Consolation game: Minnesota and LSU hope that their Final Four runs will catapult their programs into the elite ranks.

Coach Gunter: "[J]ust think about it. Here's a team with something like the third-ranked recruiting class in the country and only one senior. I think we'll be back there, and we'll be back soon."

Coach Borton says her returning players will have a hunger for another trip. "[I]t's going to help us recruiting, and it will help the overall program with attendance. Anything you can think of -- it's just going to help tenfold of what our program can do in the future."

Minnesota fans, meanwhile, look to the WNBA draft. They hope against hope that Lindsay will end up with the Lynx.

Whalen, even if she didn't start, could immediately transform Minnesota into a profitable franchise. But that just doesn't matter much to Charlotte and Connecticut.