The Gophers men's basketball team is a bit more than a week away from opening summer practice, but most of the players will be arriving this weekend.
Nine newcomers were added to first-year coach Ben Johnson's roster for the 2021-22 season, including transfers Jamison Battle, Luke Loewe, E.J. Stephens, Sean Sutherlin, Parker Fox, and Payton Willis, and freshman Treyton Thompson coming to campus Sunday.
The University of Minnesota's summer school session begins on Monday.
"Can't wait to get started," Stephens, a senior guard from Lafayette, said about settling in before the official start of practice on June 14. "We'll be ready to rock n' roll."
As with many of his future teammates, Thompson's looking forward to building an in-person relationship with Johnson and the new Gophers coaching staff. Their interaction has been strictly through video conference calls.
"I'm extremely excited," Thompson, a 6-11 former Alexandria standout, said. "I feel really good about it and confident. I know I'm in really good hands. I'm just ready to get to work."
One of the biggest questions this offseason has been how the Gophers plan to still address their frontcourt depth needs, especially after losing starters Liam Robbins (Vanderbilt) and Brandon Johnson (DePaul) to the transfer portal.
Fox, a 6-8 Division II All-American, is out for up to six months after knee surgery. So, that means Thompson, returning junior forward Isaiah Ihnen and Stephen F. Austin graduate transfer Charlie Daniels are the only post players available.