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Minnesota Basketball 2025-26 Preview: Medved More Than Ready to Lead Gophers

Originally posted on Last Word On Sports | By Kaleb Kraus | Last updated Aug 18, 2025 8:59 AM ET

Minnesota basketball finds itself entering a new era in Minneapolis. Despite trying his best, former Gopher player Ben Johnson failed to get Minnesota into contention during his four seasons. Now the Niko Medved era begins in 2025-26. Medved brings plenty of coaching experience, from his time at Furman, Drake, and most recently, Colorado State. Medved has plenty of momentum after leading CSU to the second round in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Now, he will try to make things right for Minnesota in the Big Ten. The Minnesota native certainly appears more than ready to lead the Gophers. It will be interesting to see what the Gophers can do, as one of the four teams in the Big Ten with a new coach.

Without further delay, let’s take a closer look at what to expect from Minnesota basketball in 2025-26.

Minnesota Basketball 2025-26 Preview: Medved More Than Ready to Lead Gophers

Rebuilt Roster

Minnesota finds itself with a completely new roster after the departures of 13 players from 2024-25. Medved made some noise in the transfer portal as he brought in some players from a vast background of former schools. It’s headlined by the likes of Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, who follows Niko from Colorado State. He isn’t alone, as Minnesota landed a strong point guard in Chansey Willis Jr from Western Michigan. An impressive late add in June was Cade Tyson, who transfers in from North Carolina.

Langston Reynolds (Northern Colorado) and BJ Omot (California) bring major experience in college basketball. The Gophers also hope San Jose State transfer Robert Vaihola can give them a massive post presence in the very physical Big Ten. At 6’8″ and 260 pounds, Vaihola certainly fills a massive need for the Gophers. They have to make up for the graduation of Dawson Garcia, who was a big-time scorer and rebounder for Minnesota basketball for years.

The Gophers were able to bring in a Philly product shooting guard from the high school ranks, as Kai Shinholster will try to make a mark in the rotation as a freshman. Keeping Isaac Asuma in town wasn’t a bad move either, as he returns for his sophomore season.

There were plenty of other additions, along with one other returning walk-on.

Here’s how it looks:

*testing* *testing*#TeamTogether pic.twitter.com/WAOBCSFTLN

— Minnesota Men's Basketball (@GopherMBB) August 6, 2025

Schedule Outlook

Minnesota will test itself well against a pair of teams from the Summit League, as they have exhibition games scheduled against both North Dakota State and North Dakota. That should be a nice tune-up before the Gophers embark on their 2025-26 campaign. The non-conference schedule features plenty of home games, but they also have a road trip to play at Missouri, plus a trip to California for the Acrisure Invitational, where they play Stanford, and then the winner of Saint Louis and Santa Clara.

Gopher fans will also get to have a trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to watch Minnesota take on the San Francisco Dons in a neutral-site matchup. Coach Medved doesn’t appear to be frightened by his first year in the non-conference.

The Big Ten slate for Minnesota basketball will have its challenges with home and away matchups with Indiana, Northwestern, and Wisconsin. Defending Big Ten Champs Michigan State will visit the Barn, as will UCLA, USC, Maryland, Rutgers, Nebraska, and Iowa. As for the road, Minnesota has its work cut out for it, having to travel to Ohio State, Oregon, and Washington. They also have a back-to-back road game stretch at Purdue and Michigan in late January. That’s followed up with their home matchups with the Bruins and Spartans. That four-game stretch certainly will make or break the Gophers.

What to Expect for the Gophers?

So, what can we expect from Minnesota basketball in year one of the Medved era? I expect them to be physical, and if they can get their crowd rocking at the Barn, that will make things interesting, with so many opportunities to win at home. Minnesota hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2019. I’m not saying they get there this season, but I expect Niko to have the Gophers ready to challenge everyone on their schedule.

This article first appeared on Last Word On Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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