The Gophers women’s tennis team won their third conference match on Sunday after sophomore Aiva Schmitz defeated Iowa’s Barbora Pokorna in the third singles position.

The Gophers upset the No. 62 ranked Hawkeyes 4-1.

Schmitz marked her third time closing out a conference match with a win this season.

All three of Schmitz’s matches this year ended with her winning the match point followed by her teammates running toward her and embracing her while jumping up and down.

Schmitz comes from a family of professional athletes. Her father played professional tennis on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour for 10 years. Her mother played basketball at Marquette University and then professionally in Australia, Luxembourg and Germany.

“They always told me about big moments that make everything worth it, like all the hours on the court, and it totally was,” Schmitz said.

Even when matches are not going her way, Schmitz has a strategy. “Go Gophs,” she tells herself throughout the match.

Schmitz said when she cheers on the team or herself, someone usually hears her and cheers back. 

“It gives you that extra strength when you’re nervous and you’re like, ‘Oh man, I really need to win this point,” Schmitz said.

In April, the Gophers are scheduled to play six Big Ten teams and will end the month with the Big Ten tournament in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Gophers have lost four consecutive matches before their conference opener. In three of those four matches, the team was one point shy from victory.

Gophers head coach Lois Arterberry said the team’s victory against Indiana helped propel them positively into their next match.

“We definitely had to get a little bit of a mental shift,” Arterberry said.

Schmitz, in agreement with Arterberry, said the team played with a newfound level of confidence after defeating Indiana.

“You could tell that the weight had been lifted off of us and we showed up even better the next day,” Schmitz said.

Emma Belluomini said she is among the Gophers who fell victim to being mentally drained from the frequent losses early in the spring season. She added she wanted to focus on her mental game throughout conference play.

The freshman from Lucca, Italy, started both the spring and fall seasons winning 10 consecutive matches. Belluomini won both of her singles matches over the weekend and said she noticed an improvement in her serve since she arrived in Minnesota.

“I was making some mistakes [on the serve] when I first came here,” Belluomini said. “I feel like I worked a lot on the serve and to be a little bit more aggressive.”

With six regular season matches left, Arterberry said the next month will be tough both mentally and physically and added her team has “no time to complain.”

Schmitz said she knows — after three conference victories and several tight losses — the team can compete with top-ranked teams.

“These are the big matches and all of the teams are going to be good,” Schmitz said.

The Gophers will travel to Champaign, Illinois, on Friday to face the Fighting Illini and to Northwestern on Sunday. Both teams are ranked among the top 50 nationally.

Mara Braun caught a pass from teammate Grace Grocholski. She shot the ball from beyond the 3-point line and watched it go in, smiling from ear to ear as it fell from the net.

Braun spun in front of the Williams Arena crowd as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She was back to playing the sport she loves.

The leading scorer missed the last 11 games after she suffered an ankle injury on Jan. 28 against Illinois. The injury was Braun’s first that required surgery.

Her return came after the Gophers lost 11 of their last 14 games. The team showed signs of improvement in the Big Ten Tournament and is making their Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) run.

In her time away, Braun said she was reminded of her passion for basketball.

“It’s a lot better to be able to play than to have to sit down and watch,” Braun said.

Braun was not the only Gopher returning from an injury. Sophie Hart made her return after missing six games due to a left hip injury.

Gophers head coach Dawn Plitzuweit said she was given instructions on how often she can put Braun in the game to ensure a full recovery. Braun spent her time eagerly awaiting her chance to score.

“I’m just sitting there like, ‘Okay, when is it going to be time,’” Braun said.

Before defeating the Pacific Tigers in round two of the WNIT, the Gophers had not played a basketball game since March 7. Hart said that contributed to an accumulation of rust.

Minnesota shot 50% from the free-throw line and was outscored 40-37 in the second half.

“There’s a little bit of chemistry that wasn’t quite clicking,” Hart said.

Plitzuweit said both Braun and Hart were cleared to practice in a team setting “just a few practices ago.”

Braun played 20 minutes and was just under Hart’s team-high 14 points with 12. Plitzuweit applauded her performance, but Braun was not satisfied.

“I’m still working [on getting] that shot back a little bit,” Braun said. “I’ve given myself a little grace and know that it’ll come back game by game and just keep shooting it.”

In the minimal practice time the two had, Plitzuweit said Braun and Hart had moments when it seemed like they never missed a day, whereas other times, they struggled. 

“We’re trying to get her into a rhythm, but we’re really not letting her get into a rhythm when she can only play a couple minutes at a time,” Plitzuweit said.

After the game against Pacific, Plitzuweit admitted there is still uncertainty about how she will use Braun throughout the tournament and said she will consult with the team’s medical staff to devise a plan that works for Braun.

The Gophers’ win over the Tigers advanced them to the Super 16 in the WNIT where they will play the North Dakota State Bison on Friday. 

The Bison finished second in the Summit League and were the runner-up in the Summit League Tournament.

The last time the two teams met was on Nov. 15, 2023. The Gophers won 75-53 and improved to 3-0 on the season.

“The biggest thing I remember [from the NDSU game] is splitting my eyebrow open,” Braun jokingly said. “Just adding to some scars on my body lately.”

The Gophers wrestling team will send representatives from all 10 weight classes to the NCAA wrestling tournament for the first time since 2013. 

The team had two wrestlers compete in the final round of their respective weight classes. Fourth-year Isaiah Salazar took home the Big Ten conference title in the 184-pound class and sixth-year Patrick McKee was the runner-up in the 125-pound division.

Sixth-year Michael Blockhus entered the Big Ten tournament ranked No. 2 at 157 pounds but needed medical attention during his quarterfinal match. Blockhus was pinned down by Will Lewan from Michigan and elected to injury default in the consolation match.

Gophers head coach Brandon Eggum said he knew Blockhus would qualify for the national tournament even without competing at the conference tournament. Eggum decided to pull Blockhus from the conference tournament to avoid aggravating his injury and to limit additional days of recovery.

“We know [Blockhus] is capable of beating anybody,” Eggum said. “We did everything that we could to make sure we’re putting him in the best spot for the national tournament.”

Blockhus will enter the NCAA tournament as the No. 13 seed and take on the No. 20 seed, Max Brignola of Lehigh, in his first match.

Since the end of the Big Ten tournament, Salazar said he has been fine-tuning his wrestling techniques and reviewing film from his previous matches, analyzing his performance and the styles of his opponents.

Salazar said wrestlers who use what they learn in film sessions and anticipate their opponent’s actions are generally the ones most successful on the mat.

“Being able to stay a step ahead is huge,” Salazar said.

Throughout the season, Eggum preached to his wrestlers the importance of staying disciplined on the mat. Eggum added the deeper into the match and the more intense it gets, the higher the chance Salazar would come out on top.

“I think he functions very well in that situation,” Eggum said.

For the last three years, Salazar said his consistency on the mat has “fallen short,” so he is trying to home in on his confidence late in matches when he and his opponent are both tired. 

“That’s when the match pretty much starts,” Salazar said. “You got to really dig deep.”

The 184-pound conference title is the first conference title the Gophers program has won since Gable Steveson won the heavyweight title in 2022.

McKee enters the NCAA Tournament as the No. 9 seed and will meet No. 24 Kysen Terukina from Iowa State for the first time, in the 125 class. 

McKee said the break between the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments is nice because he is not concerned with cutting weight each week. Instead, he is focused on having shorter and more intense practices.

With no concern about weight-cutting, McKee said he had more one-on-one work with his coaches.

During the offseason, McKee said he weighs around 140 pounds but wrestles more competitively at 125, so he shrinks his body down to wrestle in his desired class.

“If I went up to 133 or even 141, I’d be smaller than a lot of guys,” McKee said.

McKee said he started mixed martial arts training three years ago with his teammate Blockhus to save his body from wear and tear and add cardio to his training regimen.

“You’re gonna be tired,” McKee said. “You really just have to push through and get tough with it.”

The NCAA Tournament begins Thursday and runs through Saturday. The Gophers join seven other programs in sending representatives from all 10 weight classes.

The Gophers men’s basketball team received a bid to play in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) for the first time since 2014 and the first time under head coach Ben Johnson’s tenure.

The team was defined by its 2-17 conference record last year, but Johnson worked to rewrite that narrative.

“We made progress this year,” Johnson said. “I don’t forget where we started.”

Minnesota defeated Butler 73-72 in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday.

Heading into the preseason, the Gophers were ranked No. 14 in the Big Ten polls. Johnson fielded a team of six underclassmen on a roster of 15, with two players spending the last two years away from basketball recovering from injuries.

Minnesota finished the season with a 9-11 conference record and managed to enter the conference tournament as the No. 9 seed compared to last season when they entered as the No. 14 seed.

“[The players] know that we can play better basketball than how we ended,” Johnson said. “They want to get back out there and compete.”

Gophers leading scorer Dawson Garcia was among the players who Johnson said was eager to continue playing.

Throughout the season, Garcia was an active playmaker both under the hoop and at the top of the key. He led the team in scoring in his two years on the team, averaging 16.7 points per game. After losing to Michigan State on Thursday, head coach for the Spartans, Tom Izzo, went up to Garcia to compliment him on his growth.

“Garcia is a load,” Izzo said. “You have to game plan against Garcia.”

Garcia acknowledged the level of growth within the program and said he was grateful for the support from teammates, coaches and the University. He added that the program is taking steps in “the right direction” to rewrite the narrative.

“Everybody’s invested into a winning culture,” Garcia said.

Johnson’s three sophomores, Pharrel Payne, Braeden Carrington and Joshua Ola-Joseph, all played alongside Garica last season. Johnson said the sophomores “went through it last year,” which helped them set a standard of confidence within themselves when playing at the collegiate level.

Payne, for example, has showcased his newly found confidence through his improvements on the free-throw line.

Payne made 58% of his free throws in the last 10 games of the season, whereas in the first 10 games of the season, he made 38% of his free throws.

With a core group set, Johnson filled several gaps on his roster, adding juniors Elijah Hawkins and Mike Mitchell from the transfer portal. Johnson, reflecting on their performance throughout the season, said the two are competitors and complimented their willingness to play for a new program.

“It’s not easy to be flipping a switch and all of a sudden now morph and be successful in the Big Ten,” Johnson said.

Hawkins adjusted well to the Big Ten, leading the conference in assists and breaking former Gopher Marcus Carr’s single-season assist record. 

Johnson also brought in 247Sports’s No. 79 nationally-ranked recruit Cam Christie. The native out of Arlington Heights, Illinois, made 41% of his 3-point attempts this season and earned himself a spot in the starting lineup and on the All-Big Ten freshman team.

In his first five games, Christie averaged 9 points per game whereas in his last five, he averaged 12 points per game. When talking about the future of the program, redshirt senior Parker Fox acknowledged the work ethic of Christie.

“You see the work that he puts in every single day, it’s no surprise he’s the talent that he is on the court,” Fox said.

The Gophers will continue their run in the NIT tournament and play the winner of the game between Indiana State and Southern Methodist in the second round.

Target Center typically hosts the Minnesota Lynx and Timberwolves for basketball, but on Wednesday and Thursday, it was home to the Golden Gophers. 

The Gophers women’s basketball team earned their first postseason victory in four years in the first-ever sold-out Big Ten women’s basketball tournament. The team defeated Rutgers on Wednesday but fell in round two against Michigan. 

March 6

Amaya Battle was the star on Wednesday night, scoring a career-high 32 points, the most by any Minnesota player in Big Ten tournament history.

Throughout the game, Battle was everywhere on the court, getting rebounds, passing and scoring from all areas on the court. Not once did she give up the ball.

Battle said she knew everything she needed to know going into the game. Her coaches’ expectations were clear and the scouting report was made known to her so her mindset going into the game was minimal.

“I kind of just came into the game with a blank mind,” Battle said. “I think it really helped that I wasn’t overthinking.”

The matchup was a back-and-forth battle on the scoreboard. Rutgers forward Destiny Adams put up one point less than Battle.

Battle’s jump shot is a skill she said she has been working on since last season ended. She hit her only 3-point attempt of the night and her teammate Mara Braun turned to her and said, “I knew you were feeling it because you never do that.”

This was the moment Battle knew she was going to have a high-scoring night.

At no point did the Scarlet Knights let the scoring margin get too high. The team worked on shooting leading up to the game and had multiple players scoring from different parts of the court, ultimately leading them to build confidence heading into next season. 

“I think we knew what we had to do,” Adams said. “I’m really glad we went out there and shot well, just like we practiced.”

March 7

The Gophers were physically outmatched against Michigan, which proved to be a driving force behind their loss. 

The physical nature of Michigan’s play led the Gophers to commit 16 turnovers. 

Gophers head coach Dawn Plitzuweit said her team’s “toughness” carried them through the second half when in the first quarter the physical energy was a rude awakening. Sophomore Mallory Heyer demonstrated her aggression on the boards when she picked up a career-high 17 rebounds.

Michigan’s size advantage proved to be too much for the Gophers as they ended their season with a final score of 76-57, but Battle managed to identify what she needs to work on to be a more competitive player next season.

“I want to work on getting stronger,” Battle said.

Adversity hit the Gophers when three of their players were out for injury, two of them being starters and the other the leading scorer, all with a new coaching staff. Even with the adversity, the team walked away with an opportunity for growth.

“We’ve all learned toughness goes a long way,” Heyer said.

What’s next

The Gophers still have the opportunity to play in the postseason in either the NCAA Tournament, The Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) or the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT).

“I think they’ve earned that opportunity, and I’m really excited for them,” Plitzuweit said.

Selection for the tournaments begins later this month.

For now, the Gophers will take a few days off to rest before coming back to work on fundamental basketball. The team has the opportunity to return several players with 11 underclassmen.

Plitzuweit said she cracked a smile when she saw there were three freshmen and two sophomores out on the floor doing “good things.”

“They were playing their guts out,” Plitzuweit said.

As volleyball practices are set to resume for the spring, Gophers players took time to reflect on an offseason full of change and develop an identity for the program’s future.

Last season concluded with the team falling to Creighton in round two of the NCAA tournament. Head coach Keegan Cook’s streak of never having a player enter the transfer portal ended when outside hitter Taylor Landfair entered the portal, followed by middle blocker Arica Davis.

Landfair joined the national runner-up Nebraska Cornhuskers while Davis decided to play for High Point. Both teams were opponents on the Gophers 2023 schedule. 

The departure of Landfair and Davis, in addition to the graduation of libero Kylie Murr and middle blocker Phoebe Awoleye, left Cook with several spots on his roster to fill. 

The only middle blocker currently rostered is sophomore Calissa Minatee, who averaged 0.75 blocks per set last season. For Minatee, understanding the game and defining her role at the collegiate level was a huge focus for her last season.

“The on-court experience helped a lot in terms of nerves and anxiety,” Minatee said. 

Murr graduated and moved on to play for the Vegas Thrill in the Pro Volleyball Federation, leaving the Gophers needing a new defensive specialist.

As of now, Zeynep Palabiyik and Skylar Gray are the team’s liberos. Palabiyik averaged 1.12 digs per set in 20 matches last season.

“She’s our little light on the team,” Minatee said. “She will be exactly that, our energy person to go to uplift us.”

Change is nothing new for redshirt senior Elise McGhie. She played two seasons at Kansas before joining the Gophers in 2022.

McGhie said playing for three different coaching staffs in four years helped her to become a more adaptable player. She traditionally plays the setter position but said she was asked to take on a defensive specialist role as the season progressed.

“I want to be the best that I can be and in whatever capacity that is for the team,” McGhie said. “If it’s like, ‘Hey we need somebody who’s gonna play right back row right now,’ then that’s a no-brainer.”

Julia Hanson is another veteran Gopher who was asked to try out a variety of positions on the court. Hanson said she was willing to fill any position her team needs from her but found it difficult to fine-tune each role during the season.

“We have limited [practice] time but I guess just believing in my skill and my ability was the biggest thing that really helped me with those roles,” Hanson said. 

McGhie knows the team will be a young squad next season and said her experience going through change will help her to mentor the younger players who have yet to go through adversity.

“I think what people need most of the time isn’t always advice or someone telling them what to do, but just a friend being there,” McGhie said. 

The Gophers have several spots to fill but will gain Olivia and Stella Swenson as early enrollees for the spring season. 

Olivia joins redshirt freshman Sydney Schnichels as an outside hitter with no college playing experience while Stella joins redshirt sophomore Chloe Ng as a setter with no college playing experience.

Olivia and Schnichels will play alongside Hanson, Mckenna Wucherer and Lydia Grote in the outside position while Stella and Ng will follow the lead of McGhie and Melani Shaffmaster in the setter position.

The Swenson sisters are no strangers to Minatee or Schnichels. They played on the same Minnesota Select team as Schnichels and faced Minatee during their club career.

“Being in their shoes last year, I have every intention of helping them out, helping them find their people and their classes,” Minatee said.

The 41-year-old man who threatened a shooting at the University of Minnesota Thursday morning was safely apprehended at his home Thursday evening, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.

Former mayor Joseph Mark Rongstad was booked into the Chippewa County Jail by local authorities on probable cause felony threats of violence and reckless disregard risk. The investigation is ongoing, but there is no known threat to the public at this time.

Criminal charges are expected to be filed in the coming days.

Rongstad posted on Facebook early Thursday morning he intended to “start killing kids” on the Twin Cities campus. The post was made on a landscaping business account Rongstad is associated with, after an analysis of Chippewa County property filings.

A Safe-U alert released just after 1 p.m., which gave the all-clear, said the Chippewa County Sheriff located the suspect, a former, small-town Minnesota mayor, and “contained [him] in their county.”

The University’s Public Safety Department asked all employees deemed non-essential to work from home after checking in with their supervisor. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to stay clear of campus until this situation is resolved.

Despite the urge to stay home, all campus buildings remained open with U-card access only.

Individual schools across campus were invited to communicate with students directly at the discretion of the school’s Dean or school’s leaders, said University spokesperson Jake Ricker in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

There has been a heightened police presence on campus. Squad cars were seen around major campus buildings, like Northrop Auditorium and Mariucci Arena.

According to the press release from the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), the West Central SWAT Team and the FBI were involved in the investigation.

BCA’s Director of Communications Howie Padilla said in an email to the Minnesota Daily the UMPD led the investigation. 

Rongstad was elected mayor of Watson, in 2012 and sentenced Dec. 13, 2016, to a felony charge of third-degree burglary.

According to Chippewa County court records. Rongstad was most recently convicted of a misdemeanor traffic offense in July 2023 and a felony charge for possession of drugs in June 2023.

The Gophers women’s volleyball team shocked fans when they dropped two road matchups against two unranked teams, but quickly redeemed themselves by following the two losses with two wins. The two unranked wins, however, were not enough for the Gophers to keep their No. 24 ranking.

The team made history last week after they lost, for the first time, against Maryland and gave Rutgers their first-ranked win in program history the following day.

 For a team that finished third in the Big Ten last season, dropping two unranked matchups and facing a three-game losing streak was an unknown feeling for a team with top-level talent.

Part of what is keeping the Gophers from being victorious is the number of service errors committed. Between their losses to Maryland and Rutgers, the team totaled 45 attack errors, 27 service errors and three blocking errors.

Fifth-year libero Kylie Murr said her strategy to rally the team when facing adversity is to practice how to go about addressing it in the gym.

“We have to keep encouraging each other to go for it,” Murr said. “The more we practice it in this gym, the easier it will show up on game nights.”

Fourth-year setter Melani Shaffmaster said the adversity bothers the team during the game because, for many of them, it is the first time they have faced repeated hardship. The team gets frustrated because they do not know what to fix until after the game ends and they review the film.

“Once you get to step out of it and watch film, you kind of need to internalize yourself and see, ‘Hey, what can I do better and how is that going to help the group,’” Shaffmaster said.

Even with top-level talent, the Gophers have only been able to squeeze by with an 8-8 record at the midpoint of their season.

Head Coach Keegan Cook said these stretches are humbling for players who have achieved a lot in their careers because they get stripped down to the real “why” of who they are.

When facing adversity, Cook said players either tune in to their “fight or flight” response or ask themselves, “Why am I doing this?” and “What exists about me independent of what is going on?”

“I see some more of themselves,” Cook said. “I see some searching too. They’re going through their strategies for what has worked in the past for them as elite athletes.”

Shaffmaster took a week off to rest and sat out during the Maryland and Rutgers game. She noticed the team did a lot right and said they often do not give themselves enough credit, resulting in aggravation.

“We’re not giving ourselves enough credit in the game, so it’s just a weight on our shoulders,” Shaffmaster said. “We’re focusing so much on the bad just because it’s magnified.”

The Gophers brought their attack errors down to eight, service errors to six and had no blocking errors Wednesday against Michigan. The team played Northestern Sunday and old habits resurfaced as they more than doubled their attack errors from Sunday, had seven service errors and no blocking errors.

With much of their season still left to play, Murr said the team is still growing and learning as they develop in their roles on the court. She added that as a leader on the team, she asks herself how uncomfortable she can get her teammates in practice so that when they enter a live game, the uncomfortable becomes comfortable.

“As a leader, I can’t sit and think about the past,” Murr said. “I just have to keep trying to think about things moving forward and how we can get out of this little slump.”

The Gophers return to Maturi Pavilion Oct. 20 when they play the unranked Rutgers Scarlet Knights for their Dig Pink match.

Head coach for Gophers men’s basketball Ben Johnson expressed his excitement Tuesday to bring a team with depth and returning talent to the court this upcoming season.

Johnson explained his excitement to field a team that has “gone through it” at the annual Big Ten basketball media days. He said the returning talent, mixed with the freshman and transfers brought in, will give them an edge they did not have last season.

Returning to the court for the Gophers is leading scorer Dawson Garcia. Garcia averaged 15.3 points per game last season. This upcoming season will be the first time in his career he has played in the same program for consecutive years.

Johnson said there is a level of comfort Garcia has going into next season because he knows what is expected of him.

“You have returning players that understand your game and you understand their game. There’s comfort in that,” Johnson said.

Returning to the court along with Garcia is sophomore Pharrel Payne. Johnson said he holds high expectations for Payne given what the team went through last year and the role Payne stepped into as a freshman.

“To get the experience that he got to be thrown into the fire, I think that’s the best teacher,” Johnson said. “He is not a typical sophomore like the other two guys Braeden [Carrington] and Josh [Ola-Joseph].”

After the whirlwind of last season, Payne said one of his biggest goals heading into the offseason was to put himself in a position to be able to compete with bigger guys.

“The big thing was training for the physicality of the Big Ten,” Payne said. “To be able to compete with the big guys you have got to get stronger and faster.”

Johnson said Garcia had also been working to condition his body and had an unbelievable offseason in terms of physical growth.

“That was something he really takes pride in and wanted to get stronger and really worked on his conditioning,” Johnson said.

The Gophers will also return both Parker Fox and Isaiah Ihnen after both missed the last two seasons due to injury.

Garcia said it has been great to see Fox and Ihnen not only overcome their injuries but also flourish in practice.

“The other day, Fox went in grasping [the ball] with two hands, head up by the rim, off the backboard,” Garcia said.

Johnson said Fox and Ihnen both have their style of play that will help to up the level of the team. He added Fox has a really strong understanding and feel of how to play and Ihnen is a versatile player due to his size.

Fox and Ihnen are not the only ones who have developed on the team throughout the offseason. Carrington and Ola-Joseph both were true freshmen last year and developed as athletes after going through last season.

Payne said as a group, he and his fellow sophomores grow exponentially in their competitiveness.

“Everybody is committed, every day [we are] getting the work in,” Payne said.

Johnson highlighted Ola-Joseph’s ability to develop his shot throughout the summer. He said his challenge to him for the offseason was to begin to play the perimeter by working on his jump shot.

“I couldn’t tell you the amount of hours he spent in the gym just getting up, standing-still jump shots,” Johnson said. “Dude has been committed.”

With all the pieces falling in the right place and a hunger for redemption, the Gophers will look to be a more competitive team this season than they were last season.

Garcia said the goal of the team is to play in the NCAA Tournament. 

“We’re driven by that,” Garcia said. “We have the talent and commitment to do so.”

The Gophers will first take the court next season in an exhibition match against Macalester on Nov. 2, before they open their season at Williams Arena on Nov. 6 against Bethune-Cookman.

Women’s basketball coaches across the Big Ten conference are facing similar issues on rebuilding their programs. 

Representatives from all 14 Big Ten women’s basketball programs met at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Monday to discuss these challenges and their outlook on the season. Coaches also highlighted the amount of young talent and new features within their programs and how it can help expand the sport.

Minnesota head coach Dawn Plitzuweit enters her first season leading the Gophers after spending a year at West Virginia. She said the Gophers’ main focus right now is to maintain a competitive level of play in all settings.

“We have stretches right now where we play really good basketball, follow it up by stretches where we don’t play good basketball,” Plitzuweit said. She added they “don’t understand” what it takes yet to be resilient in all types of game settings.

The Gophers will see Mara Braun, Amaya Battle, Mallory Heyer and Niamya Holloway, members of the highest ranked recruiting class in program history, return to the roster.

Plitzuweit said the women on her team care a lot for the sport and are “working their tails off.”

The Gophers are not the only team in the process of rebuilding. Defending Big Ten tournament champions and national runner-up Iowa Hawkeyes lost 40 percent of their starters, including  Monika Czinano 17.1 points per game (ppg) and McKenna Warnock (10.9 ppg).

Head coach for the Hawkeyes Lisa Bluder said, along with Naismith women’s college player of year Caitlin Clark, she is looking forward to the return of Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin, Molly Davis and Hannah Stuelke.

All five players played in the NCAA National Championship game against Louisiana State. 

The Wisconsin Badgers face a similar unique challenge. Their roster consists of 10 underclassmen, half of them being true freshmen.

Head coach for the Badgers, Marisa Moseley, said she has not been active in the transfer portal. Her philosophy in recruiting has been to get four-year players dedicated to playing for Wisconsin.

“My goal is, each year, not only do we add another core group of young players, but that we’re absolutely making sure that the group that came before them and before them, we’re retaining them,” Moseley said.

The Badgers had six true freshmen on their roster last season and will return five. 

Like Plitzuweit, Robyn Fralick will enter her first season as head coach in the Big Ten for Michigan State after serving the same role at Bowling Green the last five seasons.

Fralick made it a point to emphasize the culture she wants to build among her new team.

“Culture is incredibly important, something that we have a high importance on every single day of who we are, what we’re about and how we’re going to act,” Fralick said. “As a staff, that’s something we’ve been putting a big premium on.”

The Gophers will get the chance to show off the work put into the program during the offseason when they play their first matchup Nov. 8 against Long Island.