Niko Medved has nine players on his roster that appear to have eligibility for the 2026-2027 season. The men’s college basketball transfer portal opens for 15 days beginning on April 7 so the Golden Gophers coach will know a lot more by the end of next month, but he told Sports Headliners he believes a “large number of them (players)” will return.
Starters Isaac Asuma (guard), Bobby Durkin (forward) and Grayson Grove (center) have remaining eligibility. Center Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, who was a starter until a foot injury sidelined him in February and sixth man Kai Shinholster (guard) have future eligibility, too.
Projected starters earlier this season Chansey Willis (guard) and Robert Vaihola (center) are candidates to receive medical redshirts. Others on the roster with apparent future eligibility are Max Lorenson (guard) and Chance Stephens (guard).
Medved added that while in this transfer happy era of college basketball there are no guarantees he “feels good” about the process as the window nears for the 2026 portal. He made that comment after Nehemiah Turner (center) transferred but prior to the more recent transfer out of the program by B.J. Omot (forward).
Medved said none of the players who were sidelined with injuries, including Crocker-Johnson, will participate in the College Basketball Crown tournament in Las Vegas starting April 1. The Gophers are part of an eight-team field with their opening quarterfinal game in the single elimination tourney scheduled against Baylor of the Big 12.
The Gophers haven’t played a game since their Big Ten Tournament loss to Rutgers on March 11. In the days since Minnesota players had about a week off. The rest period was one of the reasons Medved and his players opted for the Crown tournament. The Gophers have been playing with a six-man rotation that Medved said will continue in the tourney.
The players were also attracted to the tournament because of potential NIL money. The two winners in the semifinals (April 4) are guaranteed a pool of $50,000. The winning team in the April 5 championship games divides up $300,000 while the loser receives $100,000.
Medved said it’s “cool” that his players have an opportunity to earn money in the postseason. He also likes that the tournament is all in one location, expenses are covered by the tourney and there is an association with FOX Sports, which is a Big Ten partner.
Now in its second year after being founded by FOX Sports and AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group), the 2026 field consists of Minnesota and Rutgers from the Big Ten, Baylor, Colorado and West Virginia from the Big 12, Creighton from the Big East, Stanford from the ACC and Oklahoma from the SEC.
The Gophers and Baylor have never played against each other. Their game April 1 will be televised starting at 9:30 p.m. CDT.
Hired about a year ago, Medved and his staff scrambled to put a roster together and then faced a discouraging number of injuries that thinned out the talent even more. There was plenty of adversity, including the experience of a losing season (8-12 in the Big Ten and 15-17 overall). Medved and the players took a positive approach to the adversity, and the season included three upsets at Williams Arena over top 25 teams.
“The players deserve a ton of credit for staying with it,” Medved said. “Every time we got knocked down…they just bounced right back. You know it’s really cool. They set a great standard for…the way we want our culture and our program to look like moving forward.”
Worth Noting
Illinois freshman All-American guard Keaton Wagler was an under the radar talent for awhile when in high school in the Kansas City area. When Medved was head coach at Colorado State he said the Rams were recruiting Wagler hard. Medved thought he had a good chance to get him to Colorado State, but he eventually attracted more attention from colleges including Illinois. “…I thought he would be really good,” Medved said. “I don’t know that anyone, even Illinois included, thought he would be this good, this early. Kudos to him.’’
The women Gophers, under third year coach Dawn Plitzuweit, are setting a foundation for increased box office attendance and fan following. The Gophers are headed to the Sacramento Regional and a Sweet 16 game Friday night against UCLA. They earned their first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2005 with a dramatic home win Sunday on a last second shot by Amaya Battle in the fourth quarter.
The Gophers might not have won the 65 -63 game without the raucous support of the fans. Playing first and second round NCAA Tournament games at Williams Arena, the Gophers had announced attendances of 10,355 and 10,763 (arena capacity 14,625). Those were easily the largest home crowds of the season and brought the average for 18 home games to 4,792.
Last year home attendance averaged 3,819. This season and last the Gophers sold in the range of 2,300 to 2,600 public season tickets so there is a lot of potential for growth. With some key returnees and top 40 recruits, the Gophers figure to be winners again next season. Plitzuweit has won everywhere she has coached, including her four previous head jobs.
Gophers football historians noted the recent passing of Minneapolis native Tom Brown who was the dominant player on Minnesota’s 1960 national championship team. A two-way lineman, he was known as a “rolling boulder” on offense and “rock of Gibraltar” on defense. The All-American finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1960, something no lineman had ever accomplished.