian power structure and its ideology in place.

Compare the ascension of four new hockey programs in Minnesota to the vascilating results in the established hockey programs at both UMN and UMD. Everyone is bewildered by Wisconsin's rise in athletic stature when the formula is really simple: get unnecessary faculty, administration and Board of Regent-imposed obstacles to having successful sports teams out of the way and innovate educational access for all students.

Any athlete who wants to be successful and take their skills to the next level is no different than any student, undergraduate or graduate, who wants to get to the next level with their educational skills. They will go to the place that gives them the best opportunity to do so.

The difference is what return on investment do either provide their school or department within the university? The cash cow of medical innovation is drying up. Technological innovation is so spread out and in such demand that it works on thinner margins for the university. Business schools are in competition with rapid fire innovation start ups not associated with any particular university and half of successful business are started by college dropouts. Schools of public policy and political science are not, by nature, generators of disproportionately high income alumni. I think you get the idea that if you need funding infusions then you need to follow the money, which has been found, for the last forty years, in athletics, in competitive sports.
Click to expand...
First, it has been shown time and time again that you will get noticed for being a good player NOT by what school you go to. Scalia was the star player for a P5 program in a major metro area. She had the full attention of the pros. Scouts will not be any more or less aware of her if she transfers to UConn or Virginia who won only a handful of games this year.

I appreciate your passion but think blaming the administration is an excuse. I am not aware of any major roadblocks that the administration has put in place that prevent boosters from supporting the athletic department. They follow NCAA requirements. I also am interested in your examples of undue behavioral requirements on student athletes versus the general student population. Student athletes are higher profile than other students so are more likely to garner media attention when things go south.

Universities were established for academic purposes only. I am fine having high standards for all students at the U. It is up to the athletic directors and coaches to use this as a recruiting tool (see Fleck) versus a crutch.

That said, I believe that President Gabel sees how these two facets of the university can serve one another. I hope that she sticks around to help the U continue down this path.
 

ecoperson said:
First, it has been shown time and time again that you will get noticed for being a good player NOT by what school you go to. Scalia was the star player for a P5 program in a major metro area. She had the full attention of the pros. Scouts will not be any more or less aware of her if she transfers to UConn or Virginia who won only a handful of games this year.

I appreciate your passion but think blaming the administration is an excuse. I am not aware of any major roadblocks that the administration has put in place that prevent boosters from supporting the athletic department. They follow NCAA requirements. I also am interested in your examples of undue behavioral requirements on student athletes versus the general student population. Student athletes are higher profile than other students so are more likely to garner media attention when things go south.

Universities were established for academic purposes only. I am fine having high standards for all students at the U. It is up to the athletic directors and coaches to use this as a recruiting tool (see Fleck) versus a crutch.

That said, I believe that President Gabel sees how these two facets of the university can serve one another. I hope that she sticks around to help the U continue down this path.
Click to expand...
Pearl clutching and fear mongering over changing standards are all part of the delusion that UMN is "The Harvard of the Midwest". The sad state of affairs that is the Alumni Association reflects that. The political infighting and polarizing of issues within the AA tarnish so much of the school.

We have not produced any substantive changes to the "real world" in the last 40 years the way we did from the 1920s through the 1950s. This is because we had fat, sassy and idealistic alumni who brandished their idealism as fact based on the results from the work of others. Rushing into the idealistic cocoon with insular mania to hide away from the "real world" is why we are in the mess we are in. Competitive sports is the thoroughfare between both worlds.
 

ISUnorth said:
Ah, none of the Final Four teams are a destination. I've been trying to think of a good spot she would fit into and accomplish the "winning" goal without sacrificing starting and playing 30 plus minutes a game. Great three point shooter and free throw shooter but maybe not good enough player on defense or have the size for the elite teams. Maybe more options if she would accept a reduced role IMHO. Lots of teams will want her but might fall short on the winning side of the equation. Hard to figure with teams all over the country having their rosters turned upside down (or so seems at times). Close to home teams like Iowa or ISU would have made sense as a HS recruit (style match for the talent) but not now.
Click to expand...
I was thinking one of the South Dakota teams.
 

Only a long suffering Gopher fan (or Minnesota fan in general) can appreciate the irony of the current situation: The Final Four being held in Minneapolis, and Page Bueckers the lead story, while at the same time, the home town team hits a low not seen since the "grand exodus" under Borton or the last days of the Littlejohn era.
 



"Peter Scalia said there were times when Sara, well-known for her work ethic in the gym, was looking for teammates with the same commitment."

We discovered the underlying issue. Sara was more committed to winning than her teammates.
 


and now, this:

there are reports that Whalen is about to be named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Which puts Mark Coyle in - potentially - a really sticky situation. If the Gopher Women's program does not find an answer to its issues very quickly, Coyle is then faced with potentially having to fire a Hall of Fame player and MN legend.

Good luck with that, Mark.
 

walleye said:
Why would a 4 or 5 star recruit in the portal come to Minnesota? They probably won't unless they have been unsuccessful (injury or whatever) at the school who recruited them. Who in the portal will come to Minnesota? Players who have had some success at a non-Power Conference and want the challenge of the Big Ten, or players who did not get much playing time at a Power Conference school. Why is Minnesota not attractive to outstanding players. The track record. The teams are seldom contenders. Minnesota has never won the Big Ten. Once, they finished in a tie for second. Their other positions were: 3rd, 5 times; 4th, 2; 5th, 4; 6th, 4; 7th, 2; 8th, 4; 9th, 5; 10th, 6; and 11th, 5 (some of these positions were ties). The median position is 6th-7th place. The mediocre-poor record is not Lindsay's fault but it is a huge obstacle for her to overcome. They say that recruitment and talent is a huge percentage of coaching success. Lindsay and her staff need to get better at recruiting great talent (and keeping them). Maybe, they need to hire a used car or a snake oil salesperson? Whether we like it or not, Lindsay will be the coach longer. As far as I know, Geno and Superwoman did not apply for the women's coaching position at Minnesota.
Click to expand...
One of the most realistic analysis IMHO. Lindsey has an uphill climb on many fronts. She needs dedicated talent and that seems hard to come by.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
and now, this:

there are reports that Whalen is about to be named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Which puts Mark Coyle in - potentially - a really sticky situation. If the Gopher Women's program does not find an answer to its issues very quickly, Coyle is then faced with potentially having to fire a Hall of Fame player and MN legend.

Good luck with that, Mark.
Click to expand...
I don't think he would even consider a change in HC for a minimum of 2-3 years. Whalen's clock in my opinion really starts now with the new talented class coming in because Scalia was the last player on the team who really appeared angry on game day and not a good team gameday leader along with Pitts, Powell and Scalia. There always seemed to be residual bad culture from the Pitts era. I was never surprised any of them left, disappointed yes, because I hate to lose talent, but my hope was either they would turn over a new leaf or addition by subtraction. I think all will do well on a new team as long as there is a strong talented leader already on said team. Sissoko leaving was a surprise to me and I don't think that would have happened if not for her coming on strong in the last handful of games and finally showing some improvement. All the other bench players that left were also obvious likely candidates to leave based on playing time and demeanor on the floor/bench. Although I say her clock starts now the clock will have a shorter duration minimum of 2-3 years and more departures of top players will now be especially problematic and portal recruiting will be critical. Must have fewer misses on recruits.
 

I don't believe there was some Pitts-Powell-Bello-Scalia axis of evil that pushed this team to the depths of the Big Ten. I think it was plain and simple...coaching. Anyway, we now follow four years with another fresh start. I'm guessing next season is make or break for Whalen. Five years provides evidence enough.
 

MOGopher said:
"Peter Scalia said there were times when Sara, well-known for her work ethic in the gym, was looking for teammates with the same commitment."

We discovered the underlying issue. Sara was more committed to winning than her teammates.
Click to expand...
Culture.
 

Scalia improved as a player under Coach Whalen, she was pretty much one dimensional her freshman year. The improvement is a credit to the coaches. I also think she learned what it takes to be a standout player, also in part from the coaches. I guess now she wants to capitalize on all this and move to what, a winning team? Just sad to see her go.
 

Hard to say what is really going on. No doubt that Whalen is new, trying to establish her routine etc. I can't imagine the other players not working hard. Wonder what they think about that? I wish that Scalia would be around to be a leader to the upcoming freshman. That would have been nice. Scalia personally I believe made a mistake as the coaches did make her a better player. Just an observation.
 

Who else got better? Sometimes players get better on there own despite the coaching sounds possible this is the case with her work ethic
 


Gopher Ally said:
This feels like a big gut punch, I hope the highly rated incoming class sticks. I’m sure they have insight as to what’s going on in the program. Sucks watching these Minnesota girls win all over the country from Utah to Creighton to UCONN
Click to expand...
gwbbfan82 said:
I was thinking one of the South Dakota teams.
Click to expand...
Hate to say it, but she would fit what Iowa does perfectly, and she would have Clark to get her the ball in position to score.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
I don't believe there was some Pitts-Powell-Bello-Scalia axis of evil that pushed this team to the depths of the Big Ten. I think it was plain and simple...coaching. Anyway, we now follow four years with another fresh start. I'm guessing next season is make or break for Whalen. Five years provides evidence enough.
Click to expand...
And now Smith.
 


rwlarson said:
Hate to say it, but she would fit what Iowa does perfectly, and she would have Clark to get her the ball in position to score.
Click to expand...
She could definitely play there but those wings on Iowa never touch the ball.
 

Roland Brooks said:
Who else got better? Sometimes players get better on there own despite the coaching sounds possible this is the case with her work ethic
Click to expand...
Kadi Sissoko improved, but still inconsistent. Powell and Pitts also improved, but were they team players? It takes a team so let them go and let's build a team! It's easy to blame the coaches but the ease of the transfer portal goes against team loyalty and let's not forgot the dollars College stars can make now. Paige is the highest dollar star both male/female is that not what we read? Is Sara and family thinking about that.....you betcha ya.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
I don't believe there was some Pitts-Powell-Bello-Scalia axis of evil that pushed this team to the depths of the Big Ten. I think it was plain and simple...coaching. Anyway, we now follow four years with another fresh start. I'm guessing next season is make or break for Whalen. Five years provides evidence enough.
Click to expand...
Axis of evil, hardly, not that dramatic. Coaching/player management was undoubtedly an issue in my opinion but the players weren’t mature enough to handle it when the screws were tightened. It was too late to get them back in the fold. In my opinion this was always GoIng to be the biggest part of Whalen’s learning curve. If she doesn’t have it figured out now with the 4 freshman coming in she will be done in 3 years.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom