Souhan: Both Magic and Madness are on the minds of Gophers women’s basketball

These are heady times for the Gophers women’s basketball program. They have won four games in a row and appear headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2018, the players are teasing the coach, and the coach is asking her players to mimic Magic Johnson.

“I think we’re just a bunch of silly people,” Gophers guard Amaya Battle said. “We just have a lot of fun no matter what we’re doing. And it’s just always fun to do in the game — it just makes it a little more chill when you’re out there with your friends.”

On Sunday, Feb. 1, the Gophers defeated Purdue 88-55 at Williams Arena. Early in the game, guard Mara Braun, known for her shooting, leaped between a Purdue dribbler and a player trying to set a screen at the top of the key. Braun not only disrupted the play, but she also drew a foul when she was shoved to the court.

That was the first public indication that the Gophers were not going to take a home game against a lesser opponent lightly. Their coach, Dawn Plitzuweit, said she saw an indication of that earlier. “I saw it at shootaround,” she said.

Not that her players were overly intense, but that they were relaxed.

Which led to an unexpected mention of Johnson.

“My favorite player of all time was Magic Johnson,” Plitzuweit said. “Why? Because he was a really good player. He could dominate the game in a lot of different ways. … But that’s not really why I liked him.

“The dangerous part is that you can have a whole lot of fun and not play very hard. And that’s not where we want to be. Making sure that we are figuring out how that balance looks is really important.”

Against the Boilermakers, the Gophers balanced intense defense with relaxed and unselfish offense. Battle led the way with 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists, but this game was won with balance and cohesion.

Battle and Sophie Hart attended the postgame news conference. “These two in particular had a lot of fun today, and I thought they just made great decisions on both ends of the court and really helped each other defensively, and certainly on the offensive end made a lot of good things happen,” Plitzuweit said. “I think our young ladies are growing and developing and getting better, and now we have a really important week going forward.”

Week, and months.

Before the Purdue game, the Gophers were projected to be a No. 8 seed in the NCAA tournament by Herhoopstats.com. The Purdue victory leaves the Gophers at 16-6 overall and 7-4 in the Big Ten.

They have seven games remaining. Three are against ranked teams, including Thursday’s visit to No. 8 Iowa. Three are against teams in the middle of the pack of the Big Ten, competing directly with the Gophers for an NCAA tournament bid.

The schedule: Feb. 5 at Iowa. Feb. 8 at struggling Rutgers. Feb. 12 at home against a middle-of-the-pack Nebraska team.

Feb. 15 at middle-of-the-pack Wisconsin. Feb. 18 at home against No. 11 Ohio State. Feb. 22 at home against No. 13 Michigan State. March 1 at middle-of-the-pack Illinois.

Win four of those seven games, and the Gophers would be 11-7 in one of the nation’s best conferences. That should earn them a bid. Win five, including one against a ranked opponent, and maybe they are looking at a high seed.

Plitzuweit said she doesn’t discuss the NCAA tournament during the season, but she set it as a goal last summer. The players said the Big Ten is too good to look past their next opponent, which is both true and … not so true.

They’re doing so with a smile.

Battle and Hart remembered Plitzuweit’s first speech to the team after she was hired from West Virginia in 2023. Plitzuweit asked whether there were any questions. After a pause, Battle raised her hand and asked whether they could call their coach “Dawny P.”

Plitzuweit sometimes gives the impression that she’s stern.