From the summer to the fall of 2018, Lindsay Whalen went from point guard of the Minnesota Lynx to head coach of the University of Minnesota women’s basketball team.
She retired having played the final nine seasons of her 15-year WNBA career as a Lynx, and it was no surprise that the Hutchinson, MN native wanted to immediately pursue coaching her alma mater back to the glory she achieved when she was a player and led the Golden Gophers to their lone Final Four in 2004.
One of the greatest floor generals and winners in WNBA history, Whalen had the mind for the job, and was expected to succeed. It would have been a great, feel-good story had it worked out. But the Gophers just missed out on the NCAA Tournament in Whalen’s first year at the helm after rising as high as No. 12 in the AP poll. The next year, they went 5-13 in the Big Ten, coming nowhere near living up to their preseason No. 23 ranking. Three losing seasons later, Whalen was out and Dawn Plitzuweit was in.
It wasn’t all bad, as Plitzuweit was a big-name hire, having led mid-major South Dakota to the Sweet 16 in 2022. The optimism surrounding the program was similarly high to when Whalen was hired.
This time, it’s panning out. All Minnesotans, including Whalen, now an assistant for the highly successful Lynx, can rejoice that their team is back in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005.
This is already one of the best seasons in program history, as the Gophers earned their second-highest Big Dance seeding ever at No. 4 (they were a No. 3-seed in 2005). Their current winning percentage (.750) is their third-best and their conference winning percentage (.722) is tied for fourth-best.
It’s been a quick build and a thrilling 2026 tourney for the Golden Gophers
Plitzuweit came in tasked with bringing the Gophers back to the relevance they enjoyed over their stretch of seven tournaments in eight years from 2002 to 2009.
In her first year (2024), the team notched a 20-win season, a winning percentage of .556 and a six-game improvement over 2023. In 2025, they improved by five more games to 25-11 and by three games in the Big Ten to 8-10. They were ranked as high as No. 23 but missed the tournament, although they actually won the WBIT.
This year, Plitzuweit has taken a team that was unranked in the preseason to the Sweet 16. They are making their first appearance in the Big Dance since 2018.
Their coming out party came on Dec. 7 when they led then-No. 7 Maryland by 15 late in the first half. The Terrapins forced double overtime, where the Gophers would lead by nine with 54 seconds remaining.
Quite the accomplishment for a team that wasn’t expected to make too much noise this year. Yes, they blew the lead in epic fashion, losing 100-99 to the Terps, but their ability to hang with a team in the national conversation was the sign of a great season to come.
Now, they’ve advanced further than Maryland.
Nothing embarrassing has happened since their Dec. 7 collapse. They’ve only lost to good teams, have beaten who they were supposed to beat and defeated No. 2-seed-in-the-Dance Iowa and No. 3-seed Ohio State during a nine-game winning streak from Jan. 21 to Feb. 18. For all this, they were awarded hosting privileges.
In front of over 10,000 fans for both games at Williams Arena (“The Barn”), Minnesota defeated No. 13-seed Green Bay in the first round and No. 5-seed Ole Miss, a feared SEC team that was favored by many, in the second round.
In Viking territory, the team from the same city as Lambeau Field gave the Gophers a scare, hanging close well into the second half. But Minnesota reversed their poor late-game execution from the Maryland contest, playing near-perfect basketball down the stretch to pull away by 17. Against the Rebels, The Barn erupted when Amaya Battle hit the game-winning shot, a contested mid-ranger, while falling down along the right baseline with 0.8 seconds to go.
Just like that, the pain of the Whalen years not working out was erased, and the Gophers found themselves dancing beyond the Round of 32 for just the fourth time in program history.
They are now one of just three teams still dancing from the vaunted Big Ten. UCLA and Michigan were expected to be here, but there were also six other teams receiving more votes than Minnesota in the preseason (Maryland, USC, Iowa, Michigan State, Washington and Ohio State) that are now home while the Gophers have the chance to keep going.
Loyal Minnesotans lead the way to the Sweet 16
Of the Gophers’ five core contributors, four—Battle, Tori McKinney, Mara Braun and Sophie Hart—are from Minnesota, and four—Battle, McKinney, Braun and Grace Grocholski—have played their entire careers with the program. So there’s plenty of North Star State pride to go around.
Battle, a senior guard, and Braun, a redshirt junior guard, have been the top performers in the tournament thus far, with Battle averaging 17.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and four assists, and Braun going for 16.5 points (7-for-10 from 3). Braun has played all 80 minutes, while Battle is second on the team with 76.
McKinney, a sophomore guard, leads the team in scoring on the season with 12.9 points per game, but all five average between 11 and 13 points, so they spread the wealth. Battle impressively leads with 7.5 boards per contest, despite being only 5-foot-11; she also paces the squad with 3.6 assists. Grocholski, a junior guard/forward with 68 made 3s at 42 percent, and Braun (59 makes at 35.5 percent) are the two snipers. Hart, a 6-foot-5 graduate center who is in her third season in the Twin Cities after transferring from NC State, is the team’s main post presence.
The Gophers’ success adds to Minnesota’s basketball craze
No. 1-seed UCLA is next on the schedule in Sacramento with a spot in the Elite Eight on the line. Minnesota faces the Bruins on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
When UCLA won 76-58 on Jan. 14, Battle (16 points, seven boards, five helpers and three steals) and Braun (15 points on 3-for-6 from downtown) were the best players for the Gophers in defeat. Perhaps they will continue their Big Dance hot streaks and once again be the top weapons on Friday. But Minnesota will also be looking for a big game from McKinney, who was absent on Jan. 14 with concussion symptoms.
An 18-point loss to the Bruins actually isn’t that bad, especially considering your leading scorer was missing. And UCLA looked the most vulnerable of all the No. 1-seeds in the Round of 32.
It would be unwise to count Minnesota out.
They certainly have enough good vibes going for them.
The state has known a lot of basketball greatness with the Lynx of course being one of the best WNBA franchises ever. Plus, Paige Bueckers was a high school teammate of Battle’s at Hopkins High en route to becoming the No. 1 college recruit, a National Player of the Year, national champion and WNBA Rookie of the Year.
At the college level, too, Minnesotans have left a legacy, with greats like Whalen, Rachel Banham, Janel McCarville, Carol Ann Shudlick and Amanda Zahui B. But it’s a legacy of only 11 total tournament appearances that pales in comparison to that of the Lynx. The fanbase is hungry for more.
They hope Battle’s game-winner is just the beginning.
