Last season could have ended as a real downer for Dawn Plitzuweit’s basketball team. The Gophers lost five of their last six regular-season games, including a fairly lopsided loss to Washington in the Big Ten tournament that likely eliminated them from NCAA tournament consideration.
An early exit from the WBIT might have led players to question whether their 16-1 start, and short stay in the Associated Press top 25, was a mirage.
Instead, the Gophers responded, winning five straight games to earn the WBIT championship — the program’s second postseason trophy — and send them into the 2025-26 season with confidence as high as their tournament expectations.
Minnesota hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2018. This year’s team aims to end that drought next spring.
“It’s up to us, how we go out and perform game in and game out,” senior point guard Amaya Battle said. “At the end of the day, the opportunity’s there. It’s up to us to do what we have to do to get there.”
Plitzuweit put the team through its first official practice of the fall on Tuesday afternoon at Williams Arena.
“We have a very veteran group, and a group that really understands at a much different level than in the past,” Plitzuweit said. “Our intensity has been really positive.”
The Gophers return nearly every player from a team that rolled unbeaten through its nonconference slate — a program first — then ran into some trouble in conference play. They battled ranked opponents such as Maryland, Ohio State and Southern California to the wire, but beat only two Big Ten NCAA teams, Illinois and Indiana.
They could have used off guard Mara Braun, sidelined in November after she broke her right foot for the second time in two years. Worked in slowly during summer workouts, she is now full go, no restrictions.
“My body feels really good, and I’m just excited to be back with the girls,” she said.
Now they have her back. Braun was the breakout star in a group of prospects recruited by former coach Lindsay Whalen. Now a redshirt junior, she joins a team full of proven veterans, from guards Battle and last year’s leading scorer Grace Grocholski, to senior forwards Mallory Heyer and Sophie Hart.
All of them finished as the team’s leading scorer in games last season, as did sophomore small forward Tori McKinney, and played big roles as the Gophers swept through the WBIT with victories over Toledo, Missouri State, Gonzaga, Florida and Belmont.
Plitzuweit has no concerns about mixing Braun back into the mix.
“She plugs and plays. She gets it,” the coach said. “She fits right in.”
Related Articles
Gophers volleyball loses libero to knee injury
Gophers nab top girls hoops recruit in Nebraska
Natalie Kussow, No. 26 prospect, commits to Gophers women’s basketball
Leave a Reply