whoopdeedoo

Gopher WomenYear Two for Whalen, the former Minnesota and Lynx star, technically begins Tuesday afternoon against Missouri State. About 500 people turned out at Williams Arena in mid-October for an open scrimmage against the team’s male practice players, a standard exercise with an unexpected result: The men won, 75-67, pulling away with a 10-3 closing run. Caught off guard, Whalen chose to emphasize the positives, like the return of guard Gadiva Hubbard from right foot surgery that kept her out all last season. “It wasn’t fun sitting on the bench at all,” Hubbard said. “I’m happy I can contribute while I’m on the court now.” Whalen also liked the post development of Kehinde Bello, the twin sister of teammate Taiye Bello, the Big Ten’s top returning rebounder.After losing top scorer Kenisha Bell to the WNBA, Whalen wants her team to spread the floor and shoot more 3-pointers. Hubbard gives them an additional shooting threat along with All-Big Ten junior guard and top returning scorer Destiny Pitts (16.3 points per game). Expect the Gophers to start Bello in the middle with four guards around her, a small lineup that will need to scrap for rebounds. “Taiye is great, but everybody else is going to have to pick up the slack.” Whalen said. “We managed last year, so we’ll see. That’s kind of a work in progress.”

https://www.wiscnews.com/sports/college/basketball/women/badgers-women-s-basketball-team-looks-to-build-on-last/article_c1715f32-0c26-5ad6-9ffa-8e04330fd947.html

don't mean any disrespect to Rogers St., but, nice to see what a good Big Ten team should do against a matchup like this. i also think it's kinda hard to take too much away from this game. wait and see how they do against better competition.

https://www.nhregister.com/uconn/article/UConn-guard-Evina-Westbrook-will-have-to-sit-out-14802627.php?src= nhrhpspt&utm_campaign=CMS Sharing Tools (Desktop)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

https://www.swishappeal.com/ncaa/2019/10/30/20935601/ncaa-womens-basketball-big-ten-maryland-michigan-state-minnesota-iowa-kaila-charles

received company and got in too big of a hurry. sorry about that. added michigan.

1. Maryland enuff said lose a little depth with Zoe Young out for the season 2. MSU expect Colley to be more consistent, very good experience return (McCutcheon, Gaines, Cook-not the one that transferred) 3. Indiana if Patberg stays healthy, can see her carrying them a long way 4. OSU with the incoming talent, wouldn't shock me if they are playing some of the best bb in the BT near the end. 5. Purdue Harris and McLaughlin should be a handful 6. Minn offense should be there. could see them struggle with athletic teams with some length. will try and run. tough to beat at Williams. 7. Nebraska experienced. if neb develops that consistent off threat (Brown? Haiby? Whitish?) could move up a spot or two. 8. Mich will be interesting to see how Hillmon does without Thome. many have them higher, but, i could see them being a little down. Dilk and Hillmon will give them opportunity though. 9. Rutgers expect to hound on def and run, will they have the offensive power? 10. NW return all but one (a big one) could easily see them move up a couple spots. 11. Iowa life without Stewart and Gustafson. not sure Doyle and a couple others can move them much farther up, if at all. 12. Penn St new coach Kieger(sp?) is good. Green is out with acl. possible Kieger may get a little more out of the squad. 13. Illinois might be a little better than past couple years, but, talent isn't there to move up much. 14. Wisc if coach gets some production out of freshman, could see them move up a few spots. i really expect that 7-14 could go so many different ways. going to be interesting. probably could add purdue and minny into the fray.

possible coach and trainers were just being cautious, but, just got to thinking "what's up" when i read she's been out a "few weeks". sounds like a good chunk of practice. i see the men lost their scrimmage to wichita state, but, haven't seen the women mentioned.

according to coach williams: Whitish injured: Whitish has missed a few weeks of practice with an injury, but Williams expects her to be ready for the start of the season. anyone know if the huskers scrimmaged ASU this weekend?

msu comes in at #16

husker preview: https://highposthoops.com/2019/10/21/2019-20-big-ten-womens-basketball-preview-predictions/10/ his projected final standings: https://highposthoops.com/2019/10/21/2019-20-big-ten-womens-basketball-preview-predictions/16/

http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/bracketology Creme's BigTen picks: #2 seed Maryland #4 seed Minnesota #6 seed Indiana #6 seed Michigan #7 seed Michigan State #8 seed Rutgers Ohio State and Northwestern included in First Four Out.

most of you probably noticed, but, unfortunately i posted the eastern times. so husker events will start one hour earlier than what i posted. really sorry about that. what i get for posting so early in the morning!

expands coverage: Oct 21st-25th husker schedules: (times have been corrected to central time) Oct 22nd: interview with coach williams 12:30pm Oct 23rd: student profile Taylor Kissinger 12:30pm Instagram (@bigten) live fan Q&A with Sam Haiby 1:50pm Oct 24th video interview with Nicea Eliely 1:30pm full schedule here: https://bigten.org/sports/2019/10/15/201920WBBWeek.aspx

gophers are the college sports madness #23 pick. while 6'2" T. Bello is very good around the boards, gophers are going to be fairly small. expect they will be relying on the perimeter, again. being rather guard heavy, mn will look to run the floor. hubbard (dnp last season, returns from a foot injury) and pitts will most likely be the main threats from the perimeter. brunson can get hot from 3 land, too. mn state tourney was available here in ne/sd and 5'10" freshman Sara Scalia was very impressive---she could get to the basket and drain the 3. if she is able to crack the lineup and get minutes, it should give mn another threat from 3 land. mn also landed a jc transfer (adeshchyk) who shot 38.6% from the perimeter and shot just under 80% at the ft line. soph staples came off bench last season and proved to be a scorer, so, no doubt mn should have shooting depth.

completely agree, indiana could very well crack that top 5.

absolutely---after Seekamp made her decision to attend USD, new head coach williams and staff built a great relationship with her. never doubted that part. i am sure a huge reason why Seekamp stuck it out.

i was thinking Seekamp was being recruited and made her decision while Ryun Williams was head coach. don't take it wrong, as evidently she liked what she saw in the new staff, also---and coach williams and staff have been able to keep that door open. from an article on Seekamp: Seekamp said she was hesitant to come to America at first, even though she was being heavily recruited by assistant coach Ryan Larsen. He had recruited Seekamp for over two years, even making a trip to Australia to watch her play in their state tournament. She opted to stay in Australia for an extra year, which cost her a year of NCAA eligibility, but she is glad that she came to USD. “Eventually I said yes because I thought it was a good place to come and I liked the coaches,” said Seekamp. from another article: By the time she graduated from high school in December 2009, Seekamp had already played in a number of national basketball events, among them: U18 Australia Championships, the Australia Youth Olympic Festival and the FIBA Oceania Tournament. It was right around that time that a young assistant coach named Ryan Larsen from the University of South Dakota emailed Seekamp. The school, new to the NCAA Division I waters at that time, was interested in bringing Seekamp over to the United States. Ultimately she stayed over in Australia for nearly two more years, but all the while remained in contact with Larsen – he is now the head coach at South Dakota Tech in Rapid City. “He was like a brother to me,” Seekamp said. “We got really close. He was a huge part of me coming here.” There were also options for Seekamp to come over and play for Oregon State University or the University of Wyoming, but she eventually decided to sign with USD in 2011. What was the ultimate deciding factor? Trust, Seekamp will tell you, matter-of-factly. “Coaches can tell you, ‘You’ll start,’ or ‘You’ll play a lot of minutes,’ but I felt like USD was really honest and truthful with me,” Seekamp said. “They seemed like it would be a great fit. “I gave it a try and haven’t looked back since.” And the USD women’s basketball program, now led by head coach Amy Williams (who took over for Ryun Williams, who was there when Seekamp joined), has benefited from her presence.

expect Rutgers to be Rutgers---wreak havoc defensively and hope someone gets hot on offense. they have the one gal (name starts with "G" that averaged 12.1ppg but otherwise, offense is a ? right now). they do bring in a 6'4" freshman but not sure if she can break the starting lineup or even see many minutes. so, think they will be rather small. breakaway points might be a big part of their game (again).

9th? that would be a big disappointment---but, after a "small" handful of teams, i think the standings will be pretty wide open. imo, huskers will need to return to similar road play that they had during 2017-18 season. i believe they were 12-4 that season---and if play is as even as i expect it to be, winning road games will not come easy. so, anywhere from a 4-7 finish wouldn't really surprise me.

hope you are right. i just think the only newcomer that has a chance to see big minutes will be bourne. not sure about brady and with helms condition---???. also would add that maryland and osu are most likely locks for ncaa tourney---even with osu being very young. lotta talent brought in to osu. if the big ten is looking at possible 6 teams dancing, that leaves 12 teams fighting for the possible 4 spots. minny may be the next team that has the best shot of taking one of the spots. the rest may be pretty wide open.

just think Kissinger comes off the bench. she will get her minutes---can't leave that offense on the bench for long. same with Verbeek---unless her offense has proved to be more consistent, think she comes off the bench too. she does bring a resemblance of that RB43 attitude with her on the boards. really liked her last season---except for getting into foul trouble rather quickly. no doubt there is some depth on the squad.