September 26, 2023
Locked On Women’s Basketball: Dawn Plitzuweit, Minnesota Golden Gophers prepare to conquer Big Ten
By The Next
Dawn and Howard discuss her decision to coach at Minnesota, returning talent and more
Minnesota coach Dawn Plitzuweit joined host Howard Megdal for the latest episode of the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to talk about her approach to coaching, returning talent for the Golden Gophers in 2023-24, and more. Plitzuweit is preparing for her first year with Minnesota after six seasons with South Dakota and a short stint in West Virginia.
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So, what does she focus on first when she takes over with a new team? That’s where the conversation started.
“I think the biggest thing for us is we talk about efficiency,” Plitzuweit said. “In order for us to play fast, we have to get stops, that means we have to defensively be efficient in what we’re doing, and hold teams down and make them uncomfortable. Then on the other end, there are a lot of teams that play fast, but don’t value the basketball, we want to be able to do both. And that’s really challenging and understanding what that looks like.”
In segment two, they discussed how she sees the Golden Gophers stacking up in the Big Ten and what they can do to improve their standing in a crowded conference that includes four 2023 NCAA Tournament teams in Purdue, Maryland, Ohio State and Iowa. In total, seven teams from the Big Ten advanced to the Big Dance last season.
“The Big Ten is such a powerhouse right now, and it’s really a powerhouse in terms of scoring,” Plitzuweit said. “So the number one scoring team in the country, in offensive efficiency was Iowa, right, obviously, also led the Big Ten in scoring. But there are seven teams that went to play in the NCAA tournament last year from the Big Ten. The question becomes ‘What did those seven teams do to separate themselves?’ …One of the things that those seven teams did better than the rest of the teams in the conference, is they scored it, they were the best in field goal percentage offense in Big Ten games.”
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