Janel McCarville continues the trend of Lynx players turned coaches

<p class="wp-block-paragraph">MINNEAPOLIS—After a high school basketball game in central Wisconsin in 2024, a pair of old friends sat down at the Stevens Point Buffalo Wild Wings and talked about basketball well into the night. Such a scene doesn’t register as something extraordinary until you know the table is occupied by a pair of basketball legends and start counting the achievements between the two.&nbsp;</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/players/w/whaleli01w.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.theixsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-05-20_bbr">Lindsay Whalen</a> and <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/players/m/mccarja01w.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.theixsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-05-20_bbr">Janel McCarville</a> became teammates for the first time at the University of Minnesota when McCarville arrived on campus as a freshman in 2001. The two helped lead the Golden Gophers to the most successful era in the program’s history, culminating with the school’s lone trip to the Final Four in 2004.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>