BIG TEN BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYS

October 8, 2021

Lindsay Whalen

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Women's Head Coach

LINDSAY WHALEN: Good morning. Thank you, Commissioner Warren. Thank you to the conference for putting on this tremendous event. This is very cool.

I remember this as a student-athlete at the University of Minnesota coming to Big Ten Media Day, how much fun that experience was. It created so much buzz. You got to see other coaches, other student-athletes that you were going to compete against. It was like the kickoff of everything.

I feel like this is so special for our student-athletes to be here. I thank our conference and Commissioner Warren for putting on a first-class experience for them today.

Obviously our conference and women's basketball is a tremendous conference. Seven teams in the NCAA tournament last year, four an historic season for in the Sweet 16. Obviously with Indiana going to the Elite 8, it's a great women's basketball conference.

I feel like we're taking that next step as a conference. So our team is excited to compete in this great conference against some of the best teams in the country. Returning 12 players from last year's team, including All-Conference honorees, Jasmine Powell, Gadiva Hubbard, Sara Scalia. We're excited about our chance to compete in this conference on a nightly basis. We'll be battle-tested. In the non-conference we have the hardest strength of schedule. We're battle-tested to play against these great teams.

We're excited to compete on the court. We also compete off the court in the classroom. Last year our team had a cumulative 3.5 grade point average, which ranked us in the top 25 in the WBCA honor roll, the one team from the women's Big Ten Conference in that, including an Academic All-American in Laura Bagwell Katalinich. We competed on the court and off the court in the classroom. I'm proud of our student-athletes, what they've done.

With that, I'll open it up to questions. Extremely, extremely grateful to be here.

Q. Can you talk about the three players you mentioned in the back, just what their leadership will provide this year.

LINDSAY WHALEN: Jas and Sara are juniors, so they've been through now two years of conference play. Gadiva Hubbard back with us for another year with the COVID year. Just having her leadership, having those two, having been in our back court for all these years, is going to be a great asset for our team.

I'm excited for them, their opportunities, their experience this year. They come in with a great mindset to practice and to, even before then, this summer, really continue to build on their individual games, but then leadership within our team as well.

I feel very excited about them as with our whole team. But there's no question that they have the most conference minutes, so we're going to rely on them very heavily.

Q. Your initial comment was you were here as a student-athlete at Media Days. The men and women are equal this year at Media Days. What does that mean to you as a woman coach, as a female?

LINDSAY WHALEN: It's huge. I remember when I went, I think it was in Chicago. It was different. It was different then than what we see here today. This is unbelievable. I can't think of a better experience for our student-athletes.

I know if I was walking in here getting ready to play a season, compete in the Big Ten, this would get me motivated and very excited. The fact that we are all here together, that we have a great men's conference, a great women's conference in basketball, I think it just shows our conference and just how much of a priority, both basketball, but women's basketball that we're really making and Commissioner Warren is making. The coaches that have been in this league for so many years, quality players, quality teams. The level of the conference has risen so much that this event here, sitting for the talent both on the men's side and women's side in this conference.

Q. I love what you've done balancing brawn on the court with education. With that focus on education, how has that impacted NIL opportunities for your players?

LINDSAY WHALEN: Well, as we continue to kind of go through this new avenue with NIL, I think it can only help. When you excel in every aspect of your life, competing on the court, basketball, competing in the classroom, socially being a responsible citizen, I think the more grounded, the more well-rounded you can be as a person, then that's only going to provide opportunities.

Like I said, the more balance you can have, the more you can excel in different areas, the more opportunities there will be for our women student-athletes on our team. That's big for us, just having an impact in everybody that we see, whether it's on campus, whether it's in Minnesota, in our state, whether it's on the court. It's leaving an impact and positive impression.

You do that over and over and over again, that's going to provide you more opportunities someday. I feel like one of my main roles on the team is providing opportunities for our student-athletes. The more we can focus in, emphasize that in all areas of their life, they're going to have more opportunities to succeed in matter what they choose to do.