Report: Gophers to participate in early-season tournament

The Gophers will join Wake Forest and Florida in an early-season tournament in November.

Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson reacts to a play against Minnesota during the first half of Second / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Gophers men’s basketball team will be one of the headliners of an early-season tournament in Orlando, according to a report from CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. 

NEWS: Florida, Minnesota, and Wake Forest will headline an early season tournament in Orlando, according to multiple sources.

The fourth team in the event is currently TBD.https://t.co/gG5Ar2B6ge

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 18, 2024

Details are few and far between. It’ll be a four-team tournament that will also include Florida and Wake Forest. The fourth team is still yet to be determined. There are also not yet any official dates or times for the tournament, but it’s expected to be held in mid-November in Orlando.

The Gophers are coming off a season in which they showed improvement with a 19-15 record, including a 9-11 mark in Big Ten Conference play. They looked to be a team that would make even more strides in 2024, but they’ve lost a number of key contributors to the transfer portal. 

That included starting center Pharrel Payne, starting point guard Elijah Hawkins and starting wing Cam Christie, a standout freshman last season who’s also testing his stock in the NBA draft process.

But they have made a number additions via the transfer portal, as well, and they return last season’s leading scorer, Dawson Garcia, as well as starting shooting guard Mike Mitchell Jr. It'll still be a new-look roster, however, and it'll be interesting to see how coach Ben Johnson pieces things together.

The early-season tourney should be a good chance to build chemistry and face strong competition.