Gophers women's basketball showcases its young leaders at Big Ten media days

It speaks volumes that the two players Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen brought to Target Center for Big Ten Conference media days, the two players she will lean on most to help lead a rebuilt roster, were Katie Borowicz and Rose Micheaux.

A redshirt freshman and a sophomore, respectively.

This is not a knock on either. Already Borowicz has displayed a contagious charisma and Micheaux a thoughtful maturity.

It's just that the two-day meetings at Target Center showed just how big of a challenge the Gophers face. Minnesota, bolstered by Borowicz's return after missing a year with injury and with Micheaux a year older, is still a young team. A highly rated recruiting class will push the needle on the team's skill and athletic level. But a team that will likely start three freshmen and a sophomore when the season begins early next month is facing a steep learning curve.

Just don't tell them that.

"I'd like to say, age ain't nothing but a number,'' Micheaux said. "Because we can do a whole lot at a young age. I feel we can accomplish things you would think an older team would do.''

The Big Ten is a difficult proving ground. So much talent has returned to the top end of the conference; Iowa has all of its starters back. Teams like Indiana, Purdue and Ohio State have bolstered already-deep rosters with transfers. It is not surprising that, when the conference put out its preseason top five rankings, the Gophers didn't get mentioned.

Just more motivation.

"We want to say top half of the Big Ten,'' Borowicz said of the team's goals. "Even higher. It's not limited to that. NCAA tournament. We're all hard-core, competitive players. So we have very high expectations. I could list them off right now and people would probably laugh at me. But I think people will be very surprised by our outcome this year.''

As they said before, the turnover on the roster was an opportunity to build a closer team and a new culture, a process Borowicz, Micheaux and Maggie Czinano started by attending high school games of the incoming recruiting class. It is that chemistry, they say, that will help the team through road bumps and growing pains this season.

Whalen and her staff have worked the team relatively hard. At a time when player health is paramount, Whalen also knows a team with so many new players has to have time, together, in competitive situations. The other day, in a post-practice circle, Whalen asked for a show of hands if anyone there had played in a game last year with the people standing next to them. None were raised.

"You want to keep everybody healthy, but the only way to get in basketball shape is to get up and down,'' Whalen said. "So I've scrimmaged them against our scout team more than I ever have before. I have to get them up and down so the first time we do play it's not the first time. It's been more top of mind this year.''

Whalen has urged the players to use anything they can find as motivation. No respect? She made sure to tell her team that in 2011, the Lynx were picked to finish last in the Western Conference; that fall they won their first WNBA title.

"We're all competitive,'' Borowicz said. "Not saying we had a terrible year last year, but we didn't have a great year. I'd say the players we have here are super competitive. We want to win.''

It won't take long to find out how much chemistry can bring a new roster together, how much a culture can help a team through the inevitable challenges.

"I want every player to experience what I was able to experience,'' Whalen said. "I want to play in the NCAA tournament. So that's going to be the goal. What we can accomplish? That's yet to be determined.''

But don't downplay the Gophers' chances, Micheaux said.

"You don't think we're top-notch now, and that's what you expect from a team that's starting over again,'' she said. "It gives us an opportunity to show you what you're missing out on. Don't assume, because you don't know what's really cooking in the kitchen.''