Two peas in a pod, that's the Gophers' Jasmine Powell and Jasmine Brunson

It began last summer. Jasmine Powell was in town early, getting ready for her freshman season at the University of Minnesota. Jasmine Brunson was getting ready for her final year with the Gophers women's basketball team.

They roomed together, worked out together. As Powell joked, they saw each other in the morning, at night and everything in-between.

So maybe it was inevitable. Seniors and newbies don't usually find a lot of common ground, but then this was to become a rather uncommon bond.

"You would think, with a freshman coming in, and a senior, there would be some animosity," Powell said. "But she accepted me. She brought me in. She showed me the ropes. That's when we started being friends."

Good friends. The Gophers like to joke about their two-Jasmine backcourt. But, to be honest, these two have a lot more in common than their first name: a dedication to preparation, a lack of fear, an abundance of energy. A bond so tight that it figures to last long after Brunson has graduated.

The Gophers open Big Ten Conference tournament play Wednesday against Penn State. They are the conference's 11th-seeded team because of a difficult regular season that saw them finish 5-13 in conference play, losing the past six games, including a 55-point loss to Maryland at Williams Arena on Sunday.

Big Ten women's basketball bracket

These also could be the last chances for the two to play together.

When Brunson came to the Midwest from South Jamaica, Queens, N.Y. a few years ago it was something of a culture shock. But Carlie Wagner and Kenisha Bell were mentors for her. She was determined to do the same for someone else. And it happened to be Powell.

"I felt it was something I needed to do," Brunson said. "But those relationships happen organically. That's what happened with me and JP."

There are times when the two Jasmines drive her crazy, Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen said. But in a good way. They're both silly, and they have their own inside jokes and secret handshakes. More than anything, they always seem to be laughing.

"I'll be like, 'Are you two focused for practice?' " Whalen said. "And then it starts, and they're dropping assists and having a great practice. And I'll be like, 'OK, I guess they were.' "

Brunson was the leader who held the team together when Destiny Pitts and — for one game — Taiye and Kehinde Bello left the team. Powell was the freshman who slid into the starting lineup and ended the regular season as the highest-scoring freshman in the conference (11.9)

"She led us through those times," Whalen said of Brunson. "She is the only reason we got through it as a team. She banded everyone together and kept us moving. You talk about legacy? There is no greater legacy.''

Powell scored in double figures in nine of 10 games as a starter, averaging 17.5 points in those games. In the process Powell, who backed up Brunson at the point, became the starter at point guard, with Brunson moving to off guard.

In the process the Gophers have a sharply focused starting backcourt. Brunson, always goal-oriented, has a habit of wrapping her left wrist with tape, then writing specific goals on it before every practice. Powell is a film-reviewing fanatic who already has a gameday ritual of one-on-one film sessions with Whalen.

Every day, Brunson is trying to show Powell the way.

''When I finally started to get what she was saying, I started flourishing. She cared. That's why we have such a bond now. She reached out and helped me."

Said Brunson: "She was always fearless. She's someone who's going to come at you head-on. She's going to compete with you, she's going to fight with you. She's a student of the game. She's going to be really good."

After Sunday's difficult loss, after the seniors had been honored, Brunson's boyfriend, Elijah Wright, dropped to a knee on the Williams Arena court and proposed. Brunson wore the ring to the postgame news conference. Powell joked afterward that she'd better be a part of the wedding party.

But it underscored the fact that the two Jasmines will part ways soon.

Brunson, the first member of her family to graduate from college, will head to Dallas in June. She and Wright are starting a nonprofit organization called "Leaders for Life," dedicated to providing after-school and summer programs for children deemed to have learning disabilities. There will be music and dance programs, mentorship and tutoring.

So she and Powell won't be roommates for long. But they'll remain friends.

"I hope they stay close," Whalen said. "And I think they will, through the years. But I'll miss seeing them together every day, the jokes, the handshakes. They're two peas in a pod, and I've loved every second of it."

Powell, meanwhile, will start looking to help someone else next season. As a sophomore, she knows she will need to pay if forward.