B1G Basketball Previews 2026: Minnesota Gophers

Last Season

Year four of the Ben Johnson era saw the old ball coach go out with a whimper. As it turns out, Dawson Garcia isn't enough to drag a team to the postseason. Unfortunately for Ben Johnson, four years is too long to not make the NCAA tournament for most Big Ten schools.

He's replaced by the guy Minnesota should have hired last time: Niko Medved. It's not often athletic directors get to correct their mistake like this.

Defectors

• Eleven scholarship players have departed along with two walk-ons.
• Do everything forward Dawson Garcia graduated and signed with the Pistons after going undrafted.
• Parker Fox, Caleb Williams, Mike Mitchell Jr., Femi Odukale, Lu'Cye Patterson, and Trey Edmonds ran out of eligibility. Mitchell, Odukale, Patterson and Edmonds all entered the transfer portal and attempted to transfer anyway. Lots of people go to college for 8 years, but the only Gopher from last year's squad that gets to do so while playing college ball was Parker Fox.
• Some other guys entered the portal and landed at places: Frank Mitchell (St. Bonaventure's), Kadyn Betts (Montana), Brennan Rigsby (Radford), Tyler Cochran (Rhode Island)

Starters

• PG Chansey Willis Jr., 6'2", Senior: Willis comes from Western Michigan were he was an all-MAC second team guard leading the conference in scoring alongside 5.8 assists/game and a healthy amount of steals. This is the fourth stop for the 2022 Michigan Mr. Basketball who started at D2 before going to a JUCO and landing at WMU last season. It's been a journey and he will be eager to prove himself at this level.
• SG Isaac Asuma, 6'3", Sophomore: This is the starter I'm least sure about - they could move Reynolds to the 2 and insert Durkin or Omot into the lineup. The lone returner from last season's rotation, Asuma had promising moments as a freshman. Can Asuma make the sophomore leap? Or will the change in systems stunt his development?
• SF Langston Reynolds, 6'4", Senior: Reynolds comes from Northern Colorado where he shot over 40% from three on his way to earning all Big Sky honors. He should offer some much needed scoring ability as well as some wing athleticism for the Gophers this season. If things really go right for the Gophers, Reynolds had a big year. That's a lot to put him.
• PF Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, 6'8", Junior: Crocker-Johnson followed his coach to Minnesota. He's a glue guy that does a lot of things well but doesnt excel at any one thing in particular.
• C Robert Vaihola, 6'8", Senior: Vaihola was a solid rebounder and rim protector in the Mountain West at San Jose St despite being just 6'8". We will see if that translates to the Big Ten where giants roam the court.

Bench

• F Bobby Durkin, 6'7", Junior: Durkin is a capable outside shooter that will shoot high volume attempts from outside. Defenses will need to key in on him coming off screens. He may start but if he doesn't he likely leads the bench in minutes.
• F Cade Tyson, 6'7", Senior: Tyson had a disastrous season at UNC after previously having success at Belmont. He was second in the nation in three point shooting during the 2023-24 campaign but struggled to see the floor last year and didn't produce when he got playing time.
• G Chance Stephens, 6'3", Junior: The former Turtle didn't play much at Maryland last season after missing the previous year due to an injury. Three seasons ago he came off the bench for Loyola Marymount and primarily contributed as an outside shooter.
• G Kai Shinholster, 6'5", Freshman: 3 star guard out of Philly, he stuck with his Minnesota commitment despite the coaching change.
• F B.J. Omot, 6'8", Junior: Omot played well at North Dakota but a wrist injury caused him to miss most of last season at Cal and a leg injury caused him to miss summer practices. Omot is a wing not a post player. He could see major minutes if he can stay healthy.
• F Nehemiah Turner, 6'10", Sophomore: Turner is fighting to be the backup center this year. He started for Central Arkansas in the back half of last year.
• F Grayson Grove, 6'9", Redshirt Freshman: Grove redshirted last season for the Gophers. He's a former 3 star recruit that appears to be winning the backup center spot based on recent reports.

Outlook

Medved is a good coach. Sure, him taking Drake to the CIT in his lone season there looks a lot less impressive following DeVries & McCollum taking Drake to the NCAA tournament, but before Medved took over at Drake they were bad for a very long time.

At Colorado State, Medved built the Rams into a MWC contender but never quite got over the hump to win the conference regular season. However, they reached three NCAA tournament bids the past four seasons and it took a fantastic Derik Queen buzzer beater to stop CSU from making a Sweet 16 this past season.

It likely won't be an instant rebuild, but Medved is capable of building a program from the ground up given time and patience. He should get both of those at Minnesota so long as he shows signs of progress.

For this season, reasons for optimism include Reynolds, Willis, and Crocker-Johnson but it's a big jump up in competition level for all three. Durkin adds some more shooting off the bench. While there is good length on the perimeter for defense, the interior is a bit on the smaller side so the Gophers may find themselves bullied on the glass and in the paint on occasion. While this roster doesn't have the top end talent that the B1G contenders do, they have a solid base and could surprise some folks if the pieces are able to mesh.