The big east isnt much better than the aac in womens hoops, especially with Marquette rebuilding.
UConn, which used to be a member of the old Big East, will leave the American Athletic Conference, where it has been a member since 2013, and rejoin the reconfigured Big East. The university will officially announce the move at a press conference at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. The Huskies are expected to join the Big East after the 2019-20 season and will have to pay the AAC a $10 million exit fee. The Big East doesn’t host football, so UConn will have to find a new home for its football program, or embark as an independent.
Meanwhile, UConn’s proud basketball tradition was never a good fit in the AAC. The UConn men’s team won a national championship in 2014 in its new conference, but that was flukey, and the school has otherwise struggled to return to prominence at the national level. As for its women’s team, UConn has seemed to be in a league of its own. The Huskies have gone 102-0 in conference play. Last year, the Huskies won all 16 conference games by double-digits and scored at least twice as many points as their opponents five times, including a 118-55 drubbing of East Carolina and a 102-45 win over Memphis. (In 2015, the Huskies tripled their opposition in three AAC games; in 2017, the Huskies won the conference championship game 100-44 over South Florida.) In the end, it appears women’s basketball was the motivating factor for their move, as the school expressed disappointment with the way the AAC’s new television deal placed UConn women’s hoops behind a paywall. (UConn will almost certainly go down in history as the only school to switch conferences over women’s basketball television rights.)
I have to admit sometimes it is hard to watch or read about Paige Bueckers knowing she is not a Gopher.
Oh well. Geno Auriema has been recruiting her for a long time.
Hopefully, if the Gophers start winning more MN little girls grow dreaming about being a Gopher as I am sure they were doing when Lindsay Whalen was playing with the Gophers.
Your dreaming, Whalen has forgot more about basketball than you could even imagine. Why do you keep dissing her?That's what happens when the Gophers never bothered to hire a coach that would make them a place that top players would want to play for, being content with mediocrity instead.
"Nobody talks about high school accomplishments or accolades. I don't want to just be a high school legend," she says during an interview session and photo shoot at the school's Lindbergh Center. "I want to be someone who does it at the college and then the pro level. ... I want to keep going."
In addition to the Wayzata highlights, the video features scenes where Bueckers sees the magazine cover for the first time, as well as a sweet tribute from Sunaja (NuNu) Agara, a ninth-grader on the Hopkins team who is considered one of the state's top players in the Class of 2023.
That ship sailed before Whalen was hired. The only way she would have signed with MN is if we hired Geno.That's what happens when the Gophers never bothered to hire a coach that would make them a place that top players would want to play for, being content with mediocrity instead.
We were told here repeatedly that she was going to sign with Notre Dame. It was obvious, because reasons.That ship sailed before Whalen was hired. The only way she would have signed with MN is if we hired Geno.
Your dreaming, Whalen has forgot more about basketball than you could ev
That ship sailed before Whalen was hired. The only way she would have signed with MN is if we hired Geno.
Can't argue with doing a better job of hiring when Borton was replaced.I wasn't talking about Whalen. More sticking with Borton way too long and when she gets replaced, her being replaced her a mediocre hire (basically a lateral move). What if Gophers made a big coaching hire years ago?
It was the best women's coaching job in the country at the time, no question, and Mr. Thinks-With-His-Little-Head whiffed on it.Can't argue with doing a better job of hiring when Borton was replaced.
The game was over roughly 30 seconds when little girls began streaming onto the court to meet their idol, Paige Bueckers.
The rest of the top-ranked Hopkins girls' basketball team made its way to the locker room after a 91-64 win at Wayzata on Friday. Bueckers stayed on the court, surrounded by fans. More kept coming, making the scene look like a rock star jumping into a mosh pit.
The mass of people included a 10-year-old girl named Jade, an aspiring basketball player from Bloomington. Her parents usually go out for dinner on Valentine's Day. This year, they brought their daughter to Wayzata so she could watch Bueckers play for the first time.
"I literally begged them to bring me," said Jade, who got Bueckers' autograph on her headband.
And this was a road game.
This is the Bueckers effect. A generation of girls — now young women — throughout the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota grew up idolizing Lindsay Whalen as a basketball star. Bueckers is having that same impact on a new generation of girls.
It was the best women's coaching job in the country at the time, no question, and Mr. Thinks-With-His-Little-Head whiffed on it.
Pam Borton, formerly the associate head coach at Boston College, was named the new University of Minnesota women's basketball coach, Women's Athletics Director Chris Voelz announced last Friday. Borton becomes the seventh head coach in the 29-year history of Golden Gopher women's basketball.
"This winter, the women's basketball program was the pride of our state," said University President Mark Yudof. "I am confident that under Pam's leadership this program will continue to achieve great success, attract record crowds and inspire all Minnesotans."
"Coach Borton brings an outstanding record both on and off the court to this program," said University Vice President and Chief of Staff, Tonya Moten Brown. "We're delighted to have her join our team."
"Though we've had a few speed bumps getting to today, I believe the hiring of Pam Borton assures us that we will not miss a beat in resuming our pace in athletic achievement, academic accomplishment and community enthusiasm for Golden Gopher women's basketball," said Voelz
I was replying to a comment about "when Borton was replaced," meaning Stollings.I should've posted this reminder earlier; while "Mr. Thinks-With-His-Little-Head" is responsible for many things, he did not hire Borton.
![]()
Pam Borton Named New Minnesota Women's Basketball Coach - University of Minnesota Athletics
--> --> --> -->Click here to listen to audio from press conference --> Pam Borton, formerly the associate head coach at Boston College, was na...gophersports.com
OOPS! I didn't think it through.I was replying to a comment about "when Borton was replaced," meaning Stollings.
I hope the Gophers will schedule a couple of home games with UCONN over the next four years. It could help attendance.
The national stories are coming faster than ever: SLAM Magazine Online, Bleacher Report, ESPN and so on. Her Instagram page scoops up followers by the ladle-full, now up to more than 388,000. She’s been repeatedly labeled “the best player in high school hoops” or some variation on that theme. NBA players use down time to attend her games.
These are heady times for Paige Bueckers. Her slick handles, assassin’s mentality and ability to turn a mundane basketball play into an eye-catching, did-you-see-that moment has made her the “It” girl in the prep basketball world.
Much is expected of her. Signed with women’s basketball blue-blood UConn, Bueckers has already been tabbed by Huskies legendary coach Geno Auriemma as the next Diana Taurasi, the star guard who led them to three consecutive NCAA championships in the early 2000s. He believes Bueckers is the player who can restore UConn to its position of dominance