It’s never too early to start looking ahead to next season. Over the coming weeks, we will examine what comes next for each team in the Power 5 conferences and also those outside the Power 5 who could make noise on the national stage. Today: the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Richard Pitino’s name kept getting mentions for head coaching openings even though he wasn’t trying to start trending. From St. John’s to Tennessee then Alabama, the Minnesota coach’s name became part of the candidate speculation despite his statements to the contrary.
Pitino isn’t going anywhere. Entering his third season with Minnesota, he’s actually just getting the chance now to really put his imprint on the program. For the first time in his career (including his one season as head coach at Florida International), he’ll have a roster of players recruited to his system. Redshirt junior forward Charles Buggs is the lone holdover from the Tubby Smith era.
That part is the good news. The challenge for Pitino will be coaching one of the youngest teams in the Big Ten, if not the nation. Minnesota welcomes six freshmen, which will give it 10 underclassmen on its roster. Progress for Minnesota, may not be measured in terms of a NCAA bid especially facing a Big Ten schedule that will again be unforgiving.
The Gophers are well aware of just how unforgiving it was last season. Nine of Minnesota’s 13 losses to conference foes last season came in two-possession games. And that was with an experienced team that had won the 2014 NIT. With the youth movement officially underway, the Gophers should expect a few growing pains this season.
The Gophers lost five seniors from last season, including their top two scorers in guard Andre Hollis and forward Mo Walker. They also lost top assistant coach, Dan McHale, who left to become the head coach at Eastern Kentucky.
It’s a lot to replace in one season. Minnesota’s youngsters are talented enough to lift the program back into the top tier of the conference. That might not be the case for this season, though, as the Gophers probably will see more of the foundation their youth is establishing than the fruits of their labor.
What the immediate future holds:
That’s not to say upperclassmen don’t matter. Leadership was a recurring theme last season when the Gophers went through their struggles in close games. Senior guard Carlos Morris and forward Joey King will have to establish a tone early with so many young players getting acclimated to the system.
The Gophers’ backcourt will likely be the strength of the team. Morris is the team’s leading returning scorer, averaging 11.1 points per game last season. Sophomore Nate Mason could be ready to make the biggest leap forward with an expanded role this season after averaging 9.8 points and shooting 38 percent from 3-point range as a freshman. Mason, however, will be sidelined for eight weeks during the summer recovering from a broken right thumb.
In addition to Morris and Mason, Minnesota signed what could be its backcourt rotation of the future with freshmen Jarvis Johnson, Kevin Dorsey and Dupree McBrayer. Dorsey, a point guard from Port Tobacco, Maryland, is the best equipped of the trio to play immediately. He’ll likely have a chance to compete for a starting spot with the departure of DeAndre Mathieu, who led the team in assists last season. Johnson, from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, was a key get to help establish the program as the destination for homegrown talent.
Sophomore Bakary Konate appeared in 25 games last season and averaged just 2.2 points and 2.1 rebounds in about nine minutes per game as a freshman. Konate will be forced to start with no other experienced centers on the roster. While freshman Jonathan Nwankwo is physically ready to play at 6-foot-10, 245 pounds, his skills are still raw. He’ll likely face more of a typical freshman learning curve and have to be eased into the lineup.
The final commitments of the 2015 class both initially were committed to other schools but were granted their releases after coaching changes. Ahmad Gilbert, a 6-foot-6 small forward, was headed to George Mason, and Jordan Murphy, a 6-foot-7 power forward, initially committed to VCU. Gilbert brings versatility to the lineup as he can guard multiple positions and will add another shooter to the lineup. Murphy is a bit of an undersized power forward, but has a 7-foot-1 wingspan and his athleticism will fit in well to Pitino’s system.
