Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Monday, October 18, 2004

The last couple years in the Big Ten have been dominated by Penn State, Purdue, and Minnesota. But with the losses of Mazzante, Brungo, Russell, Wright, Valek, and Whalen, those teams may have to regroup. Others, particularly Ohio State and Michigan State, believe it's their turn.

"Other teams have lost people, we finished third and only lost one," said OSU coach Jim Foster.

"I think it's going to be a wild year," Spartans coach Joanne McCallie said. "There are going to be a lot of difficult games."

Even teams at the bottom, like Northwestern, believe they can move up.

Although Minnesota ran to the Final Four last year and has the league's biggest returning star in McCarville, the media vote didn't even have the Gophers finishing in the top three. Coach Borton took it in stride: "That's OK the way everybody voted. What it means is that our conference is more balanced this year, and that's the way it should be. We shouldn't have a league where it's always one or two teams expected to dominate."

Whatever happens on the court, the Gophers seem to be guaranteed success at the gate. They raised season ticket prices 34% and have already sold more than 25% over last year. The program could break even for the first time.