Minnesota native Destinee Oberg transfers to Gophers from Arkansas

Gophers women's basketball coach Lindsay Whalen added a transfer Monday with the news that Destinee Oberg is coming back to Minnesota.

Oberg, one of the state's highest-ranked recruits back in 2019, announced her decision to transfer from Arkansas to Minnesota on Twitter. When she originally chose Arkansas — and was rated 38th nationally by Prospects Nation — she picked the Razorbacks over several teams, including Michigan, Maryland, Purdue, Minnesota and Louisville.

"You've watched me grow up,'' she said on Twitter. "Supporting me even on my worst days. Yet the standard never changed, which is to give it my all. Representing you has always been an honor, doing that in my backyard only makes it that much more special. I'm coming home.''

A native of Burnsville, Oberg split her time in high school between two schools. She played at Holy Angels but ultimately graduated from Bloomington Kennedy.

Oberg spent three seasons in Arkansas, which made the NCAA tournament field this past season as a No. 10 seed. She will have two years of eligibility remaining.

The 6-3 Oberg appeared in 19 games this season, all off the bench, averaging 1.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 6.7 minutes per game.

As a post with experience, Oberg is an important addition to a Gophers roster that has only one post player — Rose Micheaux — returning from last year's game.

It is also welcome news considering the seven Gophers players who chose to enter the NCAA transfer portal after the recently-completed season.

"Destinee is someone who will represent our program's values in the classroom, on the court as well as in our community," Whalen said in a news release. "Offensively, Destinee has the ability to finish through traffic at the rim as well as find her teammates as an exceptional passer. Defensively her communication, footwork and length at 6-3 adds to our interior defense. I am thrilled she has the opportunity to come back to her home state and compete in the Big Ten."