Minnesota hosts Harvard on Nov. 2 in women’s basketball.
The Gophers entered the 2026-27 season with high hopes, ranked in two top-20 preseason polls (No. 17 AP, No. 18 USA Today/WBCA), mainly on the strength of last season’s Sweet 16 finish. However, junior Tori McKinney’s season-ending injury, suffered in a recent practice, raises a question as the season begins:
Can this season’s Gophers be a true Big Ten title contender and make another postseason run to the Sweet 16 or beyond, or will they be a team whose high hopes slowly diminish as the year wears on?
U-M Associate Head Coach Aaron Horn and Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator Ariel Braker talked to the MSR about the season at the team’s practice court before McKinney, a Minnetonka native, was injured.
“Now we got to take what we learned and take a bigger step,” explained Horn.
Horn and Braker are the only Black coaches on the Gophers’ staff, and the roster features six Black players. They have a new point guard, junior transfer Leah Harmon.
“She’s a very shifty scoring point guard,” observed Horn on the 5-6 Harmon from Paterson, N.J., who played her freshman year at Miami and her second season at UCF. “A kid that you can probably put the ball in her hands and go get a basket,” he pointed out. That description recalls Amaya Battle, a multiyear all-conference combo guard who graduated last season and is now playing overseas.
Minnesota also has size in the post with 6-6 fifth-year transfer Gracie Merkle from Penn State.
“I’m glad that we are able to finally make it work, and I think she is going to be a great fit,” stressed Braker. “I’ve been hunting down Gracie since she was a junior in high school. I recruited her when I was at Oakland. I recruited her the first time she was in the portal (and) the second time she was in the portal (again), so (the) third time’s the charm.”
“We have seven newcomers. We have some experience,” continued Horn, referring to transfers Harmon, Merkle and junior Tayla Thomas, along with freshmen Adit Kuol, Natalie Kussow, Tori Oehrlein and Kylee Paben.
“Natalie is very versatile. Kylee is a great athlete. Tori is to be a treat. And then Adit, I think her ceiling is so high.”
As for Minnesota’s conference chances this season, “The Big Ten was the best conference in the history of women’s basketball last year, and a lot of teams that added a lot of players from different conferences that had some great experience,” said Horn.
The Gophers’ nonconference home schedule features four teams with Black head coaches, including Harvard.
“I think representation is important,” said Braker. “It is good for us to see all different styles of play.”
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The issue of how fans can see Minnesota Timberwolves games on television continues to draw criticism. Two of the 15 games scheduled for free over-the-air television will be shown on KARE 11: Golden State (Oct. 28) and LA Clippers (Oct. 30).
Other than national telecasts, Wolves games (65) this season are on the DAZN streaming service, with subscriptions starting at $20 a month, and can’t be seen on cable or satellite.
Comparatively, 71 Detroit Pistons games will be on free over-the-air television in the Metro Detroit area and on cable and satellite. A team official said the team owes it to the fans to still be able to follow the Pistons on television at no cost.
An appropriate season-long musical theme for Wolves broadcasts: the O’Jays’ “For the Love of Money.”
Finally …
Legendary Michigan State Track and Field Coach Jim Bibbs passed away Oct. 10 at age 97. He was the first Black coach in MSU history, starting as an assistant in 1968, and was appointed head coach in 1977, becoming the school’s first Black head coach and the first Black head track coach in the Big Ten. He was the program’s longest-tenured coach (1968-95).
Bibbs retired in 1995. He was elected to the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2015 and several other halls of fame.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses at challman@spokesman-recorder.com.
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