RandBall: Experience is fueling Minnesota sports greatness. Will Gophers women’s basketball be next?

As Gophers women’s basketball standouts Mara Braun and Sophie Hart spoke with reporters earlier this week, the benefits of veteran wisdom became a central theme.

Braun, a junior coming off a tremendous but injury-shortened season, said she feels the ability to lead better with another year of experience while also noticing a burden has been lifted. The Gophers welcomed six new players in the offseason, including three seniors among their four transfer portal additions, giving them far more depth and experience than they had a year ago.

“I think the biggest thing is the depth of this year’s team. Knowing that anytime I sub out, I have full confidence in the people that are being put in,” Braun said. “I think our freshmen are just always so eager to learn from us and they’ve done an awesome job and then obviously the transfers coming in and just showing that they really want to contribute, it just feels like a big weight lifted off. I’m feeling it every day and adjusting to it, but it’s definitely gonna pay off.”

Hart, a senior whose injury in tandem with Braun’s torpedoed the second half of the shorthanded Gophers’ Big Ten season, echoed those thoughts.

“I think when we look at close games and ends of games, situations like that where I feel like we have a lot more trust in each other and the coaches have a lot more trust in us,” Hart said. “I think there’s a lot of value in all of us having this experience now.”

They would hardly be alone on the Minnesota sports scene if veteran additions fueled success. The Vikings are 5-0 thanks in large part to experienced veteran free agents. The Lynx are battling in the WNBA Finals (Gophers players attended Wednesday’s Game 3 loss) with an experienced roster.

The Wolves’ star is Anthony Edwards, but he’s in his fifth year and is surrounded by stable leaders much older than him. The Gophers football team has thrived in late-game situations this year thanks to graduate transfer QB Max Brosmer.

That last example is probably the most apt parallel to Plitzuweit’s team. Experience relative to other teams traditionally was easier to come by in pro sports because of free agency. The transfer portal has dramatically increased player movement in college sports. It enables programs to bolster depth and experience quickly rather than having to develop it over four or five years of eligibility.

For the Gophers women, that shows up with the combination of a previously young core maturing plus the additions of senior transfers Jordan Brooks (a 6-3 center), Annika Stewart (a 6-3 forward/center) and Alexsia Rose (a 5-7 guard).

“The first part is that it has brought us to become an older team in the league … and that’s really important,” Plitzuweit said. “In an ideal sense, every time our players are in a stoppage of play or even while it’s currently in action, they can see and identify and then make adjustments on their own.

“And that’s really where this team is a lot different than last year’s team, is that this year’s team has the ability to do that at a higher level. Is that because we’re older and more experienced? I think that has a lot to do with it for sure.”

How that translates on the court remains to be seen. The Gophers gained a taste for postseason play by winning four games in the WNIT before falling in the title game last season. Expectations are enhanced this year.

“We’re ready to roll,” Hart said. “We have our eyes set on a tournament run this year.”