Reusse: Minnesota's Long Running Basketball Malaise

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Minnesota's long-running big-time basketball malaise hasn't fazed youth players

As Timberwolves, Lynx and Gophers men's and women's basketball teams struggle, there's still a strangely hopeful vibe among the state's younger generation of players.

www.startribune.com

And for a century, you simply could have said, "wait 'til next year,'' except in the new age of the transfer portal, all plans are constructed on quicksand.

Ask Whalen. She had freshmen Mara Braun, Amaya Battle, Mallory Heyer, Niamya Holloway and Katie Borowicz on the way to add firepower to Sara Scalia.

Then, Scalia headed off to Indiana, where she is playing 33 minutes a game for an unbeaten team. And that was followed by Holloway blowing out a knee.

Braun is outstanding, Battle and Heyer are good, and the Gophers already have an improbable double-OT win over Penn State, but again — "wait 'til next year,'' portal willing.