The Gophers, who return seniors Garcia, Mike Mitchell Jr. and Parker Fox, had banked on the 2023 recruiting class also being a big part of the program’s major turnaround this season, including sophomore Kadyn Betts, Joshua Ola-Joseph and Braeden Carrington.

“Pharrel was going to be a junior and probably was going to be pretty good,” Johnson said. “Josh was going to be a junior. Braeden was going to be a junior. We can’t replace [that] with freshmen and sophomores.”

Johnson got older with seniors Frank Mitchell (6-8, 260 pounds), Trey Edmonds (6-10, 250) and Division II transfer Lincoln Meister (6-9, 240) to replace Payne’s physical inside presence. They signed Minneapolis native Lu’Cye Patterson to replace Hawkins’ playmaking ability. They added seniors Femi Odukale, Brennan Rigsby, Tyler Cochran and Caleb Williams to be versatile perimeter options offensively and defensively.

It didn’t come together the way the Gophers expected, but Johnson said he feels like the group could take the next step for the program after a 10-win improvement last season.

“Dawson’s a really good player you can put pieces around,” Johnson said. “You’ve got an older, urgent group that in seven, eight months, this thing is done. So, when I tell them every day matters and every day is one less day, that’s real life. You’re hoping that translates to on-the-court productivity.”