After seeing growth from young players last season, the Gophers have an opportunity to continue building upon a promising 2018 campaign. In future seasons, Minnesota will start to reap the benefits associated with immediately thrusting underclassmen into key roles. The preliminary returns will likely begin this year and extend into 2020.
The Gophers have the fourth-most returning offensive production (90%) in the country, according to Bill Connelly’s data. On the other side of the ball, 66% of their total defensive production is returning, which ranks 61st nationally. Overall, Minnesota ranks tenth nationally with 78 percent of its total production remaining in Dinkytown, per Connelly’s data.