WBB: Gophers 2016-17 Season

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http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/080216aaa.html

Introducing Kehinde Bello

GS: Are you roommates with Taiye?
KB: Yes. And Diva and Jaz

GS: Individually, what are you hoping to contribute to the team this season?
KB: Good energy and good defense, good offense

GS: Do people tease you and Taiye about being twins in the Twin Cities?
KB: At first it was funny. But now…
 


Any guesses on starters yet?

Bell
Hubbard
Wagner
Kaposi
Fernstrom


It's interesting because I've got three legit guards starting on a team with 9 forwards on it.
Only 6 players on roster listed at guard, and 2 of those players (Starr & Hedstrom) spent a lot of time at the forward positions last year. Doesn't seem like the makeup of a run and gun team. Never ever seemed like a run and gun team. Stollings may have changed her flavor.
 



I'm guessing Edwards until Fernstrom is available.
 

Like most, I'm assuming Wagner, Bell and Hubbard. Then in the non-conference season Starr (sometimes Hedstrom) and then Barnes (sometimes Edwards). Yes, I think Barnes will have a decent season.

Obviously, it's a lineup that will change as the season progresses.
 

Shades said:
Any guesses on starters yet?

Bell
Hubbard
Wagner
Kaposi
Fernstrom


It's interesting because I've got three legit guards starting on a team with 9 forwards on it.
Only 6 players on roster listed at guard, and 2 of those players (Starr & Hedstrom) spent a lot of time at the forward positions last year. Doesn't seem like the makeup of a run and gun team. Never ever seemed like a run and gun team. Stollings may have changed her flavor.
Click to expand...

My views on rotation are as follows:

Starters Non-Conference

PG: Bell
SG: Hubbard
SF: Wagner
PF: Kaposi
C: Barnes

off bench:

6: Edwards
7: Brunson/Tinjum
8:Starr/Hedstrom

Garbage Time:

Bello Sisters and Lamke

Conference Season Rotation:

PG: Bell
SG: Hubbard
SF: Wagner
PF: Kaposi
C: Fernstrom

off bench:

6th: Barnes/Brunson
7th: Edwards/Starr
8th: Tinjum/Headstrom

Garbage Time

Bello Sisters and Lamke.

I feel the teams strongest scoring will come from the trio of Bell/Hubbard/Wagner until Fernstrom is available and able to hold down the middle. personally tho I don't see a lot of scoring after the starting 5 so bench might be used only for short rests for starters and hustle IMO

side note, did anyone else notice that Kynadi Johnson is on some medical waiver where she is still on scholarship but wont compete or count against roster number? anyone have any info as to why?
 




http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/082316aaa.html

Marlene's summer wrap-up:

GS: How are they adjusting to the strength and conditioning program, going through a whole summer of it?

MS: Very well. They come from high-caliber AAU programs and high-caliber high schools where some of them have won championships. They’re used to being challenged and they don’t back down from that. While it’s new and it’s at a different pace and level, they’re used to responding to that environment, and they’re fast. We talked about changing our finish line in practice to the free throw line instead of the baseline when they do a down-and-back because they’re just so fast. We don’t want them running off the court. They compete in the weight room. If someone has more weight on a bar, they’re going to try to add weight. They’re competitors, and that’s just been really fun to see. They’ve even raised the level of some of our returners, which is a great situation to be in. It’s all in good competition and the returners have adapted nicely to it as well.

GS: Is there anything you saw in practice that was not necessarily surprising, but that you didn’t know you were going to see coming into the summer?

MS: I think one of the things that stands out for us is Whitney Tinjum. We expected her to come in as a mature leader, but having been able to be around her now and see how much of a team player she is and how sharp she is because she’s been around the block, and how willing she is to help the young kids, that’s just been really nice to see all-in-all from a leadership standpoint on the court as well as off the court. And just as a whole, they’re excited about our schedule. Our schedule’s exciting. We have competitions at the end of practice and in the strength and conditioning room, and how much they want to compete has been fun for us to see. The competition by position, we have a little bit of that going on right now. We’ve not necessarily had that in our first couple years of building the program. We’re certainly still building the program, but I think we’re starting to have the pieces fall in place to where we can have competition at positions that we maybe haven’t had in the first couple of years
 

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/082916aaa.html

Gopher B1G schedule:

Dec. 28 Ohio State Columbus, Ohio
Jan. 1 MARYLAND Williams Arena
Jan. 4 Indiana Bloomington, Ind.
Jan. 7 WISCONSIN Williams Arena
Jan. 11 NORTHWESTERN Williams Arena
Jan. 15 Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich.
Jan. 18 ILLINOIS Williams Arena
Jan. 21 Iowa Iowa City, Iowa
Jan. 26 OHIO STATE Williams Arena
Jan. 30 MICHIGAN STATE Williams Arena
Feb. 4 Nebraska Lincoln, Neb.
Feb. 8 Penn State University Park, Pa.
Feb. 11 RUTGERS Williams Arena
Feb. 16 Michigan State East Lansing, Mich.
Feb. 23 PURDUE Williams Arena
Feb. 26 Maryland College Park, Md
 

Pretty tough conference schedule with Maryland, OSU, MSU as the home & home games.
 




I feel like gophers get their toughest opponents are the worst times. Like last season when they ended with @ Michigan St, vs Ohio St and @ Maryland and now this year it starts with @ Ohio St and vs Maryland...then the conference season ends once again with @ Maryland. so basically the gophers cant get momentum going to start the conference season or to the end the conference season heading into the B1G tournament. Plus a two game home streak of Ohio St and Michigan St sounds like a nightmare. I know its too late to talk about the fact that the gophers got saddled with the 3 toughest opponents twice, but do they really need to start and end with those teams killing any non-conference momentum as well as any momentum heading into the conference tournament? hope next season they can luck out and only get ohio st and/or Maryland once




Ignatius L Hoops said:
http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/082916aaa.html

Gopher B1G schedule:

Dec. 28 Ohio State Columbus, Ohio
Jan. 1 MARYLAND Williams Arena
Jan. 4 Indiana Bloomington, Ind.
Jan. 7 WISCONSIN Williams Arena
Jan. 11 NORTHWESTERN Williams Arena
Jan. 15 Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich.
Jan. 18 ILLINOIS Williams Arena
Jan. 21 Iowa Iowa City, Iowa
Jan. 26 OHIO STATE Williams Arena
Jan. 30 MICHIGAN STATE Williams Arena
Feb. 4 Nebraska Lincoln, Neb.
Feb. 8 Penn State University Park, Pa.
Feb. 11 RUTGERS Williams Arena
Feb. 16 Michigan State East Lansing, Mich.
Feb. 23 PURDUE Williams Arena
Feb. 26 Maryland College Park, Md
Click to expand...
 


...or maybe a team can view those tough games as a chance to prove themselves? I sure hope they're not already penciling in the losses the way you are.
 


http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/092216aaa.html

Introducing Palma Kaposi:

GS: After practicing with the team for a few weeks, how do you feel like you fit into the team’s system?
PK: I think I fit in with the team because I’m fast and the Gophers play in a very fast rhythm. I think I’m catching up to them. My teammates worked together in the summertime, and I think after two weeks I’m able to practice on the level they’re practicing now. I’m excited about the season because we have a very good team.

GS: Is it a similar style of play to your teams in Hungary?
PK: We didn’t play as fast as we play here, but we have a similar mentality and plays here.

GS: In your travels for international tournaments, what were some of the best places you got to play?
PK: I really liked playing in France because they have a lot of good teams and the competition is very good there. But the best was Moscow. There I played against Tina Charles. It was a bigger thing for me. We couldn’t really go sightseeing because it was the wintertime, so it was pretty cold. But usually when we go to these international games we can go to look around in the city.

GS: Did you get to guard Tina Charles at all or talk to her at the game?
PK: We didn’t really have a chance to talk. But we played against each other and I scored against her
 

Did anyone else notice the new name added to the gopher WBB roster? I looked this morning and they have a player "Sue Key". looks like she is a JUCO player from Chipola College. She is lised as a 5'9 guard. bringing the roster to 15 for the upcoming season.
 

bball_craz_26 said:
Did anyone else notice the new name added to the gopher WBB roster? I looked this morning and they have a player "Sue Key". looks like she is a JUCO player from Chipola College. She is lised as a 5'9 guard. bringing the roster to 15 for the upcoming season.
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Interesting. Last week the team held open tryouts; but Sue Key's bio doesn't mention her as a walk-on. Key signed with Ole Miss in May 2015 after her Junior College season; but doesn't appear on any Ole Miss Stats. Or, to the point, her arrival was reported if not her departure.

http://www.olemisssports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/050815aab.html

The Ole Miss women's basketball team grew its family by one with the addition of junior college transfer Sueterrica " Sue" Key (Dubach, La./Chipola Junior College) who signed a SEC and Institutional Aid agreement to join the women's basketball team for the 2015-16 season. Key chose Ole Miss over Florida.

"It's always a great day when you can welcome a new member to the Rebel Nation, especially when you add someone like Sue Key," said Ole Miss head coach Matt Insell. "I am extremely happy to be adding Sue to our program and feel she has the ability to be an immediate impact player in our program."

Key led the Chipola College Lady Indians to an impressive 34-1 record in 2014-15 en route to the school's first national championship. In the national championship game, Key was the Lady Indians leading scorer with 20 points on 6-of-18 shooting from the field and also added eight rebounds.

"Sue is a dynamic physical scoring guard," said Insell. "She can really shoot the three or attack you off the dribble and has the ability to score at the rim with contact. Sue has won at every level she has played -- winning a state championship in high school and the junior college national championship this past year. I am excited about our future together here at Ole Miss."
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Interesting. Last week the team held open tryouts; but Sue Key's bio doesn't mention her as a walk-on. Key signed with Ole Miss in May 2015 after her Junior College season; but doesn't appear on any Ole Miss Stats. Or, to the point, her arrival was reported if not her departure.

http://www.olemisssports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/050815aab.html [/I]
Click to expand...

Subsequent to her commitment at Ole Miss, Key was reported to have verbally committed to Louisiana Tech.

http://www.rustonleader.com/node/62807

Maybe the Gophers roster posting was a little premature and some details regarding her transfer/admittance/eligibility still need to be worked out.
 

Calgoph said:
Subsequent to her commitment at Ole Miss, Key was reported to have verbally committed to Louisiana Tech.

http://www.rustonleader.com/node/62807

Maybe the Gophers roster posting was a little premature and some details regarding her transfer/admittance/eligibility still need to be worked out.
Click to expand...

According to a search, Sue Key is enrolled in the College of Education & Human Development.
 


Get to know: Gadiva Hubbard.

We learn that Hubbard became a Rachel Banham fan.
 

Prediction: The next Gopher to appear on an ESPN top ten will be a Kenisha Bell ankle-breaking crossover. She had a wicked one at the tip-off today and, although she had some problems with her handle, looked really impressive. So did both Jasmine Brunson and Gadiva Hubbard. Too bad no Fernstrom until B1G because she looked very smooth and efficient in the post. Overall, it's clear the much-vaunted Stollings uptempo game has finally arrived.
 

thatjanelpick said:
Prediction: The next Gopher to appear on an ESPN top ten will be a Kenisha Bell ankle-breaking crossover. She had a wicked one at the tip-off today and, although she had some problems with her handle, looked really impressive. So did both Jasmine Brunson and Gadiva Hubbard. Too bad no Fernstrom until B1G because she looked very smooth and efficient in the post. Overall, it's clear the much-vaunted Stollings uptempo game has finally arrived.
Click to expand...

Your report and the KSTP season preview are getting me fired up for the season.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Your report and the KSTP season preview are getting me fired up for the season.
Click to expand...
I hear you. I was not as excited as I have been in years past but what we saw (quite a few drills -- yes, including defense, followed by two quarters and an OT against the male practice squad + Fernstrom) fired me up, too. I think we're going to like the freshman, particularly the guards, a whole lot.
 

We certainly do not have the noticeable lack of speed that we have had for the past several years. This particular team should score alot of transition baskets and will play better defense too. Bell and Kaposi will improve the defense. They should go 9 deep at least.
 

How did Kaposi look in the tip-off? She's my key player in how well the Gophers do this year. If she's not the starting PF, who then?
 

Kaposi looked long and athletic. She will run the floor with the guards. Looks tough defensively.
 


Meet Bryanna Fernstrom: She says she'll bring some physicality to the post.
 

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