Minnesota Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Golden Gophers
Key Reserves for the Minnesota Golden Gophers
F, 6’7, 220, Junior, Michael Hurt
The next best available player left from the team a season ago. Michael Hurt joined freshman Washington and phenom Murphy as the only three to play in all 32 games. In fact, he actually made 14 starts. That had to do with the lack of height and the fact that Eric Curry was out for the season. Curry is healthy and the rest of the team has filled out to form a solid starting lineup. Hurt averaged 3.2 points per game, 2.5 boards with 14 blocks. There’s a lot of new names coming off the bench so Hurt will add some experience to the reserves.
C, 7’0, 240, R-Senior, Matz Stockman
Matz Stockman is a transfer from Louisville. He was recruited way back in 2014 for the Cardinals. Stockman was a three-star power forward, 205th overall and 51st at the position. He rarely found the court in his freshman year His minutes per game never reached over 6.5 during his sophomore and junior year. Stockman never found success in any area of his game. He’s hoping to have some sort of impact in the college ranks after sitting out a year and getting acquainted with the Minnesota program. You can’t teach seven-feet and the Gophers will certainly be looking for that.
G, 6’4, 195, R-Senior, Brock Stull
Brock Stull is a transfer from UW-Milwaukee. He’s following in the footsteps of Akeem Springs. He played three years for the Panthers, graduated and transferred to Minnesota for his final season. This is because Stull wants to go play for his coach who recruited him, Rob Jeter, who is now on the Gophers coaching staff. Stuff averaged over 13 points per game in his second and third season at Milwaukee. His shooting percentage went down each year, but he averaged 5.7 boards, three assists and made over 120 three-pointers in his final two seasons. If he can carry that over into the Big Ten, the Gophers will be getting a nice addition off the bench.
G, 6’1, 185, Senior, Jarvis Johnson
Jarvis Johnson was recruited back in 2015 as a three-star point guard to play for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. He was the only recruit from the state of Minnesota that season. People were excited for him. After three years, Johnson has yet to play. He’s gone through some hardship including not being medically cleared to play basketball before his freshman year. Johnson never received a redshirt for his missed time. He’ll have on year to live out his dream of playing for Minnesota. All signs point to him playing since he recently went around reading to kids while representing the team. There should be some room in the rotation given the youth and unfamiliarity with the program.
C, 6’10, 225, Freshman, Daniel Oturu
The only other guys left are freshmen and players who appeared in less than 10 games last season. I’ll select the top-rated freshman in this class to round out the top five. Daniel Oturu is a four-star recruit. He’s 50th overall and sixth at the position. He scored over 2,000 points in high school. Oturu is from the state of Minnesota where he went to Cretin-Derham Hall and averaged 18.8 per game, 11.5 rebounds and an impressive 6.1 blocks. He attended many camps in the offseason as one of the top centers in this class. If he doesn’t come out raw, the Gophers should have some depth in the front-court.