Lindsay Whalen spent Tuesday in her office at the University of Minnesota surrounded by medals, championship rings and memorabilia.
She was a day away from flying east to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. , Whalen was in high spirits and was looking forward to spending the week with friends and family and being introduced to the legendary Dawn in the Hall of Fame. Staley and Charles Barkley on Saturday.
Her career highlights were memorable and indelible, but they weren’t predetermined. I relived important conversations and epiphanies.
childhood
Wehren’s first love as a child in Hutchinson was hockey.
“There was no women’s varsity hockey and my mother was worried about checking.
“I’m a sports fanatic and I wanted to do something, so I tried basketball. The first game I played was in middle school scoring eight points and shooting from behind the backboard. This was in Litchfield, Minnesota, and I remember hearing the crowd gasp and thinking, “Oh, cool. I might get into something here. This is good.” I’m here. That was my first basketball memory, and it felt like there weren’t many people in the gym who could do what I did.
Hutchinson High School
Legendary Hutchinson football coach Andy Rostberg also coached women’s basketball.
“Andy had a gym open all summer long Monday through Thursday from 8am to noon. If I had, I could have gotten bear claws at Super America.
“Andy was there the whole time. He gave up the summer, so we got a place to play. Play the same way at the recreation center all day long.”
University of Minnesota
The Gopher women’s basketball had won one NCAA Tournament game before Whalen arrived. She won her seven and led the Gophers to her only Final Four appearance in 2004.
In her freshman season, she played for Sheryl Littlejohn, who was fired after going 29-81 in Minnesota. In her sophomore season, she played for Brenda Freese (then Oldfield) before Freese left for Maryland and Pam Bourton replaced her.
“My sophomore year, we got along pretty well. It was Brenda’s one year here at Williams Arena.
“The pub is a beautiful facility, but Williams Arena is Williams Arena. I never went back to the Pavilion.
“In my sophomore year there were 2,000 people at the pavilion. In my freshman year it was 500. It’s Hometown Day at Williams and the Hutchinson kids are bussing in from the Rec Center. 11,000 people show up and we’re like, ‘OK, we know we’re pretty good, but we’d really like to play right now, that game, we shoot like 20% in the first half’ But we get over our nerves and kick behind them in the second half’.
“At that point, I was like, ‘We got this, we’re really good.'”
“You know the saying, ‘Do you want to leave it better than you found it?'” There was nothing, that team did, we made a physical change to the program.”
Minnesota Lynx
The Connecticut Sun selected Whalen with the fourth pick in the 2004 draft, making her the best drafted player from the Big Ten. She led the Sun to her WNBA Finals in her first two her seasons.
In 2010, the Lynx traded to Whalen, along with new coach Sheryl Reeve. Together they will win four WNBA titles.
“In 2010 we were terrible,” Whalen said. [actually 2-9]She had conversations I probably didn’t want to have. She sat me down after her Fourth of July break. She texted me “hey see you”. I go to the old Target Center office and there’s me, Cheryl, and Coach Shelly. [Patterson]I think he shot 33% from the floor and didn’t have a very high assist-to-turnover ratio.
“Sheryl was happy to have a conversation with me, saying, ‘I really need to brush up on my fitness and nutrition,’ which was probably tough for her at the time. I’m in my seventh year in the league. I was MVP runner-up I was in two finals and made the All-WNBA first team I’m already good-slash-great She wants to know if I want Being a Great Slash Elite.
“From that point on, I lost 10 pounds over the course of the season, started exercising extra before and after practice, and my shooting percentage went up. I didn’t make it, but after that, I built Team USA and won the WNBA and national team championships in Europe every year until 2017.”
Team USA
Whalen calls Reeve and UConn legend Geno Auriemma the two best coaches in women’s basketball. When Whalen focused on creating her USA team and playing in the Olympics, she knew she had to impress Auriemma, who was the coach of the program at the time.
“We had to first build a team in 2010 to qualify for the World Championships and the Olympics,” Whalen said. [the Lynx] This means you can participate in the entire Team USA camp. It was in DC so I flew there and the night before practice went out with her sister and had a couple of glasses of wine.
“I think the next day is a little bit looser than other situations, joking around the layup line and things like that. I’m making money and taking longer vacations so I’m not that serious.
“Jeno is very good. He knows exactly what to say. He asked me at practice, ‘Do you want to make this team?’ However, my heart was depressed. I really think you have a chance to make this team. But we have to believe that we can make this team. “
Inspired and chastised, Whalen decided to prove herself to Auriemma. She made the team and won two Olympic gold medals.
Youth Games at Litchfield. Open Gym in Hutchinson. A flooded campus court. Pre-practice meeting at Target Center. On-court conversations in DC
Thanks to those moments, Whalen never regretted quitting skating.
