Lindsay Whalen: Gophers made progress but are 'emotionally and mentally drained'

Around this time last year, as the outset of the coronavirus pandemic plunged the world into uncertainty, Gophers women's basketball coach Lindsay Whalen had no idea what the 2020-21 season would look like — if, that is, there was a season at all.

Ultimately, the Big Ten managed to play a truncated nonconference schedule and a near-normal — at least within the context of normalcy this past winter — conference season.

Whalen's Gophers finished 8-13 overall, including 7-11 in the Big Ten regular season. With the year having just finished last week with a loss to Nebraska in the conference tournament, Whalen joined the Daily Delivery podcast on Wednesday to evaluate what happened and how the program moves forward.

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Just being able to play, Whalen said, was important and exciting for the Gophers. But it was also "fairly all-encompassing," she said, because of the nature of trying to play through Covid-19.

"It was testing six of seven days a week," Whalen said. "It was dealing with false positives and then positive tests throughout the season, then shutdowns. It was not being able to go to a restaurant and not being able to go anywhere really on campus and see friends outside our bubble or tier that gets tested every day because what would happen if you were exposed and brought to the gym. We did have a few situations like that where it happened this year."

The end result was a season that left Whalen and her players both grateful and exhausted — something that a lot of us can probably relate to as we think back on the last year.

"Everyone was really so just emotionally and mentally drained by it. … There is a lot of healing that's going on with everybody with in the tier," Whalen said. "It was a really intense six months. This is all you can do. These are the only people you can see. We definitely got close as a team and I think that there is time now when people can take a bit of a break."

While 8-13 isn't the record Whalen wanted, she noted that the team went from five conference wins a year ago to seven this season — and that progress was made even in the midst of this strange, draining season.

"I feel like this year was still a step forward. It wasn't a huge step, but it was a step in the right direction. In a pandemic year, to be able to say that, is something I think our players can be proud of," she said. "But now there's no question. The postseason workouts we'll have in April, the summer access we will have, are crucial for our team to be able to take another step. We said all year how young we were. But now it's time. A lot of scoring was in that sophomore class. Now they're juniors. … We know we have the potential to do it. Now it's time to go put it on the court."

And some of that is on Whalen to keep developing as a coach.

"Your first year you have kind of the honeymoon phase," said Whalen, who was coming off a 15-year WNBA career and four WNBA titles with the Lynx, helping cement her place among the all-time great athletes in this state's history. "And then you get into it, and that goes pretty quick. I think my second year there were a lot of things I learned and that I would have done differently. I love coaching the game. I love practice. I love the strategy, the adjustments, late-game situations. Being around the team, all those things – until you're in it, I wouldn't have known I enjoy that as much as I do."

Recruiting is a non-stop grind, but it's "the lifeblood of anyone's program," Whalen said. It has taken some getting used to — just like everything.

"The cell phone. The social media. All that has changed all of it. When I was being recruited back in the day, if I wasn't home I wouldn't get the phone call. And if I didn't want to talk, I didn't," Whalen said. "Now we're all just so accessible at all times. It makes for a constant thing. More than anything, you have to be really aware of what you're posting, what you're commenting on. You always want to put things in a good light. I might be watching a Timberwolves game and I would want to tweet something and I'm like I can't, good or bad … so I usually just stick to posting pictures of my dogs. That's pretty safe."

That's tough for Whalen, the ultimate Minnesota sports fan. What has she seen on the local scene that she likes? One name jumped right out: Kirill Kaprizov. Whalen played hockey as her primary winter sport until sixth grade and is very much into the Wild right now.

"He's just been tremendous," Whalen said. "It feels like he's uplifted a whole franchise."

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