Today’s college basketball requires you to not only recruit high school players into your program, but you are also re-recruiting them every offseason. Continuity is correlated to success, especially for programs that are not able to write blank checks for the best available talent in the transfer portal.
The transfer portal officially opens on April 7th but step one for the Gophers this offseason (and I realize they are not technically in the offseason) is to evaluate their own roster, determine who they want to return and then work with those players to get them to re-committ to the program for next season. And it appears as though all of the key players with eligibility will be returning.
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It started with this Instagram post from the offical Gopher basketball account. A simple list of who is travling with the team to the College Basketball Crown.
It is important to notice who is missing from this list and also who is included.
The names that are missing include Nehemiah Turner BJ Otmot and Chance Stephens. The former two names have already entered their names into the transfer portal and the latter is expected to.
But what comes next is where it gets intersting. There has been questions around whether or not Robert Viahola and Chansey Willis Jr would seek a medical redshirt and also return to the Gophers for one more season. This list does not specifically say anything, but it speaks volumes.
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I think that one can safely assume that if either of those two players were intending to transfer, they would not be on the list of players making the trip to Vegas to be with the team. Also, presumably, by making the trip as part of the official “team roster,” these guys are also on the list of players who will receive additional NIL money, should they earn it in the tournament.
In the days that followed after this post, the announcements about who is returning began to trickle out. Here is what we know.
RETURNING
ASSUMED (but not yet announced)
These things are always fluid and can change overnight, but the smart money is on those seven names returning. In addition we have the three incoming freshmen and possibly Max Lorenson.
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As of now, the Gophers would have four open scholarships and as was previously discussed they need a scorer, a wing/guard and depth in the frontcourt.
The College Basketball Crown begins tonight, but the next two weeks are going to be full of activity as the roster is quickly shaped for next season.
