Shooter: Don’t be surprised if former Orono star Nolan Groves ends up with the Gophers for his sophomore season.

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Tucker32 said:
Shinholster is going to be a good player. He's athletic. He's only a freshman - no reason to give up on him. He could excel with Niko, who had quite a few players who weren't much their freshman year and were very good by their junior and senior years. Also, Turner is essentially being redshirted - they did that early in the year. I don't think that signals moving on from him, it's developing him.
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If Turner, Shinholster and Stephens all return, they may not have any open scholarships to add in the portal. I'd be pretty surprised if Turner or Stephens are back and I think it's 50/50 on Shinholster.
 

howeda7 said:
If Turner, Shinholster and Stephens all return, they may not have any open scholarships to add in the portal. I'd be pretty surprised if Turner or Stephens are back and I think it's 50/50 on Shinholster.
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IMO, you have to keep Shinholster. The deciding factor for me is that he gets after it on defense.
 

Bad Gopher said:
IMO, you have to keep Shinholster. The deciding factor for me is that he gets after it on defense.
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Agreed he just needs to stronger, no reason he can't be another Dupree McBreyer type as an upperclassmen, with that said I am sure a veteran guard will come in and he's going to have to earn his time next year
 

Tucker32 said:
Shinholster is going to be a good player. He's athletic. He's only a freshman - no reason to give up on him. He could excel with Niko, who had quite a few players who weren't much their freshman year and were very good by their junior and senior years. Also, Turner is essentially being redshirted - they did that early in the year. I don't think that signals moving on from him, it's developing him.
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Always bugs me when people write off True Freshman just because they don't pop right away. Massive jump from high school to the Big Ten. Some guys can handle it, most need some time to make the adjustment.

Shinholster has shown some flashes of being a quality piece of the rotation and will hopefully be back next season.
 

howeda7 said:
If Turner, Shinholster and Stephens all return, they may not have any open scholarships to add in the portal. I'd be pretty surprised if Turner or Stephens are back and I think it's 50/50 on Shinholster.
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Out of curiosity why do you think it is 50/50 on Shinholster returning? I think Niko will try to keep him around as he has shown some ability in the minutes he has been forced to play due to all the injuries.

Stephens and Turner would be two that would seem likely to not be back. If Turner is back he has to spend the off season getting into better shape to compete in the Big Ten.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Out of curiosity why do you think it is 50/50 on Shinholster returning? I think Niko will try to keep him around as he has shown some ability in the minutes he has been forced to play due to all the injuries.

Stephens and Turner would be two that would seem likely to not be back. If Turner is back he has to spend the off season getting into better shape to compete in the Big Ten.
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Despite having only 6/7 guys he's not playing much. Against Washington he played 7 minutes and Max Gizzi played 11. I see him being buried pretty deep on the bench next year if he returns and he will probably have offers to go to a smaller school and play more. Perhaps even in his hometown at Temple or Duquesne etc.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Out of curiosity why do you think it is 50/50 on Shinholster returning? I think Niko will try to keep him around as he has shown some ability in the minutes he has been forced to play due to all the injuries.

Stephens and Turner would be two that would seem likely to not be back. If Turner is back he has to spend the off season getting into better shape to compete in the Big Ten.
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Because his whole shtick is calling things early. It used to be just games (still is, Oregon two nights ago). But it's always worst case scenario with every player, too, at the first sign of any kind of trouble.
 

howeda7 said:
Despite having only 6/7 guys he's not playing much. Against Washington he played 7 minutes and Max Gizzi played 11. I see him being buried pretty deep on the bench next year if he returns and he will probably have offers to go to a smaller school and play more. Perhaps even in his hometown at Temple or Duquesne etc.
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He is a true freshman averaging over 10 minutes a game in the Big Ten as opposed to redshirting this year. He may or may not move on next year but would not rule him out as being a part of the rotation.
 

howeda7 said:
Despite having only 6/7 guys he's not playing much. Against Washington he played 7 minutes and Max Gizzi played 11. I see him being buried pretty deep on the bench next year if he returns and he will probably have offers to go to a smaller school and play more. Perhaps even in his hometown at Temple or Duquesne etc.
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6/7
 






howeda7 said:
Despite having only 6/7 guys he's not playing much. Against Washington he played 7 minutes and Max Gizzi played 11. I see him being buried pretty deep on the bench next year if he returns and he will probably have offers to go to a smaller school and play more. Perhaps even in his hometown at Temple or Duquesne etc.
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His hometown is Philadelphia AND Pittsburgh? :)

Maybe you meant Drexel?
 






howeda7 said:
Ah. I thought it was Philly.
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No worries! I went to college in Philly, so I am very familiar with the Division 1 teams there. Back when I was there most of the Big 5 City Series games were played at our arena (The Palestra) which was awesome!
 

Hasn't played since Feb 21st, looks like he's out of the rotation. Should we pick him up or let him develop more at St.Thomas before we bring him back to the big leagues?
 


The Deliberate Stranger said:
Doubt Stephens and Turner are back, I'll be curious about Omot as well and what happens there. If Evans portals here from UNC, does Willis stick around? Willis, Evans and Asuma are all pretty similar plus Tomes behind them
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That's fine Tomes can wait his turn or be a nice 8th man scorer off the bench.
 

The Deliberate Stranger said:
Doubt Stephens and Turner are back, I'll be curious about Omot as well and what happens there. If Evans portals here from UNC, does Willis stick around? Willis, Evans and Asuma are all pretty similar plus Tomes behind them
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So hard to say what's going to happen in college bb during off season. Will Niko want the project Turner on the roster, hoping he can pull a Mo Walker body transformation? Turner has good hands and is a terrific rebounder.
Kyan Evans imo has a low chance of transferring to MN from NC, despite maybe wanting out bec of his slide from starter to deeper bench guy. Would we take him? He is not physical at all, gets pushed off defenders and screens. His stock went way up in first NCAA game last year, but his season stats weren't as terrific.
Niko needs shooters, and Stephens can shoot, so will he stay? Up to Niko and the money to go around.
Will Willis stay? Seems like he's all-in, but who knows. Hard to tell if he's that good from low data set.
I can't see JCJ or Durkin leaving the program, but ?
Omot has been a journeyman, so who knows if Niko wants to risk money to oft-injured, unknown commodity at Big Ten level..
Guess we'll know soon enough during short portal period.
 

SplitDecision said:
So hard to say what's going to happen in college bb during off season. Will Niko want the project Turner on the roster, hoping he can pull a Mo Walker body transformation? Turner has good hands and is a terrific rebounder.
Kyan Evans imo has a low chance of transferring to MN from NC, despite maybe wanting out bec of his slide from starter to deeper bench guy. Would we take him? He is not physical at all, gets pushed off defenders and screens. His stock went way up in first NCAA game last year, but his season stats weren't as terrific.
Niko needs shooters, and Stephens can shoot, so will he stay? Up to Niko and the money to go around.
Will Willis stay? Seems like he's all-in, but who knows. Hard to tell if he's that good from low data set.
I can't see JCJ or Durkin leaving the program, but ?
Omot has been a journeyman, so who knows if Niko wants to risk money to oft-injured, unknown commodity at Big Ten level..
Guess we'll know soon enough during short portal period.
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Not from what I've seen in his limited action this year
 

Who has intel on why Turner can’t get five minutes a game when half the team is out. Even if he isn’t in the best condition he should be able to give the starters a couple minutes rest. He does have mid major experience and some success. It must be something else. Medical issues they won’t talk about? A mystery!
 


I'd expect significant change over each year until the NCAA finds some controls/rules. Asuma, Grove, Durkin are the guys I 100% expect back. They rest due to injuries and lack of experience are all up in the air. Crocker-Johnson has a chance to chase $$, so we will see on that one.
 

SplitDecision said:
Kyan Evans imo has a low chance of transferring to MN from NC, despite maybe wanting out bec of his slide from starter to deeper bench guy. Would we take him? He is not physical at all, gets pushed off defenders and screens. His stock went way up in first NCAA game last year, but his season stats weren't as terrific.
Niko needs shooters, and Stephens can shoot, so will he stay? Up to Niko and the money to go around.
Will Willis stay? Seems like he's all-in, but who knows. Hard to tell if he's that good from low data set.
I can't see JCJ or Durkin leaving the program, but ?
Omot has been a journeyman, so who knows if Niko wants to risk money to oft-injured, unknown commodity at Big Ten level..
Guess we'll know soon enough during short portal period.
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Yes, this is in the MW conference, but in 24/25 he played 28mpg, shot 44% on 3's at 4.4 attempts/game, 47% FG, 85% FT, eFG% of 61%.

His stock blew up during the NCAA's, but to downplay his 24/25 season is disingenuous. If he could come close to replicating those numbers in the B1G, you'd take it in a heartbeat. I would imagine any interest by Niko would be dependent on who on the roster is coming back.

Screenshot 2026-03-05 123823.png
 

forever a gopher said:
Yes, this is in the MW conference, but in 24/25 he played 28mpg, shot 44% on 3's at 4.4 attempts/game, 47% FG, 85% FT, eFG% of 61%.

His stock blew up during the NCAA's, but to downplay his 24/25 season is disingenuous. If he could come close to replicating those numbers in the B1G, you'd take it in a heartbeat. I would imagine any interest by Niko would be dependent on who on the roster is coming back.

View attachment 42955
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I trust Niko to get way more out of him than Huebert Davis, just like his is with Tyson.
 

Bobek said:
Who has intel on why Turner can’t get five minutes a game when half the team is out. Even if he isn’t in the best condition he should be able to give the starters a couple minutes rest. He does have mid major experience and some success. It must be something else. Medical issues they won’t talk about? A mystery!
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It’s been noted in several threads that he has an injury of some sort. Niko even alluded to it somewhere in one of his pressers.
 



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