She'll go down as one of the all-time greats in the game, and more particularly, from her home state.

I still remember intently watching Whalen play for the Gophers in the 2003/2004 season, and later carrying her squad to the Final Four that year. It was so awesome to see play out and at the same time know that she was "one of us".

Well on Monday morning, Lindsay Whalen is calling it a career as she announced her retirement from the Lynx and WNBA effective at the conclusion of the 2018 season.

If you've been paying attention at all to Lindsay the past six months, this should come as no surprise as she agreed to become the University of Minnesota's women's head basketball coach this year. While she's fully capable of pulling it off, no one expected her to pull double duty playing with the Lynx and then turning around and focusing on all the rigors of being a head coach.

This news of course puts a bow on an incredible 15-year career, one that I've certainly appreciated from afar. She's the only player in WNBA history with at least 5,000 points, 2,000 assists and 1,500 rebounds.

She's the WNBA's all-time wins leader with 322 and counting, not to mention 54 in the playoffs. She's third all time in assists, and a six-time All-Star who has made 13 straight playoff appearances including eight trips to the Finals according to the press release.

If my girls ever choose to play basketball someday, I plan to show them highlights of Lindsay in hopes they play with the heart, mental toughness and grit that Lindsay brought to the court each and every game.

Enjoy your "retirement", Lindsay, and get to work on bringing a BIG 10 Championship to Minnesota as head coach! SKI-U-MAH!

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