Men’s Basketball Preview: Minnesota Golden Gophers

Hello, everyone! We are back with another Big Ten Men’s Basketball preview, and today we’re going to be looking at the Minnesota Golden Gophers. So, let’s dive in, eh? The Golden Gophers finished the 2024-2025 season with a less than ideal 15-17 record, and a 7-13 record in the Big Ten, leading the program to part ways with head coach Ben Johnson after four years at Minnesota, and a 56-71 record. On March 24th, 2025, they would usher in a new era of Golden Gopher basketball, by prying away longtime Colorado State head coach, and Minnesota alum, Niko Medved to helm the ship going forward.

In what’s becoming commonplace in college athletics, especially when a coach is dismissed, the Gophers will have an entirely new roster this season, save for three players: guard Issac Asuma, and forwards Grayson Grove, and Erick Reader. Other than that, it’s a whole new squad. So, let’s look at some guys who I think have a chance to be impact players for Minnesota this year.

First up is Cade Tyson, a versatile senior who at 6’7”, 200 lbs. could see the floor at both guard and forward. Tyson spent his first two seasons in college at Belmont, where he established himself as a sharpshooter, knocking down 49% of his shots from deep his sophomore season. He then transferred to North Carolina for his junior season, but sparsely saw extended action, averaging just 8 minutes a contest for the Tar Heels. I think there’s a better than average chance he returns to form in Minnesota and reminds the nation how prolific of a shooter he can be.

Next up is Langston Reynolds, a senior guard coming in from Northern Colorado. He saw a big jump in production from his sophomore to junior seasons, primarily because he won the starting SG spot and saw his minutes jump from ~18 to just under 33 per game. Reynolds is a bigger guard, listed at 6’4”, 205 lbs, which means he has no problem finishing through contact. But he’s not afraid to step out and hit the three, shooting it at an effective 41% last season. The guy just makes good basketball decisions on the floor, and I think he could even improve on his last season, where he averaged 16 points, 3.4 assists and an impressive 5.6 rebounds per game, and work his way up some draft boards. He’s going to be a senior, so he likely won’t be a first-round pick just based on that, but I won’t be surprised if we hear his name called during the 2nd round of the 2026 draft.

Lastly, we have Nehemiah Turner, a sophomore forward coming in from Central Arkansas. Turner averaged a modest 8.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last season, but in February and March those numbers jumped up to 17.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, while also blocking a little over 1.6 shots. If he gets an expanded role at Minnesota, like he saw in the final two months of the year at Central Arkansas, I think he could have a very nice season for the Gophers.

As I’ve said for most of the teams who have brought in a new coach this offseason, Minnesota is a wildcard. I could see them finishing as high as 5th or 6th in the conference, but I could also see them finishing toward the bottom, around the 15th or 16th spot. That’s the thing when it’s nearly an entirely different roster. You just really don’t know how it’ll shake out.

The Golden Gophers will be traveling to Eugene this season, at some point. Hopefully the Ducks can come out on top.

As always, ‘Sco Ducks