The Wake

The days of Gopher Women’s basketball All-American Lindsey Whalen are long gone. After last season, there’s no more Baby Shaq manning the paint either, (a.k.a. Janel McCarville, Minnesota’s two-time All-American center). As these players have taken their talents to the WNBA, the 2005-06 Gophers have continued to thrive among the heavyweights in one of the nation’s toughest conferences.

Minnesota began its new season with a home tournament sweep at the Barn (Minnesota’s home court—Williams Arena) that included a championship victory over 15th-ranked Stanford. From there, the team traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands and earned two more victories while winning the Paradise Jam tournament.

After its 4-0 start, the team struck disaster when a trip to the vaunted depths of “the Pit”—New Mexico’s highly feared home court—left them with a 62-44 thrashing at the paws of the 18th-ranked Lobos. Minnesota was able to shake off the defeat, however, by winning three of its next four contests to enter conference play with a 7-2 record.

The Gophers began conference play Dec. 29 with a 69-54 win over Northwestern in Evanston, Ill. Minnesota then returned to the Barn Jan. 5 and greeted rival Wisconsin by handing the Badgers a 73-67 setback. This led up to a rare non-conference battle of monumental proportions, a meeting with perennial national power, Louisiana State.

This nationally televised game, which aired on CBS Jan. 7, was a chance for the Gophers to take down the 3rd-ranked Tigers on their home court in Baton Rouge (La.). Minnesota looked primed for an upset when some late first-half momentum led them to a 23-19 lead at halftime. The Gophers defense looked especially strong, holding LSU to a season-low first half scoring total. Then in the second half Minnesota could not contain LSU’s dangerous star duo All-American senior Seimone Augustus and 6-foot-6-inch sophomore standout Sylvia Fowles. Augustus and Fowles each scored 21 points and combined for 24 rebounds as their Tigers proceeded to pounce all over the Gophers in the second half, quickly racking up 47 points in what turned out to be a 66-45 blowout.

After the loss to the Tigers, the Gophers returned to Big Ten play and won four of its following five contests, entering the weekend of Jan. 20-22 at 11-4 (5-1 Big Ten). Fourth year coach Pam Borton has done well in keeping her team atop Big Ten standings, but there’s plenty of games left to be played (11 games remaining).

Borton’s teams have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in each of the past three seasons, including Minnesota’s first Final Four appearance in 2004, but the Gophers have yet to win a Big Ten title. This year could be the year for that achievement. The team has “probably the most talent [Minnesota’s] ever had” according to Borton, but may lack the star power and consistent scoring it needs to earn its first conference title or go deep into the NCAA tournament.

The team’s next five games are very winnable contests versus unranked opponents, which means the Gophers could easily be 16-4 and rank as high as 7th when it enters a Feb. 9 contest with Michigan State. The problem is that the revenge-seeking Spartans (whom the Gophers upset Jan. 15 at home) will get the Gophers on their home floor. From there, the schedule only gets tougher as the team travels to 11th-ranked Purdue

Feb. 12 and come home to face 7th-ranked Ohio State on the 16th.

Leading the team thus far has been junior Jamie Broback (averaging 12 points and 7.2 rebounds per game), but the 6-foot-3-inch forward has had her share of struggles and the team doesn’t appear to have other consistent scorers. Minnesota has offense - the team’s 70.5 points per game rank 2nd among the Big Ten - but the Gophers might be lacking the “go-to” player they may need to be a championship contender.

Gophers’ junior forward Liz Podominick (10.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and emerging sophomore Natasha Williams (8.3 ppg, 4 rpg) have done well to make up McCarville’s absence in the paint. Despite the progress of these players, McCarville’s presence has been missed in other regards. This 2005 number-one WNBA pick led Minnesota’s ‘04-’05 squad in steals, blocks and had an uncanny passing ability (119 assists in ‘05-’06) for a frontcourt player.

McCarville, like Whalen, was a star, something Borton’s ‘05-’06 team lacks. Despite that, the team can succeed as much or more as past teams have. The bench is deep and full of talent (i.e. a 55-15 outscoring of MSU’s bench Jan. 7). As postseason play approaches, senior starters Shannon Bolden, Shannon Schonrock and April Calhoun—the team’s tri-captains—will need to step up more. Either way, the team has done well thus far and looks primed for the challenges the remainder of the season will present them.