Gophers sophomore forward Joshua Ola-Joseph announced his intention to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal Wednesday. The Brooklyn Park, Minn. native started 33 consecutive games, before finding himself out of the rotation this February/March. He averaged 7.4 points and 2.5 rebounds per-game throughout his two-year career, showing flashes of elite athletic potential.
Ola-Joseph was in Ben Johnson’s first full high school recruiting class as head Gophers head coach. 247sports rated him as the No. 222 overall player in the class of 2022 and he held other top offers from Clemson, Texas A&M and Colorado State. He made a name for himself at Osseo High School, before transferring to AZ Compass Prep for his final season of prep basketball. Now with two seasons of collegiate eligibility remaining, he will search for a new home.
What’s Next/Reaction:
It seemed like Ola-Joseph was a player the Ben Johnson and his staff really trusted, starting 33 consecutive games as an underclassmen. Then in late January, Parker Fox and Pharrel Payne’s emergence seemed to completely erase JOJ from the rotation. He didn’t play more than 10 minutes in a single game after January.
The departure seemed mutual, but he certainly still has the tools to be super successful at the high-D1 level, He scored 15+ points five different times with elite athleticism. Ben Johnson ultimately chose different players and I am very curious to see what type of program he ends up at. If Niko Medved remains at Colorado State, that is a fit that could make sense, maybe a St. Thomas to remain in Minnesota or he could look at going back out west in the Arizona area, where he played his final year of high school ball.
His decision to enter the portal, now officially gives Minnesota its first open scholarship to work with. There will be more departures, but nothing is officially yet, but this gives Johnson and his staff some wiggle room. An immediate replacement could be NDSU transfer Andrew Morgan who will be on campus tomorrow on a visit.
Ultimately, I believe in a free-market system and the transfer portal was made for situations like Ola-Joseph’s. Clearly wasn’t in the Gophers’ plans down the stretch of the season and he is way too talented of a player to sit on any bench for that long. Johnson will have every opportunity to replace him and the departure shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.
