Destiny Pitts leaving Gophers after suspension for 'body language'
Destiny Pitts, a First Team All-Big Ten guard for the Gopher women's basketball team, announced Thursday that she intends to transfer in the wake of being suspended indefinitely.
"Last Friday, I was informed that I was suspended indefinitely for my 'body language' during the Northwestern game," Pitts wrote in her announcement. "As this was my first discipline situation of my career at Minnesota (or as a basketball player at any level), I was blindsided and shocked by the suspension."
Pitts continued: "After much reflection, thought, and advice from those closest to me, I have decided to enter the Transfer Portal to further my athletic and academic journey in an environment that will support me, while I develop into the person I want to become."
I wish Coach Whalen and her staff nothing but the best. pic.twitter.com/8eEpkfeKNG
— Destiny Pitts (@desip33) January 16, 2020
Pitts was suspended prior to Minnesota's 74-71 loss to Illinois earlier this week, with the University of Minnesota only revealing that her suspension was for "conduct unbecoming a member of the team."
Head coach Lindsay Whalen said Wednesday that being an athlete at the U of M "comes with high standards and expectations," and when those are not met there are "consequences."
Pitts was averaging 16.3 points per game and was a huge part of Minnesota's success in Whalen's first year as head coach in 2018-19.
Minnesota (11-5 overall, 1-4 Big Ten) faces Iowa Thursday at 7 p.m.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.