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 left the program and will use her final season of eligibility somewhere else.

“Didn’t expect that,” head coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. “That was certainly a surprise.”

After winning the WBIT last season, and amassing 25 victories for the first time in program history, the Gophers will start their season Nov. 4 against North Dakota ranked in No. 18 in The Athletic’s preseason poll, and with 15 votes in the Associated Press poll.

Confidence is high. Plitzuweit, who anticipates having a healthy Braun for the redshirt junior’s first full season since she succeeded Whalen in 2023, has her deepest and most versatile roster — even without Heyer.

“I would say in the first three years here, this is the most ready that we’ve felt,” she said. “But we should because we have a veteran crew. We have more returners. We understand things at a much higher level.

“We’ve had two scrimmages so far. We have the ability to disrupt at a much higher level than we’ve had in the past, which makes us able to play faster than we’ve played in the past.”

Still, Heyer won’t be easy to replace. A 6-foot-1 power forward from Chaska, she averaged more than eight rebounds and eight points last season, and was at her best late. In the WBIT semifinals against Florida, she finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds in a 66-52 victory. Against Belmont in the final, 18 points and 16 rebounds in a 75-63 win.

“Mallory’s done an awful lot for our program, and she’s certainly done that the last few years — and she’s done that off the court as well as on,” Plitzuweit said.

Asked if she had been talking with Heyer about a possible transfer, the coach said, “We had a meeting last week and she informed me of her decision.”

Pliztuweit said Taylor Woodson, a 6-foot junior transfer from Michigan who missed most of her first season in Minnesota with a knee injury, would be one of the players helping fill the No. 4 spot, as well as Finau Tonga, a 6-2 grad transfer from St. Mary’s (Calif.).

Losing Heyer, Plitzuweit said, “Means every player has to step up and do a little bit more at this point. As a team, we have united and continued to grow, and I think we’ll continue to do that as the season progresses. We have seven days until we tip off.”

Heyer is expected to finish out the semester at Minnesota and transfer as a graduate student.

“We all love Mal. She’s a great person, she’s a great player,” senior post Sophie Hart said. “She brought a lot to this program. But we’re excited. We’re really deep this year. We have a lot of talent. It’s been fun to see that all mesh together, and excited to show it off at the Barn this year.”

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