We discuss how the Minnesota Lynx aced the 2023 WNBA Draft, the Timberwolves’ wild end to the regular season, and why the Gopher men’s hockey team needs to change its approach.

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Lynx Ace the 2023 WNBA Draft

• Round 1, Pick 2: Diamond Miller, Maryland
  • Potential to play point guard in the WNBA, especially with Cheryl Reeve as her coach
    • Reeve made me look a fool when she turned Moriah Jefferson into a competent point guard
      • She’s no longer with the team
  • Can shoot over almost any guard at 6’3”
  • Averaged 19.8 PPG in the tourney and had 24 against South Carolina

• Round 1, Pick 12: Maïa Hirsch, France
  • 6’5” 19-year-old paint presence
  • Help replace rebounding gap left by Sylvia Fowles
  • Not expected to play this year, which is a smart pick because…
• The Lynx have 14 players on the roster
  • Kiana Williams, Stephanie Watts, Maya Dodson are all signed to training camp contracts, but those cuts leave room for just one draft pick to make the team
  • Not uncommon for the Lynx to release players
    • Crystal Dangerfield after Rookie of the Year season and Moriah Jefferson are recent examples
    • Damiris Dantas, Lindsay Allen, and Tiffany Mitchell should all be on high alert
• The Lynx got their expected pick at #12, Dorka Juhász, early in the second round
  • 6’5″ paint presence from Hungary who can rebound and score
  • Nearly averaged a double-double with UCONN
• Brea Beal, shooting guard out of South Carolina, fell to 24th, where the Lynx nabbed her thanks to a trade with Las Vegas
  • Rated the 13th-best player available in the 2023 WNBA Draft
  • Best perimeter defender and maybe the best all-around defender available in the draft
    • Held players she’s defended to 28-percent shooting, per Holly Rowe, to whom she called herself “a dog”
    • Anthony’s favorite draft pick
  • Improved three-point shooting significantly this season
  • A couple of veteran Lynx players could be released to retain her, Miller, and Juhász
• In other WNBA news, there will be more chartered flights per The GIST
  • Regular season games where teams play back-to-backs and all playoff games will be chartered

Timberwolves End Regular Season as Only They Can

• Likely lost their two best defenders for the playoffs
  • Jaden McDaniels lost his shit and broke his hand punching a wall after being called for a second phantom foul early in the finale against the Pelicans
  • Rudy Gobert threw a punch at Kyle Anderson after being called the B-word
    • Team suspended him for Lakers’ game
    • Can men just stop using the B-word as an insult already?!
    • If it came down to it, would you rather have Anderson or Gobert play for you?
      • “I’m not so used to Kyle’s approach from a veteran standpoint,” Nickeil Alexander-Walker said in March. “He’s very blunt. I think in today’s NBA, a lot of guys tiptoe and he doesn’t at all with anybody, so that’s respectable. I think it’s needed because the accountability part that he provides for us, outside of Mike, being that older guy that has to lead, it’s good to have him.”
• Timberwolves will play at the Lakers on Tuesday at 9 p.m. CST
  • Wolves are seven-point underdogs
  • Minnesota won two of three in the regular season but most recently lost 123-111 on March 31
    • Anthony Edwards was just returning from injury
  • If they win, they’ll play Memphis
  • If they lose, they’ll host the winner of Wednesday’s game between Oklahoma City and New Orleans
    • If they win they’ll play Denver

Gophers Lose NCAA Men’s Hockey Championship Game

• It’ll be at least 21 years between titles for the Golden Gophers
• As a former ice maintenance technician and Zamboni pilot, Anthony can confirm that these games CANNOT be played in Florida
  • Ice gets too soft too fast, slowing the skaters and putting the puck on edge
    • Disadvantage for fast teams who rely on breakaways like the Gophers
    • But that’s not why Minnesota lost
• Minnesota was outcoached and outplayed
  • Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold, in his 30th season, assembled a better team and employed a better style for tournament play
    • He was hired in 1994 for $6,700 per year and taught high school to earn extra money, according to Front Office Sports
    • The Gophers couldn’t win a faceoff, and when it comes down to one game for your life against an equally desperate opponent that’s almost as skilled, faceoffs and fitness can decide games
    • The Bobcats were better conditioned, as indicated by their puck possession in the third period
  • Minnesota needs to get back to playing the Minnesota style of hockey that the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs employ
    • Defense. Goaltending. Faceoff specialists. Dump and chase, physical Minnesota hockey.
    • Fewer NHL Draft picks and more glue guys
    • Fewer scoring defensemen and more possession players