Of course, there's a question whether the men's season marks a "next generation" at all. Yes, there's guards Joe Coleman and Andre Hollins to replace the departed Blake Hoffarber, Al Nolen and Cory Joseph. But it's also true that seniors Trevor Mbakwe and Ralph Sampson III led the way against the Lumberjacks.
Among the women, there's no such doubt that this is a new era. Not only did highly-touted point guard Rachel Banham appear in a Gopher uniform for the 1st time but 3-year starter Jackie Voigt started the game on the bench, replaced by sophomore Sari Noga, a smaller but more offensively-minded player.
That leaves Kiara Buford as the only member of that highly-rated recruiting class of 2008 who is starting. Kionna Kellogg replaced Brianna Mastey late last season, and now Noga replaces Voigt (and Voigt did nothing to reverse this). The other starter is junior post Katie Loberg.
The game went something like this: Gophers 7 St. Cloud 0 as Buford scored on a put-back and a 3, and Banham had a 2 on a right baseline drive plus an assist on Buford's 3. After a St. Cloud bucket, the Gophers extended their lead to 14-2 on buckets by Micaella Riche, Noga and Leah Cotton. The closest the Huskies got from there was 9 at 16-7. The lead went to 15 at 29-14 (and 38-23 at the half).
The Gophers extended their lead to 20 at 45-25, then 25 at 53-28. With the score 69-47, the Huskies gave up the ghost and the Gophers ripped off 13 straight points for an 82-47 lead. They matched that at the final horn at 86-51.
Along with "shellacking," "balance" was another word for the Gophers effort. Buford scored 14, Noga 13, Loberg 12, and Banham, Riche and Cotton 11 each. Loberg, Riche and Voigt had 8, 7 and 6 boards; Banham and Buford 6 assists each, and Cotton 4; Banham had 2 of the Gophers 7 blocks; while Loberg and Cotton had 4 steals, Banham 3.
The Gophers shot 51 percent, including 56 percent on 3s, while holding St. Cloud to 30 and 31 percent, respectively. The rebounds were 49-34 Minnesota, and the Gophers forced 25 Huskies' turnovers. The only dark cloud was 20 turnovers by the Gophers themselves, which is about double where you should be against a team (St. Cloud) that frankly did not produce a lot of defensive pressure. (Banham, Cotton and Buford had more than half of the turnovers among them.)
Despite everything else that the Gophers did and did well, it was their defensive pressure that was the difference. St. Cloud simply could not run its offense no matter who was on the court for the Gophers. The St. Cloud turnovers were indeed forced; the Gophers' were the result of carelessness or of getting a little too fancy. St. Cloud did not "force" them in any way. Still, cutting down on turnovers will be necessary as the schedule toughens up.
Banham
But more than "balance," the word for the night was "Banham." Her 1st half stats didn't jump out at you: 4 points on 2-of-7 shooting, an assist, a steal and a block. But with her running the show on offense, the Gophers kept moving, kept working, and played at a higher pace than they've done in many years.
Then she opened the 2nd half with an 18-foot jumper and then a 3 out of the offensive set, and a coast-to-coast drive for 2 off of a defensive rebound. Loberg added a 2 + 1, and suddenly it was 47-25. In the 2nd half, she had 7 points, 5 assists, 2 steals and a 2nd block. She is the real deal and already the Gophers' MVP.
The Other Freshmen
Or should I say freshman, as Kayla Hirt is, well, hurt, and out for the year. That leaves Romanian guard Alex Ionescu. She was last up off the Gophers bench and played 2 minutes. She appeared athletic enough but will probably not be a contributor until her junior year, if then.
The Sophomores
Kionna Kellogg and Sari Noga were the Gophers starting forwards, which qualifies this as a "small lineup." (Towards the end of last year, Kellogg joined the starting 5 at the small forward. Tonight she was the "big.") Neither was flashy, but when all was said and done Noga had scored those 13 points. Kellogg did not play well and finished with 4 points and 5 boards.
Micaella Riche is the back-up post, and entered the game ahead of Mastey and Voigt. And she was terrific. She gets to the rim on offense and scores with either hand and finished with 11 points and 7 rebounds. Frankly, she was better than Loberg.
Shonte Clay played sparingly and still does not look ready for prime-time.
The Juniors
Riche was better but not because Loberg was not solid. She had 12 points and 8 boards, but those 4 steals represent the best part of her game, which is her defense.
Leah Cotton still seems on the very edge of control most of the time and, indeed, she tied for the team lead with 4 turnovers in 8 fewer minutes than Banham. But her quickness caused big problems for St. Cloud's offense, and she matched those turnovers with a game-high 4 steals--and also contributed the same number of assists. So she had a solid game on both ends of the court. And the fact that Banham has the Gophers playing at a faster tempo than last year helps Cotton, as her teammates will be more accustomed this year to the pace and energy that she brings to the court.
Finally, Amber Dvorak (technically she's a redshirt junior) is strong around both boards, and scored 4 points in 4 minutes.
The Seniors
Buford, Voigt and B. and N. Mastey have disappointed over the course of their 3 years in Gopher uniforms, and for all but Buford the disappointment continues. Voigt started in 89 of 91 Gopher games the past 3 years, and B. Mastey 19 last year. A year ago, they were the Gophers' starting forwards, and one could have expected them to do so now. But, no. Now they're even behind Riche in the rotation, and so they saw 23 minutes of action between them. To their credit, they contributed 4 points, 9 boards and 2 assists. They give the Gophers their deepest bench since the "exodus."
But it was little-used Nicole Mastey who made the play of the game among the seniors--that is, a pretty drive to the rim from the left wing for the Gophers 85th, 86th and final points of the night.
Buford, finally, had a nice game. She even looked completely comfortable running the Gopher offense from the top of the key, which she did sometimes even when Banham was on the court, to give Banham a bit of a blow and to give the defense a different look. Her 3 turnovers are still too many, but otherwise she was solid.
St. Cloud
Meanwhile, things have not gone well for the Huskies since the departures of all-America post Erika Quigley after the 2007 season and coach Lori Ulferts a year later. Quigley and Ulferts led St. Cloud to a 29-5 record and to the D2 Final Four in 2007. And Coach Lori Fish was regarded as an up-and-coming coach when she came to St. Cloud in 2009. She had in fact built what turned out to be the 2009 NCAA D2 champion at Mankato State under her successor there, Pam Gohl.
The Huskies were no slouch that year--winning the NSIC post-season title, and going 22-9 overall. Post Rachel Booth was the NSIC playoff MVP in her sophomore year. But Booth left St. Cloud after that and the Huskies fell to 10-17 and 12-14 the next 2 years.
Now St. Cloud looks like it will continue as an also-ran in the NSIC. They have some guards in Jordi Gerking, Nicole Anderson (Cannon Falls) and, especially, Amanda Wagner (New Prague). But their inside game consists of 5-10 Aaryn Booker (DeLaSalle). And 5-10 certainly didn't get it done against the Gophers' size, and it doesn't get the job done even in the NSIC, where she's a career 6-point scorer.
Also starting was Jessica Benson of Grand Meadow, MN. Minnesotans off the bench included Rachel Moen (Burnsville), Morgan Lof (Detroit Lakes), Christina Steele (Apple Valley), Jamie Noonan (Richfield), Rey Robinson (Becker) and Elizabeth Zilverberg (Minnetonka).
In a Nutshell
The Gopher women have depth that Tubby Smith can only dream about. Regardless of who starts the rest of the way, they go a legitimate 9 or 10 deep. But coach Borton has always preferred a shorter bench than that, and if she settles on an 8-deep rotation, Voigt or B. Mastey could be on the outside looking in. Riche or Cotton could contend for the Big 10's 6th-man award. This is a talented team. Will Banham be the glue that holds it all together?
Can they rise above the 6th or 7th place finish that's been projected for them? Yes, they can. With perennial champion Ohio State in a down cycle, a Big 10 title is not out of the question. A 10-4 start with the "tough enough" non-conference schedule will signal that it's coming together. More than 4 non-conference losses will probably signal that they're not as good as I'm projecting today.
Tonight's 3 Stars
1. Rachel Banham
2. Kiara Buford
3. Micaella Riche
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