College sport, especially football and basketball, is now knee deep in the transfer portal era. Players leave after one season for a variety of reasons, including coaching firings, without any loss of eligibility.
Amaya Battle, Niamya Holloway, Mara Braun and Mallory Heyer all signed with then-coach Lindsay Whalen as incoming freshmen for 2021-22. These Minnesota four were classified as the school’s best freshman class ever.
But after their first season, Whalen was let go. And the four Minnesotans, former prep stars, stayed even though the transfer portal was fully operational at that time.
“We said we wanted to come here to turn the program around,” admitted Battle, now a junior. “We can’t back out of our word. We’re super close. We all roomed together for two years. We’re all from Minnesota, so we have a certain pride when it comes to our university.
“I think those three things, but I think it really just comes down to…that we really, really wanted to do it. So, we can’t just leave because things got hard or whatever the case might be,” she stressed.
This kind of loyalty, especially these days in athletics, to keeping one’s word and not jumping ship at the first sign of trouble should be recognized more as opposed to the blind loyalty we too often see today for presidential candidates or gangsters.
“We went through a lot,” recalled Battle “First year had a lot of ups and downs. Then we lost our coaching staff, and then second year we get a whole new coaching staff [and] you have to learn a whole new system.
“I like this year. Our third year together is really the first year of stability, because nothing’s new,” said Battle. “We’ve definitely been through a lot together, but I think the fact that we all stayed here and stayed together makes it more worth it and makes it easier.”
The 5’11” guard from Hopkins was named all-Big Ten honorable mention and Academic All-District honors after her sophomore season in which she finished second in points, points per game and rebounds, as well as led the Gophers in assists, steals, field goals and field goal attempts.
Yet neither Battle nor Braun or any other Gopher for that matter was named to the conference preseason list.
“I’m just excited for this season,” reaffirmed Battle. “I’m just excited to play with my teammates. I’m just more focused on us and what we can do, and just super excited.
“We might not be the most talented team, [but] we want to be the team that’s super determined and does the little things well, and it’s always working really hard, and we’re just like relentless and tough in every aspect.”
After a historic Big Ten tournament performance in downtown Minneapolis last spring—a school record 32 points in a first round win—Battle showed that she could take over a game when needed. She also is ready to do so this season in each game she plays.
“I have the ability to do it,” she pointed out. “Just wanted to keep building on that.”
Battle says that besides winning this season, “I want to break the assist record. That’s my goal for the team. I think any team’s goal is to make the tournament comments… I just think we just want to make really big strides this year in the Big Ten.”
Minnesota opens its 2024-25 season Monday, November 4 at The Barn against Central Connecticut State.
“I know it’ll be a challenge,” said the junior guard, “but also it will be fun with four new teams coming in.”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.