BIG TEN TEAM PREVIEW #7 MINNESOTA GOPHERS

Minnesota is another Big Ten program with a new head coach for this upcoming season. They fired Ben Johnson after just four seasons at the helm. Johnson failed to reach the NCAA tournament in each season as the head coach, while having a 56-71 record over his tenure. Minnesota did make a pretty well-regarded hire to take over the program with former Colorado State head coach Niko Medved. Medved led Colorado State to a 26-10 record last season; they reached the second round of the NCAA tournament and won the Mountain West conference tournament title.

Projected Lineup:

G Chansey Willis Jr. (Western Michigan transfer)

G Langston Reynolds (Northern Colorado transfer)

F Bobby Durkin (Davidson transfer)

F Cade Tyson (North Carolina transfer)

F Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (Colorado State transfer)

It's a starting lineup made up entirely of transfers for the Gophers this season. Perhaps their two best portal additions will be their two starters in the backcourt next season, with 6-foot-2 combo guard Chansey Willis Jr. and 6-foot-4 shooting guard Langston Reynolds. Chansey Willis Jr. comes in from Western Michigan, where he was one of the top players in the MAC last season, averaging 16.8 points, 5.8 assists, and 4.3 rebounds, while earning all-conference honors. Langston Reynolds was another top guard at the mid-major level last season. He averaged 16 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists on the year while earning all-conference honors in the Big Sky. Minnesota's lone returner from their rotation last season is 6-foot-3 combo guard Isaac Asuma. Asuma was a four-star in the 2024 class, and he had a solid freshman season for the Gophers, averaging 5.6 points and 2.1 assists. Asuma should play a big role off the bench this season.

The lone player who followed Niko Medved to Minnesota was 6-foot-9 forward Jaylen Crocker-Johnson. He should play a similar role on this year's team, starting at the five. Crocker-Johnson was the fourth leading scorer for CSU last season with 9 points per game, while also averaging 4.4 rebounds. Cade Tyson should also be a starter in the frontcourt next season. Tyson transferred in from UNC, where he had a very underwhelming season last year. Tyson didn't have as big a role as he was expected to have, as he averaged just 2.6 points in 7.9 minutes per game. Before Tyson transferred into UNC, he was a top player in the Missouri Valley Conference at Belmont, averaging 16.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in his final season there. Bobby Durkin was a highly coveted transfer that Minnesota was able to bring in this offseason. The 6-foot-7 small forward was one of the top shooters available in the portal. Last season, he averaged 13.5 points and 5.9 rebounds at Davidson. Minnesota should actually be pretty deep in its frontcourt. 6-foot-10 Central Arkansas transfer Nehemia Turner, 6-foot-8 San Jose State transfer Robert Vaihola, and 6-foot-8 Cal transfer BJ Omot should be good players off the bench for them.

I think Niko Medved did enough in the portal to at least have Minnesota competitive in his first season there. Chansey Willis Jr. and Langston Reynolds are both Big Ten-caliber guards. Their frontcourt is somewhat undersized, but that's usually how Niko Medved puts together his teams. If Cade Tyson can have a bounce-back season, that would be huge for them, since they don't really have any great scorers at the forward position.

Prediction: 14th in Big Ten