Not a wet blanket, just an observation.
I will stipulate that having a lot of people back is good. But the unanswered question is this - how much do the returning players improve?
If we assume that a SO should be improved over a FR, and a JR should be improved over a SO, then in general, the returning players for the Gophers should show improvement. But - people being human, I suspect that some will improve more than others. And that is hard to quantify until you see them in action.
If Team A has a lot of returning players, but they only improve by 10% - and Team B has fewer returning players, but they all improve by 50%, then Team B could leapfrog Team A.
If all of the returning Gophers improve by a lot, this could be a really fun team. But, if some of the returning players don't show as much improvement, that can change the equation.
In theory, a team could have all 11 starters back - but if they sucked last year, and they still suck this year, is experience really that big of a deal? In the end, it's about performance and production. I think Fleck has demonstrated that he's not shy about moving a younger player into the lineup in front of an older player, if he thinks the younger player has more talent or more upside. so, I would not be shocked if some of last year's starters turn out not to be starters this year.