Men's College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Minnesota Golden Gophers

The Big 10 will be going through some changes in men’s college basketball up top this season, as household names like Ayo Dosunmu and Luka Garza are off to the NBA. There is still plenty of star power though, as Juwan Howard has brought in an elite recruiting class at Michigan, our guy Trevion Williams is back for his swan song season at Purdue. and even the bottom half of the conference has useful fantasy options sprinkled throughout.

Big 10 slates are a grind, so getting a head start on info about this conference will serve you well in putting you above the rest of the field. Join me on this journey as we preview the Big 10 teams from a DFS perspective.

In this one, Minnesota.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Minnesota Golden Gophers 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 14-15 (6-14 Big 10), 13th in Big 10
Postseason: None

Key Departures | Minnesota Golden Gophers

Marcus Carr (transferred to Texas)
Jamal Mashburn (transferred to New Mexico)
Both Gach (transferred to Utah)
Brandon Johnson (transferred to DePaul)
Tre Williams (transferred to Oregon State)
Gabe Kalscheur (transferred to Iowa State)
Liam Robbins (transferred to Vanderbilt)

Key Additions | Minnesota Golden Gophers

EJ Stephens (transferred from Lafayette)
Payton Willis (transferred from Charleston)
Luke Loewe (transferred from William & Mary)
Jamison Battle (transferred from George Washington)
Sean Sutherlin (transferred from New Hampshire)
Charlie Daniels (transferred from SF Austin)
Parker Fox (D2 transfer)

Returners | Minnesota Golden Gophers

Eric Curry (3.7 PPG/3.1 RPG)
Isaiah Ihnen (2.8 PPG/3.5 RPG)

Minnesota Golden Gophers Outlook for 2021-2022

The Golden Gophers have fired trapped-in-mediocrity coach Richard Pitino and have hired Ben Johnson, an exciting new coach who actually played at Minnesota when Dan Monson was there. They will be going through some growing pains this year obviously as they’ve turned over the entire roster, but somebody has to put up stats, right?

Isaiah Ihnen and Eric Curry are the only two returners that contributed at all last year, but unfortunately Ihnen suffered a season-ending injury in the summer and won’t get to play this year. It’s sad because he was definitely primed for big-time minutes. Eric Curry is back but isn’t much of a threat and was actually going to become an assistant coach before deciding to use his super senior year to help out with depth. He will be a veteran presence and an on the court type of coach. D2 transfer Parker Fox also suffered a serious injury and may be out most of the year as well.

Jamison Battle averaged 17 PPG last year with GW and should be able to shoulder a lot of the scoring load for this oddly constructed Gophers team. He is definitely someone to look at as a high-usage player. Payton Willis played for Minnesota two years ago and returns after a season with Charleston in which he shot over 40% from long range. He will likely be tasked with point guard duties initially.

Luke Loewe can score and also help with PG duties as needed. He was a second team All-CAA selection a year ago. Stephens and Sutherlin round out the key players for this rotation and the most likely to be fantasy relevant early on. Sutherlin is a strong rebounder coming off an injury from last season that cost him the entire year.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams, top 100 players and top 25 impact freshmen for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

Things are going to get ugly for this Minnesota team but it’s at the very beginning of a tear down and rebuild so that is to be expected. Fantasy value will emerge from this team eventually but it’s tough to trust at the beginning of the year. Jamison Battle is the most intriguing player on the team and will likely see a Markus Howard-esque type of shot rate when you consider the rest of this roster is really all role players.