Even prior to Colorado State season being over, there were rumors circulating that, not only was Niko Medved bound for Dinkytown, but that multiple Rams players could possibly follow. Two weeks later, 2024-25 starting forward Jaylen Crocker-Johnson — who averaged 9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game for the Rams last season — has already committed to the MN Gophers.

But the most intriguing former player from Medved’s Colorado State team who’s in the transfer portal with links to the Gophers is sophomore guard Kyan Evans. The 6-2, 175 lb playmaker out of Kansas City, MO averaged 10.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game on an impressive 44.6% shooting from deep.

Kyan Evans to visit Minnesota Gophers

Late Thursday night, on a short scoops session for KSTP, local insider Darren Wolfson reported the latest and greatest update on Minnesota’s pursuit of Evans. According to his report, Kyan will be on campus next week when the transfer portal dead period is over (April 7).

“The Gophers continue to pursue point guard Kyan Evans hard. He will visit [Minnesota] after this week-long dead period. He played for Niko Medved at Colorado State.”

Darren Wolfson – Channel 5 Eyewitness News (KSTP)

Kyan Evans represents the exact type of guard talent that Niko Medved wants to build his early Golden Gophers program around. He’s a young kid who has two years of his four-year eligibility remaining and has supposedly drawn interest other power four schools.

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But outside of Minnesota and Missouri, there isn’t a lot of steam out there publicly on who may be interested. It’s also possible that he’s pretty much made up his mind… Without a doubt, this is really good news for the new Minnesota Gophers head coach. Could Niko have another transfer portal commitment up his sleeve next week. At this point, it sure seems like it.

Colorado State Kyan Evans steps up big with 23 pts giving the rams their 11th straight win 🔥 pic.twitter.com/aL0i7NC4tZ

— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) March 21, 2025

Being it is only April 1, we are still very early in the early offseason transfer portal cycle. At this point, it would be impossible for Medved to have any idea how much total NIL and revenue sharing money they’ll have for a roster they are trying to build now. In other words, there are a lot of moving parts.

In the end, Niko has already proven he knows what he is doing, and he had less resources to work with at Colorado State. I have little doubt that next year’s Golden Gophers men’s basketball team will be more talented and finish with a higher ranking in the Big Ten than the 15-win squad Ben Johnson put on the floor for his grand finale season.

Minnesota Gophers receive commitment from Colorado State stretch big

On Tuesday afternoon, Niko Medved’s roster building began with his first-ever reported transfer portal commitment as head coach of his alma mater, the University of Minnesota. And fittingly, according to Travis Branham (247Sports), it’s Colorado State power forward, Jaylen Crocker-Johnson.

Last season was Crocker-Johnson’s first as a Ram. He spent his freshman year at Little Rock, where he won Ohio Valley Freshman of the Year in 2023-24. He has two years of college eligibility remaining, for what that is worth.

NEWS: Colorado State sophomore Jaylen Corcker-Johnson has entered the portal and will follow Niko Medved to Minnesota, his agency ProMondo Sports tells @247Sports.

Averaged 9.0 PPG, 4.4 RPG this season and was named the 2023-24 Ohio Valley Freshman of the Year.… pic.twitter.com/orf2OlWszX

— Travis Branham (@TravisBranham_) April 1, 2025

As many pontificated when news broke earlier Tuesday that he was transferring, Crocker-Johnson set his status to “Do Not Contact”, when he entered the portal because he had a clear plan to follow Medved to Dinkytown. Clearly, the 6’8″ 230 lb stretch big out of San Antonio, TX enjoyed his short time with the new Gophers head coach last season, to follow him up to Minnesota for 2025-26.

What does Jaylen Crocker-Johnson bring to Medved’s Gophers?

In 2024-25 with Colorado State, Jaylen Crocker-Johnson scored 9.0 points on 49% from the field and 35% from deep (21.5 MPG). He also added 4.4 rebounds and nearly 1 block per game. After coming off the bench for seven of the Rams first 13 games last season, the sophomore transfer was inserted into the starting lineup for good.

A quick look at his game logs from last season tell you that, while Crocker-Johnson can disappear in and out of the scoring column, depending on the night, he is always contributing in the rebound column, and on defense. This is a very good start for Medved’s build.

Jaylen Crocker-Johnson – Minnesota transfer

The 6'8 forward averaged 9.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks in 21.5 minutes per game during his sophomore season at Colorado State

Crocker-Johnson showed a good rim protection ability while also being efficient in the post pic.twitter.com/vRpKrTLMV0

— Joe Jackson (@joejacksonCBB) April 1, 2025

Now, the focus shifts to the next addition for the Minnesota Gophers 2025-26 men’s basketball team, which now has three players on it, if we include Jaylen Crocker-Johnson. There have been rumors surrounding other 2024-25 Colorado State players, though.

The headliner of that group is dynamic sophomore guard Kyan Evans, who started all 36 Rams games last season and averaged 10.6 points per game and 44% from deep. Of course, there’s a ton of talent out there with Minnesota ties, and the University of Minnesota has expressed a much greater desire to build up men’s basketball than anytime in the recent past.

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So with that as a backdrop, we’ll see what the new head coach can put together over the next 3-5 months. But undoubtedly, we will see more talent added much sooner than that.