Almost nothing has gone as planned for the recruiting class that was going to help revive women’s basketball at Minnesota. That’s almost nothing because Amaya Battle, Mara Braun, Mallory Heyer and Nia Holloway were certainly part of the program’s resurgence.

But for those four young women, it hasn’t been exactly as planned. Lindsay Whalen, the coach who recruited the local stars, was fired after their freshman year. Nia Holloway blew out a knee and missed that entire season, and Braun missed most of her sophomore and junior seasons because of a broken foot.

But they all stayed, and appeared to be on the brink of earning their first NCAA tournament berth this season when they met with reporters at the start of practice on Sept. 23. Until Heyer announced on social media last week she has l

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