Thoughts on the season

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Coyner

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Despite today's bad loss, I think Coach Stollings has brought a much more exciting brand of basketball and far better shooting than what I witnessed under Borton the last few years of her regime. Yes, she's been blessed with elite players like Banham and Zahui B, but this team won a number of close games with poise at crucial times. That goes back to belief in the system and good coaching. There's no question that this squad had a very limited inside presence and didn't defend well. But I personally think they overachieved, based on the drop off of talent after Banham and Wagner. If I had a criticism of Stollings today, it would be her stubborn reliance on playing zone, particularly in the closing minutes. I understand that their lack of quickness is a factor. But when you're down six with three minutes to go, it plays into Northwestern's hands. 1. They can run more time off the clock. 2. You're more vulnerable to offensive boards. 3. You're letting a team off the hook that is probably tired playing on back-to-back days.
 

I think I have no thoughts on the season.
 


Ignatius L Hoops said:
The season continues.
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It's over for all intents and purposes....The women's NIT is an afterthought among afterthoughts.....It's a shame that one of the greatest women's college basketball players of all time will not play a single NCAA tourney game.....Stollings' coaching this year was downright pathetic in terms of fundamental rebounding and defense....Her and Pitino will be shown the door after next year is my gut feeling....Thanks Woody!:rolleyes:
 

1997vacatedfinalfour said:
It's over for all intents and purposes....The women's NIT is an afterthought among afterthoughts.....It's a shame that one of the greatest women's college basketball players of all time will not play a single NCAA tourney game.....Stollings' coaching this year was downright pathetic in terms of fundamental rebounding and defense....Her and Pitino will be shown the door after next year is my gut feeling....Thanks Woody!:rolleyes:
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Wasted potential is the theme of the 2015-2016 U of M basketball seasons. The only difference between MBB & WBB is how much potential was left unfulfilled.

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It's Year Two!

Stollings has only been here two years. In year one, she loses one of the greatest women's college basketball players of all time to injury and leads the team unexpectedly to the tournament under the development of Zahui B., who had done little the year before and a transfer in Kelley. In year two, she loses Zahui B. unexpectedly to the WBNA and with absolutely NO experience in the front court, leads the team to 5th place in the Big Ten. She has been recruiting athletes that fit her system and the program will continue to improve.
 

ecoperson said:
Stollings has only been here two years. In year one, she loses one of the greatest women's college basketball players of all time to injury and leads the team unexpectedly to the tournament under the development of Zahui B., who had done little the year before and a transfer in Kelley. In year two, she loses Zahui B. unexpectedly to the WBNA and with absolutely NO experience in the front court, leads the team to 5th place in the Big Ten. She has been recruiting athletes that fit her system and the program will continue to improve.
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Tell that to Banham
 

1997vacatedfinalfour said:
Tell that to Banham
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It is heart wrenching to me she will not be in the NCAA tournament. On the other hand it is hard to lay all the blame on Stollings . She thought she would have one of the best centers in the country. She scrambled to fill the gap but even UConn usually takes a few years to develope their centers. She also instituted an up tempo style and was quickly trying to get the athletes to play that style. I have both men's and women's season tickets and feel the jury is still out on both coaches but believe they should be given more time to see if they can be successful. I think it is a good sign that she has been able to get MN players to return as that never happened under Borton.
 

GringaGopher said:
. I think it is a good sign that she has been able to get MN players to return as that never happened under Borton.
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Actually, early on Borton brought back April Calhoun, Katie Alsdurf and Jordan Barnes. The first two saw significant minutes, especially Calhoun. In all honestly, none of them elevated the team. I think Bell and Fernstrom are more talented than those players so hopefully it will work out better.
 



Did Zahui B. command the $200,000 + salary in Europe this offseason like some of the WNBA stars reportedly earn?
 

Frink said:
Actually, early on Borton brought back April Calhoun, Katie Alsdurf and Jordan Barnes. The first two saw significant minutes, especially Calhoun. In all honestly, none of them elevated the team. I think Bell and Fernstrom are more talented than those players so hopefully it will work out better.
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Jordan Barnes’ story was a bit like Allina Starr’s. Barnes played one semester at Winthrop before leaving. I believe she’d was enrolled at Minnesota before Pam made contact with her. If I recall correctly, Jordan suffered an ACL before her senior season and the NCAA did not grant an injury red shirt year.

April Calhoun’s story might be a bit like Fernstrom’s. Calhoun wasn’t recruited by Littlejohn-the Gophers, supposedly, only had one available scholarship and that went to McCarville. April went to Iowa playing in every game her first two years which included being the starting point guard her sophomore season. Then, confounding Lisa Bluder, she left for Minnesota as a non-scholarship player (because of transferring to another B1G school).
 

Feel real bad for RB. You could see yesterday she was pressing a bit along with the rest of the team.The girls knew they needed to win one or two games in the tourney to get to the dance. It didn't
happen. I guess I'll wait and hold court on Stollings after next year.
 

No one expected Zahui B. to leave after her redshirt sophomore year (or even to be eligible to leave, since I do not believe that the rule on international players that allowed her to enter the WNBA draft early had ever been applied to an international player in NCAA basketball). That is a huge hole in the middle that would've made a phenomenal difference to the team. Rachel likely would not have broken the Big Ten Scoring record with Zahui B. here, but I'm guessing she'd trade that for an NCAA tournament run. As amazing as she was as a Gopher, Lindsay Whalen likely never sees the Final 4 (or even the Sweet 16) without Janel McCarville.

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The true measure is if Stollings can keep the elite players in state. Missing the NCAA's is big in that she can't use that as a recruiting tool. See how the "17 class plays out.
 


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