There are approximately 100 African American and other student-athletes of color this school year at the University of Minnesota. In an occasional series throughout the school year and sports year, the MSR will highlight many of these players.
This week: Minnesota graduate student Alexsia Rose.
According to the NCAA officiating notebook, Rule 1, the number “0” is legal to wear in college sports. Gopher graduate guard Alexisa Rose wears the number 0 in her first and only season as a Gopher.
“I’ve worn this number for a long, long time,” said Rose after a recent home game. “This one spoke to me when I first started playing basketball, when I just stuck with it.”
The 5’7” guard from Bloomfield, Conn. began her collegiate playing career at East Carolina (2020-23) then transferred to UMass for a season (2023-24), where Rose earned her communications decree.
Additionally, she is a two-time transfer portal participant.
“My first experience in the transfer portal, I was kind of hesitant just because the portal is scary,” recalled Rose. “My second time entering the portal, I just wanted to go somewhere where they valued winning, and just always wanted to play at the biggest level.”
Hence, Minnesota became Rose’s final stop in her playing career, and the Big 10 can’t get any bigger as the coast-to-coast Power 4 conference.
“The biggest difference, I would say, is the physicality and the speed — everything is go, go, go, go, go,” said Rose smiling. “Everyone’s much bigger, much stronger, faster. So, I gotta work a little bit harder, more so than I did at UMass or ECU.”
Now wearing a Gopher uniform, Rose this season has proven to be a valuable asset off the bench. She logs just over 15 minutes a game, nearly three minutes under her career 18.5 average per game, and has appeared in every game thus far. She dropped a season-high 10 points against Nebraska in December, hitting all her three field goals and only missing a free throw in four tries. And despite her size, Rose has three blocks this season and seven for her career.
Rose hopes to go into college coaching. Her graduate degree that she plans to receive this spring will be from the school’s gifted and talented education program. She also was one of three Gophers with a 4.O GPA last semester.
“I just love the game,” continued the guard. “I thought coaching was my calling, just because I want to stay around the game in any way I can.
“When you actually love something, it’s not really a job,” she points out.
Minnesota is in the final stretch of games before the regular season ends in a couple of weeks in favor of March Madness.
“I’m just looking forward to finishing the season out strong, making it to the Big 10 Tournament, and then possibly making it to the NCAA Tournament,” said Rose. “I think these are our biggest goals right now, finishing the season out strong. I want to continue to keep going.”
If that happens, it will be Rose’s second trip to the NCAAs.
“We won our conference, got a ring, and we made it to the first round against Texas at EDU my last year,” she concluded. “I’m definitely trying to double back and share that moment with my teammates because it’s something that you will never forget.”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.