The Ringer: The Ever-Expanding Legacy of Lindsay Whalen

Ignatius L Hoops

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https://www.theringer.com/college-b...4/the-ever-expanding-legacy-of-lindsay-whalen


On Friday night, Lindsay Whalen walked into the University of Minnesota’s Williams Arena and was greeted by a familiar sight. “The Barn,” as the arena is known around the Twin Cities, was packed with spectators, all there to watch the Gophers women’s basketball team take on New Hampshire in its first game of the season. Some of the sold-out 14,625-person crowd was clad in full-body animal costumes—as the students take the fan section nickname, “The Barnyard,” quite seriously—and many more were carrying gold towels that read “Welcome Home 13” in maroon lettering.

For many of the Minnesota players, walking out to a crowd that size was intimidating. “I was nervous,” senior Annalese Lamke said after the game, and with good reason. Last year, the team’s home opener drew less than a fifth of the number of people at Friday’s game, and the rest of the Gophers’ nonconference games that season averaged even less than that. “It was our first time seeing that,” Lamke said. “My chest was pounding.”

...

How did Whalen get to the point when merely attaching her name to a team is enough to set attendance records? It was more than drive, or dedication, or commitment—though Whalen’s former teammates and coaches would tell you she possesses all of those qualities, and in larger quantities than almost anyone else they’ve coached or played alongside. Whalen’s career has run a parallel track with the building up of institutions across all levels of women’s basketball, which allowed her to see basketball as a viable career option. And, of course, there was a whole lot of winning.

“When I was growing up [and] I was shooting [hoops] in my driveway, I would envision myself as a Gopher,” Whalen said. “But then there was no WNBA. You hoped to get your four-year scholarship and that was it. … Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Tina [Thompson], they laid the groundwork. ... I feel like I was in the generation where we really built it.”
 




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