 Despite the lack of success on the court, the Gophers were able to get Amir Coffey, a highly ranked player from Hopkins to commit to the men's basketball program.Coffey, along with other recruits Eric Curry and Michael Hurt, were able to help lift the Gophers to a 23-8 regular season record in the 2016-2017 season, and a birth to the 2017 NCAA Tournament, where they attained a 5 seed and lost to 12-seed Middle Tennessee State to finish with a 24-10 record.Expectations were high coming into the 2017-2018 season, as they only lost one rotational player, Akeem Springs, from the year before.