The season is over for the vast majority of D1 teams and the official NCAA Transfer Portal window will open on April 7th. The Gophers have accepted a bid into the College Basketball Crown as their season will continue into this coming weekend, but by this time next week, they will also officially be in the offseason.
While the transfer portal season has not yet officially begun, players are beginning to announce their intentions and it is never too early to start thinking about what the Gophers need
for this coming season and who are some potential portal targets?
Looking at the current Gopher roster, there are 15 spots and typically two of them will be walk-ons or guys getting very little NIL and not expected to play. Assume roughly 13 primary spots on the roster.
Cade Tyson and Langston Reynolds no longer have eligibility, along with Max Gizzi & RJ Spenser, opening up four roster spots. There are three incoming freshmen. The staff will have one open roster spot, plus anybody who decides to test the waters of the transfer portal. I would expect they will bring in three, maybe four, transfers with two of them being guys they expect to be significant contributors.
EXPECTED ROSTER
- SR – Jaylen Crocker-Johnson
- SR – Robert Vaihola
- SR – Chansey Willis Jr
- SR – Bobby Durkin
- JR – Isaac Asuma
- SO – Kai Shinholster – this one may end up being a transfer
- SO – Grayson Grove
- SO – Max Lorenson
- FR – Nolen Anderson
- FR – Chadrick Mpoyi
- FR – Cedrick Tomes
Keep in mind, anybody on that list above could surprise and leave for any reason. But for now, let’s assume that most of these names will return.
The overall depth improves with the return of the injured players getting medical redshirts and the addition of three freshmen. Niko Medved will lose two players from the rotation but add five before ever hitting the transfer portal. I believe that you will get significant contributions from Anderson and Mpoyi as true freshmen, most likely off the bench.
EXPECTED TO TRANSFER
- Nehemiah Turner – already announced that he is no longer a part of the team
- BJ Omot
- Chance Stephens
STARTING LINEUP AND ROTATION
This is pure speculation, but this would be my projected starting lineup and rotation for next year. With some obvious caveats that there may be a transfer or two who relegates someone to the bench.
PG – Willis Jr
SG – Asuma
SF – Durkin
PF – Crocker-Johnson
C – Vaihola
—————-
B – Anderson
B – Grove
B – Mpoyi
B – Shinholster
B – Tomes
I do think that we will bring in either a starting point guard, who would bump Willis Jr to the bench, or we bring in an athletic forward who would push Durkin to 6th or 7th man. And as we bring in players who are going to be a factor, that will push those on the bottom of this list further down.
Currently, I would project Anderson to be coming off the bench, playing mostly a SF role similar to Durkin’s role this year. But he’ll be capable of playing more of a PF for a small-ball lineup and he may also be a surprise who gets significant playing time and perhaps earns a starting spot.
NEEDS
Minnesota enters this transfer cycle with two clear priorities: add scoring and reinforce depth. If this past season proved anything, it’s that depth isn’t optional. The incoming freshmen will help alleviate this issue, but the Gophers still need one or two transfers who can reliably come off the bench and contribute. More importantly, they have to replace the 20 points per game Tyson leaves behind. Expecting that production to simply materialize from the returning roster isn’t realistic, so landing a starter who can generate offense is essential.
Ideally, the staff adds a scoring point guard or wing, a depth big, and then another depth piece at either guard or wing—whichever spot isn’t filled by the primary scorer. They don’t need to find another 20‑point‑per‑game player; they just need someone capable of giving them 12–15 a night, with the rest of the scoring load absorbed by the returning core.
“ONE OF US” TARGETS
At this point, this is pure speculation. Some of these guys are more likely to actually enter the portal than others. And even if they do, this is not a list indicating interst on either side. This is a personal list of players who might be good fits or dream transfers, based solely on being from Minnesota.
Guards
- Nasir Whitlock – JR – 6’2” G from Lehigh – Formerly a DeLaSalle Islander and has played all three years at Lehigh. Whitlock shot 44% from three this past season while averaging 21.1 and 3.3 assists, earning 1st team All Patriot. He would fit as a starting guard who can score.
- Daniel Freitag – SO – 6’2” – PG from Buffalo – Freitag went to Wisconsin out of high school and transferred to Buffalo after his freshman year. And he has flourished with the Bulls, averaging 19.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting 36% from three.
- Terrance Brown – JR – 6’3” – Utah – led the Utes in scoring at 19.8 points and also averaged 3.8 assists per game. Brown played high school ball at Columbia Heights and then played his first two years in college at Fairleigh Dickinson.
- CJ O’Hara – SO – 6’4” – Green Bay – O’Hara is a guard from Totino who is leading the Phoenix in scoring this year with 14.1 points per game. He is an attack-the-basket guard who might be the right replacement for Langston Reynolds.
- Greyson Uelmen – FR – UND – 6’2” – SG/PG – Uelmen would be a fantastic get, but I think he is too good to transfer to be a guy off the bench, and I’m not sure he’s good enough to come and be a starting guard in the Big Ten. He played for Minnetonka in high school and this past year at UND he averaged 16.8 points per game and shot 34% from three.
- Taison Chatman – SO – Ohio State – 6’4” – the former Totino guard is playing about 13 minutes per game for the Buckeyes and averaging just under five points per game. Perhaps he is interested in transferring, coming home and seeing a strong role off the bench for Minnesota?
Big Man
- Jackson McAndrew – SO – 6’10” – Creighton – Began the year starting for the Blue Jays before a foot injury caused him to miss the entire season. Perhaps he wants a fresh start and would like to be the starting center for the Gophers?
- Carter Bjerke – JR – 6’9” – St Thomas – Bjerke would be a stretch forward who would be a depth piece. The former Wayzata player shot 45.6% from three, scored 9.6 per game and grabbed 3.3 rebounds.
- Boden Kapke – JR- Boston College – 6’11” – Played two seasons at Butler before transferring to Boston College this past season, where he averaged around 10 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. The Eagles fired their coach and it would seem likely that Kapke will transfer for his final season. This also does not feel like an ideal fit as Kapke seems poised for a big payday. Feels like he may get overpaid, and the Gophers may not be in position to overpay for a big man who may very well be coming off the bench.
- Rolyns Aligbe – SO – Southern Illinois – 6’9” – started all 32 games for the Salukis, averaging 9.5 points and 7.4 rebounds. Aligbe would clearly be a depth addition. Notable that he did take 69 threes this year, making 35% of them. Maybe a year to learn from JCJ and step into that role as a senior?
FORMER COACHING CONNECTIONS
The obvious connection with Medved and his former Colorado State players exists, but the rest of this coaching staff is new and they were at other schools just last year. There are still relationships there. Again, there is no indication that any of these players are interested, but they might be interesting.
- Kyan Evans – JR – North Carolina – this is the obvious target for the Gopher staff. Evans was the starting point guard for Medved at Colorado State and turned his breakout sophomore season into a payday at North Carolina. Evans has not seen a ton of playing time this season and may be thrilled to play for his old coach, in a system that suits his skill set and still competing at the highest level. If he transfers to Minnesota, Evans becomes your starting point guard, alongside Asuma with Willis Jr coming off the bench as a scoring punch.
- Kyle Jorgenson – SO – Colorado St – 6’9” – Jorgenson is another Medved recruit who would come to the Gophers for big man depth. He averaged 12 points and four rebounds as a sophomore at CSU and made 44% from three on 88 attempts. He knows the system, he’d have two years to play and he would be ideal depth behind Crocker-Johnson.
- Alex Wilkins – FR – Furman – 6’5” – PG – 17.8 ppg, 4.8 apg – An outstanding freshman for the Paladins. The question here would be, what kind of relationship did Coach Warner develop with Wilkins throughout his recruitment last year? Wilkins will be pursued by many and will be looked at as next year’s starting point guard.
- Cooper Bowser – JR – Furman – 6’11” – Bowser falls into the “big man depth” bucket and would come to Minnesota after three years as a Paladin. He averaged 14 points and six rebounds as a junior. Coach Warner was at Furman the past three seasons and would obviously have a relationship with him. This would be a good fit.
- Cole Bowser – FR – Furman – 6’6” – Cole is the freshman brother of Cooper who would be a guy who comes and likely doesn’t play much in his first year as he develops.
- Asa Thomas – SO – Furman – 6’7” – Thomas would come to the Gophers as a wing off the bench who can shoot. He averaged just over 12 points per game and he shot 39% from three on 203 attempts this past season. He would have a relationship with Coach Warner and perhaps the Illinois native would like to be back in the Midwest.
- Kai Rogers – FR – Oklahoma – 6’10” – Rogers is a Wisconsin kid who the previous Gopher staff recruited. He chose Oklahoma, where Armon Gates was coaching last year. I don’t know if Gates was an integral part of his recruitment, but he would be familiar. Rogers would come to Minnesota as a Sophomore with a chance to immediately be in the rotation at center.
- Jake Hall – FR – New Mexico – 6’4” – Another freshman, where the question would be if Coach Aaron Katsuma was involved in his recruitment last year. Hall would be more of a shooting guard, but would have to be looked at as a potential starter. As a freshman, Hall averaged 16.3 points per game and shot 44.4% from three on 223 attempts. Less of an ideal fit if Asuma had to move to point guard, but
RANDOM TARGETS
- Roman Domon – FR – Murray State – 6’9” – This kid is fun to watch play and is often referred to as the French Larry Bird. Adding a player like Domon would likely replace Tyson as a starting forward. He may be highly pursued, but could he be convinced that he would be a perfect fit at Minnesota? Because his game would be a perfect fit at Minnesota.
- Rashund Washington Jr – FR – Illinois-Chicago – 6’5” – probably more of a guard than a wing but Washington had a strong freshman season, starting 30 games, averaging 8.5 points and five rebounds per game.
- Kevair Kennedy – FR – Merrimack – 6’2” – This is probably a pipedream; Kennedy is going to get a number of offers from very good schools. Out of high school in Philadelphia, Kennedy had limited offers and he chose Merrimack over Wagner. As a true freshman, he averaged 18 ppg and was the MAAC POY and FOY.
- Marcus Hall – JR – Green Bay – 6’6” – Fits the bill as a wing who can come off the bench to give a little scoring a very real threat from deep. Hall is from Wisconsin and at Green Bay he averaged 13.9 ppg, 40.6% from three.
- Dylan Faulkner – JR – Samford – 6’9” – A depth big man who can really score. Faulkner averaged 17.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. The biggest issue here might be that Faulkner is 0/17 career from the three-point line.
DREAM TRANSFERS
1 – Kyan Evans – your starting point guard and if I were a betting man (which I am), I would think that the odds are good we will see Evans in maroon and gold. It just makes too much sense.
1b – Daniel Freitag or Nasir Whitlock – I think both of these guards are attainable and both would dramatically upgrade our backcourt.
2 – Roman Domon – he would just be a fantastic fit in this offense, but I also have no reason to believe this is realistic.
2b – Kyle Jorgenson – more realistic than option that Domon and Jorgenson would be a great fit.
3 – Cooper Bowser – Furman big man who would be great depth a C and PF.
3+ – Cole Bowser – the younger brother, comes with and develops into a solid role player for the program over his three seasons of eligibility
After those dream scenarios, I think there are still come quality names above who would be great fits.
- Boden Kapke would be a fantastic addition, but doesn’t seem like the right fit in terms of value.
- Carter Bjorke would be a nice depth piece in the front court
- Rolyns Aligbe would also be a nice depth piece that would prove to be a valuable contributor down the road.
The portal announcements are starting to happen; none of these names have even declared at this point. But considering the majority of D1 athletes enter the portal, things are going to be interesting in the coming weeks.
