Why Transfer Portal Patience Could Pay Off For Niko Medved and the Gophers

The transfer portal officially opened six days ago on Tuesday, April 7, and Minnesota is still without its first signing. There's zero reason to panic, and it could actually pay off in the long run. Here's why.

The most important rule in judging a team's success in the transfer portal is to realize that things can change dramatically from year to year. This year's cycle officially opened at a later date, and it will stay open for two weeks, which is a change from last offseason. The biggest change every year appears to be the market for players. Whatever the perceived going rate for a certain level of talent seems to only go up every offseason.

Minnesota's official NIL budget has been rumored, and it's fair to say they're competitive, but still near the bottom of the Big Ten in terms of spending. They did a tremendous job retaining top players such as Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, Isaac Asuma, Bobby Durkin and Grayson Grove, but they still have to upgrade the roster.

"The one thing I've said since Day 1 when I got the job is we need talent, but the reason we were able to have some success this year, despite all the injuries, was because we had the right types of guys," Niko Medved said earlier this offseason. "So, we also have to identify the right types of guys that we really want to be in our program. I think now, hopefully having a core of returners that have been here, I think that just makes that easier."

It's easy to panic when you see teams like Texas and Louisville make big splashes early, or a player like Texas Tech's Jaylen Petty commit to UCLA after it was reported that Minnesota showed interest. When there's essentially zero salary cap or maximum contracts, the market tends to get reset every cycle. The Gophers likely aren't operating with the same budget as those programs, so they have to be more picky.

Agents and representation have a lot of bargaining power earlier in the process when there's very little to base things on. When roster spots begin to fill up, that bargaining power shifts more towards the teams. A great example of this is when the Gophers officially signed Cade Tyson on June 1 last offseason. At that point in the process, it was going to be hard for him to find another opportunity at a Power Conference school like the one he had at Minnesota.

For the wait-and-see approach to work, you obviously still have to close the deal on your top targets. Two players, Minnesota continues to be linked to are North Carolina guard Kyan Evans and Texas Tech guard Nolan Groves. Things have been quiet about other potential targets, but that could be by design.