Gopher Basketball
The 12th-ranked Gopher women’s basketball team begins Big 10 Conference play Thursday when it hosts Northwestern. The Gophers improved their record to 9-2 with a 74-57 win over Drake last Thursday.
The Gophers should get a chance to ease into Big 10 play with home games against Northwestern Thursday and Indiana Sunday. These two opponents are picked by most experts to finish at the bottom of the conference.
Northwestern brings a 3-10 record into its Thursday meeting with the Gophers. The Wildcats broke a 7-game losing streak during a recent holiday tournament in Puerto Rico.
Gopher fans should hope that Coach Pam Borton will get a chance to use her bench in the games against Northwestern and Indiana. She used her bench sparingly in the loss to LSU and the win over Drake.
In non-conference play, the Gophers have shown spots of excellence, but they’ve also shown some areas that need improvement.
Areas of Strength:
- Shaq. Janel McCarville is hands down the best post player in the country. If she was a power forward, she might be the best power forward in the country, with her ability to drive to the basket. Strength, agility, great hands, great footwork, a great passer, and a great rebounder…McCarville gives the Gophers an inside presence that most teams will envy.
- Broback. Jamie Broback has stepped up offensively to give the Gophers someone who can pick up some of the slack left by the loss of Lindsay Whalen. She’s also contributed about 7 rebounds a game. Her turnover count is high, but this should improve as the season progresses.
- Bench. Although they’ve had games in which they haven’t contributed much offensively, the Gophers bench is both deeper and more talented this year. Kelly Roysland and Liz Podominick, the key players off the bench, are capable of contributing on both the defensive and offensive ends.
- Defensive Intensity, Team Concept. This is a team that works hard on the defensive end, which has become a trademark under Pam Borton. Also, this is an unselfish team that appears to have a good grasp of the team concept. During any given game, a lot of the Gophers’ baskets have resulted from teammates’ assists.
Areas of Improvement:
- Turnovers. At the top of the improvement list is turnovers. The Gophers have consistently been in the high teens or low 20s with turnovers, including some high turnover totals against mediocre defensive teams. If the Gophers are to be a factor in the Big 10 race, they’ll have to get their turnover count into the low teens.
- Don’t Let Other Teams Off the Hook. This year’s edition of the Gophers has shown a propensity to squander large leads. The Gophers had a 21-point first half lead against Drake, but Drake was able to trim the lead to 3 to start the 2nd half. The Gophers have started strong in a number of games, before letting opponents back into the game. The trend hasn’t yet cost the team a victory, but it could in conference play. Also, the failure to put other teams away is costing the bench players valuable playing time that could help the team later in the year and next year.
- Lack of Balanced Scoring. Although this wasn’t a problem earlier this year, I’ve seen glimpses of the team relying too heavily on the inside scoring of Janel McCarville and Jamie Broback. This also happened during a stretch last year when the team delegated most of the scoring responsibilities to McCarville and Lindsay Whalen. When Whalen was injured, the Gophers took their lumps, but by the time she returned for the NCAA tourney, some of the other players had worked their way back into the offense. For this year’s Gopher team to be successful, they are going to need offensive contributions from defensive specialist Shannon Bolden and bench players Liz Podominick and Kelly Roysland. Bolden, a big scorer in high school as a slasher, needs an occasional drive to the basket to keep opposing defenses honest and take some of the scoring pressure off McCarville and Broback. Podominick and Roysland have both had high scoring nights off the bench, but they’ve also had games where they haven’t contributed much offensively. Roysland played will off the bench against Drake, scoring 15 points.
- Guard Play. Everyone knew that this year’s Gopher team would have to make an adjustment with the loss of All American guard Lindsay Whalen. The Gopher guards this year have been good. That being said, there have been games this year in which the guards haven’t scored much or haven’t penetrated. Also, in the past 2 games against LSU and Drake, the Gopher guards were not able to contain athletic opposing point guards and Borton has had to have Bolden defend a guard instead of a forward.
Notes:
- New Mexico, a team the Gophers host January 9 in their final non-conference game, moved into the Top 25 this week with an 8-1 record.
- Gopher opponent Indiana is coached by Kathi Bennett, the daughter of former Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Dick Bennett.
- Indiana’s top player, Jenny Demuth, is out for the season. A preseason 1st team all-conference pick and the team’s leading scorer and rebounder from a year ago, Demuth injured her knee in the team’s first practice of the year.
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