Minnesota Basketball: Ben Johnson adds 2 transfers

Ben Johnson continues to fill out his roster for the 2021-22 season and last week he added two more transfers. With all but 1 from last year’s roster choosing to take advantage of the transfer portal, Johnson has had plenty of scholarships and playing time available to offer other kids. The following two names are your most recent additions

PF - Charlie Daniels

Daniels comes to the Gophers from Stephen F Austin. He is a 6’9”, 230 lb big man who spent the last 2 seasons playing for the Lumberjacks. Both seasons Daniels averaged around 14 minutes per game and 4-5 points per game.

A Florida native, Daniels went to Iowa for 2 seasons of JUCO basketball before heading to SFA. With a bonus season to play, Daniels is going to get 1 year in the Big Ten.

He will bring some much needed size to the roster after so many departures from the front-court. The production at SFA is not going to really impress anyone at the Big Ten level, but his size and experience will be a valuable asset to the program for his single season in a Gopher uniform.

G - Abdoulaye Thiam

Committing later in the week was Abdoulaye Thiam, a JUCO transfer from Indian River State College (which, for the record, does not appear to actually be on or near a river named Indian River). Thiam is an Orlando native, who was a full, academic qualifier out of high school and he played just 1 season at Indian River. Which means he will actually have 4 years to compete for the Gophers (3 regular years plus his Covid year).

Thiam was the 2nd leading scorer on an Indian River team that was very good. The River was ranked in the JUCO D1 top 20 at the end of the regular season, made it to the national tournament and made it to the quarter finals before falling.

The soon-to-be Gopher guard averaged 15 points per game while shooting 48.5% from three. Thiam seems to be brining some real athleticism and shooting ability to the newly constructed roster.

The Roster

By my count, there are now 10 scholarship athletes on the Gopher basketball roster. Though, to be fair, it has been challenging to keep up with all of the changes.

That would leave 3 scholarships available immediately and probably 9 available for next year’s roster. Not all of the remaining three are expected to be used.