The 6-6, 205-pound New York product can play four positions. He’s a strong finisher and proven scorer at the power conference level. He averaged double figures at Seton Hall and Pittsburgh earlier in his career.
Johnson compared Odukale’s all-around skill set to current Dallas Mavericks forward Naji Marshall, who was an All-Big East first team performer when Johnson coached on Xavier’s staff in 2019-20.
Transfers should fill most of their holes. That means the Gophers might not need to force Isaac Asuma and Grayson Grove to play heavy minutes as early as freshmen did in past years.
Freshmen started a combined 72 games the last two years for the Gophers, including Christie’s 26 games last season in the backcourt.
Asuma, a four-star recruit from Cherry, has the basketball IQ and defensive prowess to possibly crack the rotation at point guard before Big Ten play. Grove, a 6-9, 230-pound Alexandria native, has the build to bang inside right now, but he also has the opportunity to develop slowly behind several upperclassmen.
