AP: Amanda Zahui B. declares for WNBA draft

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Bummer deal!

Just when you think Gopher Basketball is on the rise this happens to our program. I sure hope Coach Stollings is working the phone lines and scouting trail to secure a big time player or two to cover this glaring hole.

Coach needs to secure more of our MN talent and build off what success they showed us this year.
 


GameDay said:
This freakin sucks! Zahui and Banham paired up next year had Sweet 16 and beyond written all over it. Final Four wasn't out of the question either. We'll never know how next season could've gone anymore. Now without a single impactful post player returning, Banham herself isn't enough to make this team NCAA-tournament caliber. Next year is a lost year, so I'd almost rather see Banham declare for the WNBA too at this point.
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Too soon to throw in the towel. Banham truly loves playing in front of her family/ friends and then there are all those records to be broken. Agreed the teams that make a deep run generally have a couple of " bigs" . Josie Buckingham , 6-5, was ranked the 3rd best center coming into last year. The two ahead of her, Alexa Hart, OSU and Bree Horocks, Purdue had good seasons. She is not on their level but could be developed into a contributor. Danielle Garven will have to step up and replace Shae Kelly. This will be a huge coaching challenge and sad to say one of our best opportunities to get back to the final four just became a dream.
 


As long as Banham is back I think this team will be better next year and an NCAA tournament team Banham>Zahui.
 



With ZB gone, it's now a valid question. Who will get to the NCAA tournament next, the men or the women? It's a dead heat if Banham changes her mind. Either way, we'll find out a lot more about Stollings as a coach starting next season.
 

I asked a buddy the other day what would come up to screw up our season next year since nothing good ever happens to Minnesota sports teams. Nice to know some things are as certain as death and taxes.
 

1997vacatedfinalfour said:
I think its getting stronger by the minute......only reason she came back was to play with the big girl and make the dance....that will not happen now....she will declare.
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I do not think Banham is anything close to AZB in terms of being certain to make a WNBA roster, even if she were drafted. All the talk about if she would come back was sort of contrived.
 



Awful news. So much for that Final Four contender next season.
 

BarnBall said:
Bummer deal!

Just when you think Gopher Basketball is on the rise this happens to our program. I sure hope Coach Stollings is working the phone lines and scouting trail to secure a big time player or two to cover this glaring hole.

Coach needs to secure more of our MN talent and build off what success they showed us this year.
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The Ghost of Gangelhoff shows no mercy to any MN sports.
 

My only question is why do any of these ladies even bother with the WNBA at all since the money overseas is so much better?
 

ughhhhhhhh.

Can a Minnesota sports program ever catch a break??! At least we have the Lynx. :rolleyes: Seriously, at least we have the Lynx.
 



LongLiveMilesTarver said:
I asked a buddy the other day what would come up to screw up our season next year since nothing good ever happens to Minnesota sports teams. Nice to know some things are as certain as death and taxes.
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It's only a matter of time until something happens to Teddy Bridgewater.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
As long as Banham is back I think this team will be better next year and an NCAA tournament team Banham>Zahui.
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Have to disagree with that. AZB can take over a gave underneath. She would have easily taken over as the best lady Gopher of all time.
 

station19 said:
Have to disagree with that. AZB can take over a gave underneath. She would have easily taken over as the best lady Gopher of all time.
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Probably more of a preference I just think guard play usually makes more of an impact. I think Banham will help take care of the ball better reducing the horrible turnover numbers we saw this year and she is a threat to score from anywhere. I like Zahui too but did get frustrated at times with the forced shots she took instead of kicking it out and turnovers although there weren't many consistent options to kick out to this season. I think Banham is more of a reliable finished product while Zahui still has room to grow and improve on though.
 

Goldy Gopher said:
Probably more of a preference I just think guard play usually makes more of an impact. I think Banham will help take care of the ball better reducing the horrible turnover numbers we saw this year and she is a threat to score from anywhere. I like Zahui too but did get frustrated at times with the forced shots she took instead of kicking it out and turnovers although there weren't many consistent options to kick out to this season. I think Banham is more of a reliable finished product while Zahui still has room to grow and improve on though.
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Fine, but this team was a top-20 team with Z, and drops to a bubble team (hopefully on the right side of it) without.
 

More and more I long for the bygone days of four year players. Even tonight the three frosh lead Duke to title.
 

cncmin said:
Fine, but this team was a top-20 team with Z, and drops to a bubble team (hopefully on the right side of it) without.
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It was a top 20 team for a while but in the end it was an 8 seed in the NCAA tournament that lost in the 1st round and I think next years team with Banham and Wagner leading the charge can win at least 1 tournament game.
 

Time will tell

Goldy Gopher said:
It was a top 20 team for a while but in the end it was an 8 seed in the NCAA tournament that lost in the 1st round and I think next years team with Banham and Wagner leading the charge can win at least 1 tournament game.
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That makes 8 players leaving last years team.
 

Now Bo Ryan is complaining about her leaving! He bitches about everything.:D
 

60's Guy said:
That makes 8 players leaving last years team.
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True, but don't you think about 6 of them being gone is a good thing? Borton had recruited about 4-5 non-Big Ten players to be on the roster. Sad reality is for the program to make a step forward, they need better players. To get better players, unfortunately the roster composition forced them into a bit of house cleaning.
 

station19 said:
Have to disagree with that. AZB can take over a gave underneath. She would have easily taken over as the best lady Gopher of all time.
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Let's not get ahead of ourselves 19. Right now, she is not equal to when Janel McCarville played here. She may have surpassed her by the time she was a senior, but she seriously lacks consistency in her play. She averaged about 19 pts. and 12 reb. per game. Good and solid averages, but when you factor in 39/29 and 27/27 in back-to-back games it has a tendency to buff up those numbers just a touch.

Now, for the real clincher: AZB (I like that by the way) would have to virtually walk on water to surpass what Lindsey Whalen did here. She brought women's basketball out of the dungeon of Cheryl Littlejohn. So much so that they started playing their home games at the Barn again (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Whalen). So much so that she led them to a final four (first Gopher to earn all-american honors in three different seasons). So much so that there are still season ticket holders buying tickets because of what she did . So much so that she led them to three NCAA tournament appearances when they had only been to one before she arrived on campus. So much so that her jersey hangs from the rafters because it was retired. She was and still is a remarkable player. I'm not sure that AZB could or would ever do what Ms. Whalen has done. And I am absolutely positive that she wouldn't "have easily taken over as the best Lady Gopher of all time." Ms. Whalen was and is the best Lady Gopher of all-time.
 

Keyser-13 said:
she seriously lacks consistency in her play. She averaged about 19 pts. and 12 reb. per game. Good and solid averages, but when you factor in 39/29 and 27/27 in back-to-back games it has a tendency to buff up those numbers just a touch.
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Even if you take those two games out, she still averaged 17.9pts/game and 11.9reb/game. In Big Ten play, if you take those two games out, she still averaged 18.8pts/game and 12.9reb/game.

If there was one thing Zahui B was, it was consistent. She had 24 double-doubles in 33 games played. She had three triple-doubles.

We can agree on Whalen being the best ever. But, Zahui was consistent. You could count on her for double digit rebounds and double digit points nearly every time the stepped foot on the floor.
 


The big thing is that Josie Buckingham better hit the weight room this spring & summer.
 

tjgopher said:
Even if you take those two games out, she still averaged 17.9pts/game and 11.9reb/game. In Big Ten play, if you take those two games out, she still averaged 18.8pts/game and 12.9reb/game.

If there was one thing Zahui B was, it was consistent. She had 24 double-doubles in 33 games played. She had three triple-doubles.

We can agree on Whalen being the best ever. But, Zahui was consistent. You could count on her for double digit rebounds and double digit points nearly every time the stepped foot on the floor.
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Thanks for this tj, this is the type of consistency I was trying to get at. What I was trying to say is that she would have big blow-up games and then very toned down ones as well, such as the Nebraska game after the two big games she had a very pedestrian 12 pts. and 6 reb. Only two fouls in that game (which she has always been good at not fouling), so I don't know what keeps her from being able to produce something in the 20/10 on a nightly basis, that's all. Apparently, I'm not making a very good case for my argument.

To take that next step that 19 was talking about I think this largely needs to go away. Everyone has an off game, but the ones that are in the best ever conversation make those go away and I don't think she is quite there yet. This is not to say that she is nothing short of an awesome player, I was just making the best ever argument.
 

Keyser-13 said:
Let's not get ahead of ourselves 19. Right now, she is not equal to when Janel McCarville played here. She may have surpassed her by the time she was a senior, but she seriously lacks consistency in her play. She averaged about 19 pts. and 12 reb. per game. Good and solid averages, but when you factor in 39/29 and 27/27 in back-to-back games it has a tendency to buff up those numbers just a touch.

Now, for the real clincher: AZB (I like that by the way) would have to virtually walk on water to surpass what Lindsey Whalen did here. She brought women's basketball out of the dungeon of Cheryl Littlejohn. So much so that they started playing their home games at the Barn again (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Whalen). So much so that she led them to a final four (first Gopher to earn all-american honors in three different seasons). So much so that there are still season ticket holders buying tickets because of what she did . So much so that she led them to three NCAA tournament appearances when they had only been to one before she arrived on campus. So much so that her jersey hangs from the rafters because it was retired. She was and still is a remarkable player. I'm not sure that AZB could or would ever do what Ms. Whalen has done. And I am absolutely positive that she wouldn't "have easily taken over as the best Lady Gopher of all time." Ms. Whalen was and is the best Lady Gopher of all-time.
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I'm not factoring in anything of what Lindsey did to impact the program. I think Lindsey had more impact on the sport she played, at the U, than any other Gopher player.....man or woman........any sport.

Look how much AZB improved from last year to this year. First team AA as a sophomore. I don't think Lindsey every made 1st team AA..Two more years of Amanda and she would own most every Gopher women's record. lindsey's scoring record will fall to Rachel next year......would've happened easily this year if not for injury.

Anyway, she's gone. Now we can all go back to 'WHAT IF'.:cry:

BTW.....I think I invented AZB.:cool02:
 

I hope the coach can land a couple more Shay Kelly type players for next years team.
 


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