A significant change was sorely needed at Minnesota as the Golden Gophers have turned their program into a new direction. They managed to find a talented and rising head coach who also happened to be a Minnesota alum and former assistant in Niko Medved. Coming off several great seasons out at Colorado State, Medved has built several mid-major programs into competence, but doing the same work in the Big Ten is significantly more difficult work.
The first issue shouldn’t be too surprising and it’s that much of last year’s roster isn’t back in Minneapolis. Losing nearly every piece from a 12th place team isn’t the end of the world, though the Golden Gophers will certainly miss the production from Dawson Garcia, one of the top scorers in the Big Ten last season. In fact, former freshman guard Isaac Asuma is the only returner who played notable minutes last season, meaning Medved and his new staff had their work cut out for them right away.
This staff lured a new transfer class that isn’t exactly breaking news, but the Golden Gophers did get a number of solid additions. Jaylen Crocker-Johnson came over with Medved from Colorado State while the frontcourt got a big addition in Cade Tyson from North Carolina. Chansey Willis Jr. did solid work at Western Michigan while the Golden Gophers are hoping for good things from power conference transfers like BJ Omot out of Cal and former Maryland guard Chance Stephens.
We didn’t mention every new addition, and we certainly skipped the most important of the bunch. Bobby Durkin is a 6-7 forward from the Chicago suburbs who began his collegiate career over at Davidson. He made significant strides as an underclassman in the A-10 and is coming off a sophomore year averaging 13.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Durkin’s game took a notable step forward in year two and Minnesota is hoping a similar leap comes this season.
Putting together Minnesota’s potential lineups and rotation isn’t an easy task even a few months out from the start of the season. What we do know is that Durkin has great potential and should be the starting power forward for the Golden Gophers. While he doesn’t have the same level of experience as some of these other new faces, Durkin’s ability as a shooter, rebounder, and total athlete made him a highly-regarded piece in the portal.
It’s all about Medved’s ability to use these new pieces and get Minnesota back into contention in the Big Ten. Recent seasons have seen teams like Kentucky and Louisville build teams using the portal and immediately exceed expectations, but it’s smart to pump the brakes here. The Golden Gophers have a few diamonds in the rough, but they’ll need Durkin to take the kind of leap that we’ve seen from a few other A-10 transfers in recent years.