Nearing the end of her playing career at Minnesota, Jasmine Brunson reflects upon the past four years and looks forward to what comes next.
by Shelby Kieffer, Athletic Communication Student Assistant
Jasmine Brunson has been a consistent presence in the Gophers' lineup over the last four years.
As a freshman and sophomore, she appeared in 63 of a possible 64 games, but during her 2018-19 junior season, she stepped up in a huge way. The Queens, N.Y., native established career highs in nearly every statistical category.
In fact, in several areas she posted better numbers in her junior season than in her first two years in the Maroon and Gold combined, including field goals made and attempted, 3-pointers made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, rebounds, assists, steals and points.
Her scoring and rebounding jumped from 2.9 points and 0.9 rebounds per game in 2017-18 to 8.4 points and 2.5 boards per contest in 2018-29. The increase is scoring was second best among any player in the BiG Ten, while her rebounding improvement was ninth best.
That's why when Kenisha Bell, a two-time honorable mention All-American, was set to depart at the end of last year, she looked to Brunson to lead the team at the point guard position.
Brunson used her teammate's words as motivation.
"Whether it be vocally or through my play, I'm definitely trying to step up into that role," Brunson said.
The hard work has paid off for Brunson. The Gopher has continued to improve over her final season. In conference play, the senior is averaging a career-best 10.0 points per game. A team captain, Jasmine Brunson has played in 117 games at Minnesota. After a similar start in conference play as last year, the captain was able to relate what she experienced to her teammates this year.
"It's not over and you still have to go out every day and compete because every game is like an NCAA tournament game," Brunson said. "That's helped me a lot in relaying the messages to my teammates."
When asked what is the most challenging part about being a leader and captain on the team, she said, "you never want to be the bad guy… while I'm still encouraging everybody, some people needed a little more from me, some different words. So you never want to be the bad guy but it's for the better of the team."
Brunson has faced many challenges that come with playing basketball collegiately and being a team leader. However, as she nears her final game as a Gopher it's all about reflecting on the fond memories since first arriving as a freshman in 2016.
"The most satisfying feeling was making it to the NCAA tournament," the point guard said. "Having the watch party here in Williams Arena and hearing our names up on the big screen, that was great."
She also expressed how grateful she was for the support she's received from fans of Gopher women's basketball throughout.
"You'll be surprised who knows you and who will just speak to you when you're randomly walking in the street and asking how you're doing, trying to support you. It's really cool."
Teammates, coaches, and fans have been key to helping Brunson succeed these past four years. It's also helped her learn an important lesson about life.
"It's cliche, but tough times don't last, tough people, do," she explained. "I've gone through a lot in these past three and a half, close to four years now whether it be on the court or off the court. Just having the support of the fans, my teammates, coaches, that's been huge.
"Everything I've gone through I've been able to get through with the help of so many different people."
There is a mix of emotions for Brunson as she prepares to graduate.
"I will be the first in my family to graduate from college so that's a pretty big honor that I'm super proud of," she said. "I'm not dreading it, but it's like I don't want this to fully end yet. But I am also ready to move on and start something new."
That new thing is a nonprofit organization called "Leaders for Life" that offers after-school and summer programs for children deemed to have a learning disability due to lack of school resources.
"Their scores are drastically low right now so we will just be helping them, assisting them with mentorship, tutoring, taking them on college tours, and offering them sports, music, dance programs, as well," Brunson said.
In June she will relocate to Dallas to run the nonprofit full-time.
"The research shows that there's a lot of schools out there that are in need of tutoring for their kids. So Dallas right now is the relocation."
As Bell handed the torch off to Brunson when she graduated, Brunson already has her eye on who will step into her role as leader and playmaker.
"Jasmine Powell because I'm a little biased; she has my name so I kind of want her to carry that along, but also I see it in her," Brunson said. "I think her being able to go through everything we've been through so far this year, her just taking it up a notch in the leadership role and getting everybody together to have a better season next year, I think that will be huge for her not just at this school but in life and playing professionally. I know she can do it."
