On Jan. 28 the Gophers women's basketball team went to Illinois. Minnesota was 14-4 overall, 4-4 in the Big Ten, had won three of its previous five conference games.

Early in the fourth quarter Mara Braun, the team's leading scorer, went up and hit a three-pointer that put the Gophers up seven. Coming down, she landed on Illinois' Adalia McKenzie, breaking a bone in Braun's right foot.

It is hard not to look at that moment as a demarcation point in that season.

Before: Having won three of five conference games, in position to win for the fourth time in six games. After: Outscored 23-14 to end that game — with Genesis Bryant, who had been held to seven points by Braun to that point, scoring 12 of those.

Before: In position to win an NCAA berth. After: A 1-8 finish to Big Ten regular-season play, a 1-1 record in the conference tournament.

This is not to suggest it was a lost season. The Gophers accepted a WNIT bid, advanced all the way to the finals, finished the season with 20 wins.

But it's hard not to wonder: What if?

The good news is we're about to find out. Monday the Gophers will start the 2025 season against Central Connecticut at Williams Arena.

The Gophers enter the season with the core intact. All five starters — Braun, Amaya Battle, Mallory Heyer, Grace Grocholski and Sophie Hart — are back, as is 84% of their 2023-24 scoring.

Braun? After surgery she was out until the WNIT , but after tweaking the injury again, she was done for the season.

"It was hard, for sure," Braun said. "It was hard to have to just sit there and watch it all pan out. But I think our team really grew from it. I've seen it in the confidence of some of the other players, Amaya especially, with the way she played down the stretch. It showed what the team can accomplish even if I'm not on the floor."

But now she is back. Able to practice all summer, Braun — the sixth-leading scorer in the Big Ten last year (17.0) — worked on getting her confidence back, lifted weights to get stronger, made a commitment to attacking the rim more.

"It's been kind of a long summer in getting that confidence back, feeling like myself again," Braun said.

New pieces arrive

Now, Braun says, she has that confidence. Both in herself and in the team.

It's a rare thing in the era of the transfer portal that a team in a power conference can return all five starters. While, at the same time, knowing the roster is quite different.

The starters: Braun was the leading scorer. Battle, the point guard, was sixth in the Big Ten in assists (5.4), averaged 12.1 points, scored in double figures in 10 of the team's final 12 games. Heyer was fourth in the conference in rebounding (8.6) to go with 9.5-points-per-game scoring. Hart (10.6) and Grocholski (10.8) — a member of the Big Ten all-freshman team — were also in double figures.

But the team has changed. Grad transfers Alexsia Rose and Annika Stewart have added depth at point guard and center, respectively. Taylor Woodson — Battle's former Hopkins High School star teammate — transferred from Michigan. Nia Holloway and Maggie Czinano are back. Freshmen McKenna Johnson and Tori McKinney figure to contribute. Braun and Stewart both raved about McKinney's quickness this week.

The foundation returns, but the team has more depth.

"We're better than we were last year," said coach Dawn Plitzuweit, about to enter her second season at Minnesota. "We're deeper, we have more athleticism and we're stronger, too. It takes time to build some of those things."

Stewart, who played four seasons at Nebraska, adds a stretch-five component to the bench. McKinney figures to be a disruptive defender. The 6-0 Woodson can score from the outside but is strong enough to work in the post.

The Gophers need to be stronger in a conference that — with the addition of USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon — has gotten stronger, too.

Without a trip overseas this year, the Gophers were able to work more on fundamentals over the summer. The team didn't play in a tournament during the nonconference last year; this year they do it twice. Plus, it's the second year in Plitzuweit's tenure, so the team should have more of her defense-first approach.

"We'll be more disruptive because we can be," Plitzuweit said. "That will allow us to push the ball in transition more, play faster.

Juniors are still the key

But the team's success hinges, again, on the junior class, particularly Braun, Battle and Heyer. And they know it.

"We talked a lot this summer about us being those performance leaders," Braun said. "Knowing the team does look to us. It being our second year under Coach P, knowing what she asks of us, we have to set an example."

Especially Braun. Her foot is 100%. She is one of the biggest returnees in a difficult conference.

"She can kind of impose her will," Plitzuweit said. "In the past she's been someone who makes shots, makes good decisions for us. Takes care of the ball. Does a lot of really good things offensively. But there comes a point in each game where you have to really impose your will against the other team. And I think she's learning what that looks like."