Rarely have the wheels come off a program as quickly and dramatically as they did for the Minnesota Gophers in the 2005-06 season. In her first three years at Minnesota, few things went wrong for coach Pam Borton. When they did, as when Lindsay Whalen broke her hand, the team overcame them. But the 2005 Gophers were not able to overcome anything. The season started out well but fell apart late. Even the good start couldn’t hide the fact that there were problems brewing.
Jamie Broback was the leading returning scorer and rebounder and was a pre-season choice for first team All Big 10. She was suspended early for what were called academic issues. She returned but things between she and Borton were never right.
As the season went on and the team deteriorated, Borton seemed to have no answers. She mouthed platitudes in public. The lack of oncourt adjustments makes it easy to assume that she had no more insightful comments to make to her team. After the Gophers won 17 of their first 21 games, they hit a stretch where they played the league’s top three teams in succession. They lost at Michigan State and Purdue and then lost to Ohio State at home. Worse, they were blown out of every game. The average deficit in the three games was 29 points. They never recovered.
Borton seemed to have no idea how to stop the slide. There were few adjustments apparent. Anything that was tried failed miserably.
After suffering another non-competitive loss in the first round of the Big 10 tournament, they lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. During that game, Borton’s strange coaching moves earned her some of the most scathing commentary heard in a women’s game. She benched Kelly Roysland, whose shooting had kept Minnesota in the game for key periods of the game and Broback for the majority of the game. After the game, she showed much by blasting her players, especially Broback. She blamed Broback, although it was Borton’s decision that had cost her best player a chance to lead the Gophers to victory.
That behavior, and the personality behind it, will have lasting consequences for the Gophers. After the season, five of the eight players scheduled to return in 2006 left the program. Only three players with experience will suit up for Minnesota and only one of those has played significantly. In her first three seasons, Borton had done an excellent job of recruiting. The transfers essentially undid all that work. They will likely have a major effect beyond that. It is hard to imagine that other top recruits will flock to the Gophers until Borton can show that her program is stable. If the team’s trip to the Final Four at the conclusion of the 2003-04 season was the high point of the program, the implosion at the end of the 2005-06 year will likely be the low point.
Return
to the Minnesota main page
Return to the Big 10 main page