Minnesota Golden Gophers Basketball 2026-27 Season Preview

The Minnesota Golden Gophers had plenty of growing pains during their first season under head coach Niko Medved. While they didn’t sniff the postseason in 2025-26, the Gophers had plenty of steps in the right direction.

Minnesota Golden Gophers Basketball 2026-27 Season Preview

That should give Medved some confidence coming into the 2026-27 season. Getting Jalen Crocker-Johnson to hang around was quite possibly the most important move of the offseason, even when Minnesota once again brought in a massive new group of talent. Despite losing a nearly 20-point-per-game scorer in Cade Tyson, Minnesota has some real talent to work with this coming season.

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Let’s dig a little deeper into the 2026-27 Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Mar 11, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach Niko Medved gestures to his team against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights during the first half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images

Roster Make-Up

Crocker-Johnson isn’t the only key returner for the Gophers, as both Isaac Asuma and Bobby Durkin are back in the Gopher uniform. Asuma started all 33 games last season as a sophomore, giving Coach Medved a steady lead guard heading into the new season. As for Durkin, he has a chance to take that next step as a senior, after averaging 10 points per game last season. Minnesota was able to grab a couple of national champions from the transfer portal, as Malick Kordel and Winters Grady come over from defending national Champion Michigan.

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Kordel is a big-body center at 7-foot-2, and certainly will be right in the rotation for the Gophers. As for Grady, he was a highly touted recruit out of high school, and now gets a chance to fully showcase what he can do.

The headliner from the Gophers’ three-man freshman class is small forward Nolen Anderson, who comes in ranked 130th in the class. The pair of Michigan transfers weren’t the only major adds, as Medved sured up his backcourt with guard transfers from North Carolina and…

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Publish date : 2026-09-05 09:26:00

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