Whalen's Gophers make scholarship 'offer' to Arya Stark

Lindsay Whalen's tweet has been "liked" more than 1,000 times and drew the interest of Business Insider. That's some savvy recruiting P.R. right there.

April 29, 2019 at 8:45PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

In case you're wondering how much of a foothold Game of Thrones has over our culture right now …

Gophers women's basketball coach Lindsay Whalen made a scholarship offer to Arya Stark, a fictional character from the show. (And no, I don't think NCAA recruiting violation rules extend to coaches talking about fiction).

Perhaps more importantly: As someone who has never watched a minute of the show, I still knew exactly what Whalen was talking about because of how much GoT dominates my Twitter feed.

Stark, per Wiki, is "the third child and second daughter of Lord Eddard Stark and his wife, Lady Catelyn Stark. After narrowly escaping the persecution of House Stark by House Lannister, Arya is trained as a Faceless Man at the House of Black and White in Braavos, and uses her new skills to bring those who have wronged her family to justice."

Sounds like Whalen's kind of player, to be honest.

Whalen's tweet has been "liked" more than 1,000 times and drew the interest of Business Insider. That's some savvy recruiting P.R. right there — all for a tweet about a fictional character.

about the writer

about the writer

Michael Rand

Columnist / Reporter

Michael Rand is the Minnesota Star Tribune's Digital Sports Senior Writer and host/creator of the Daily Delivery podcast. In 25 years covering Minnesota sports at the Minnesota Star Tribune, he has seen just about everything (except, of course, a Vikings Super Bowl).

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