Good news on Dawson Garcia highlights start of Gophers men’s basketball practice

Dawson Garcia dunking again. That brought the biggest smile to Gophers men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson’s face as practice officially started Monday. The All-Big Ten senior forward is fully recovered from summer foot surgery.

The Gophers were hit hard by transfer portal departures, but Johnson’s also one of only a handful of Big Ten coaches with an all-conference player back from last season. Garcia’s the Big Ten’s top returning scorer.

Garcia is joined by senior guard Mike Mitchell Jr., senior forward Parker Fox and sophomore forward Kadyn Betts as the only returning players from the Gophers’ 19-win NIT team.

With nine scholarship newcomers, the Gophers will have to figure out how the pieces fit together before their Nov. 6 opener against Oral Roberts.

Here are five things to know about the Gophers with practice starting for the 2024-25 season:

The Gophers are one of the oldest teams in college basketball this season with nine seniors, including six guards and Fox entering his eighth year.

Mitchell, who led the team, shooting 39.9% from three-point range last year, is the only guard on the roster returning. His starting backcourt teammate Elijah Hawkins led the Big Ten in assists last season, but he transferred to Texas Tech.

Mitchell knows the Gophers system and has point guard skills, but he’ll likely get help with floor leadership duties from Charlotte transfer Lu’Cye Patterson from Minneapolis.

New Mexico State’s Femi Odukale, Oregon’s Brennan Rigsby, Toledo’s Tyler Cochran and Division III Macalester’s Caleb Williams all bring scoring and athleticism to the team, but their roles will need to be defined more in practices this fall.

Four years ago, Garcia was one of two McDonald’s All-Americans from Minnesota with current NBA guard Jalen Suggs, so the potential was there for him be among the nation’s best in college.

The 6-11 Prior Lake product has the versatility to play on the wing, but he was a candidate last season for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award given to the nation’s top center.

Texas San Antonio transfer Trey Edmonds and Canisius transfer Frank Mitchell bring physicality, rebounding and defensive toughness to Minnesota’s post play, taking a load off Garcia to be the main inside presence.

Don’t be surprised if Garcia puts up even bigger scoring numbers, though, than his 17.6 points per game last season, especially since last season’s starting frontcourt mate Pharrel Payne transferred to Texas A&M.

Like Patterson, Odukale has the chance to possibly make the biggest scoring impact from the newcomers.

The 6-6, 205-pound New York product can play four positions. He’s a strong finisher and proven scorer at the power conference level. He averaged double figures at Seton Hall and Pittsburgh earlier in his career.

Odukale’s size on the perimeter is a welcome sight after the Gophers watched All-Big Ten freshman guard Cam Christie get selected in the NBA draft.

Johnson compared Odukale’s all-around skill set to current Dallas Mavericks forward Naji Marshall, who was an All-Big East first team performer when Johnson coached on Xavier’s staff in 2019-20.

Transfers should fill most of their holes. That means the Gophers might not need to force Isaac Asuma and Grayson Grove to play heavy minutes as early as freshmen did in past years.

Freshmen started a combined 72 games the last two years for the Gophers, including Christie’s 26 games last season in the backcourt.

Asuma, a four-star recruit from Cherry, has the basketball IQ and defensive prowess to possibly crack the rotation at point guard before Big Ten play. Grove, a 6-9, 230-pound Alexandria native, has the build to bang inside right now, but he also has the opportunity to develop slowly behind several upperclassmen.

The Gophers will play two exhibition games in front of fans for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

A year ago, the Gophers had a closed scrimmage in October at Colorado State before playing Macalester at home as their only exhibition at Williams Arena. No secret scrimmages this year, though.

Johnson decided it was best for his newcomer-laden team to play in front of the home crowd twice before this season. The Gophers play Oct. 19 vs. Bemidji State and Oct. 29 vs. Hamline as warm-ups.