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.

Listen here.

Watch here.

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

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anthony Varriano (@gogonzojournal)

• 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