Busting Brackets
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Big Ten basketball: Top 15 players for the 2019-20 season

By Austin Walther

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 06: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans talks with Cassius Winston #5 in the second half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the 2019 NCAA Final Four semifinal at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 6, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 06: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans talks with Cassius Winston #5 in the second half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the 2019 NCAA Final Four semifinal at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 6, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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DES MOINES, IOWA – MARCH 21: Daniel Oturu #25 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers celebrates after drawing a foul by the Louisville Cardinals during their game in the First Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena on March 21, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
DES MOINES, IOWA – MARCH 21: Daniel Oturu #25 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers celebrates after drawing a foul by the Louisville Cardinals during their game in the First Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena on March 21, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

13. Daniel Oturu, Sophomore, Center, Minnesota

I was a big fan of this guy last season. He was a top-50 recruit so putting up some nice numbers wasn’t a surprise. But you do see where guys can’t live up to that kind of hype. Oturu was the third leading scorer on an NCAA Tournament team that made it to the second round. The two players in front him are gone. Gabe Kalscheur or Marcus Carr seem to be the favorites to lead the Golden Gophers in scoring this season, but the door is open for Oturu.

Averaging only 10 points per game may seem kind of low after I was just knocking on Nojel Eastern for his scoring. But Oturu is a major force in the paint. Richard Pitino didn’t mess with the lineup hardly at all last season. Oturu played in 35 out of 36 games and started 31 of them. Even when Eric Curry finally came back, there was no pulling the freshman out of the starting lineup.

Sometimes you see big man in college basketball not putting up all that impressive rebounding and blocked shot numbers. The opposite is said about Oturu. He averaged seven boards per game to go along with 46 blocked shots. Even though he weighed under 230 last season, he just looked like a boulder down low. Oturu was a force every time he touched the ball in the paint.

I can’t say how exactly the Golden Gophers are going to be this year. They have a lot of new guys with potential coming in, but losing Amir Coffey, Jordan Murphy and Dupree McBrayer hurts. But Oturu will certainly be the main stay in the frontcourt. He came up with eight double-doubles and was three points short in two games and one board short in two others. He could be flirting with averaging a double-double at some point this season.

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