Parker Fox ‘Leaning Toward’ Leaving

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Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball team will get another chance to extend their season on Sunday afternoon when they play their 2nd round game of the NIT Tournament vs the Indiana State Sycamores.

It’s a game that, win or lose, head coach Ben Johnson said will be bitter sweet. In fact, every win after the Big Ten Tournament ended has felt that way, including the moment they accepted their NIT invite, which only came because so many schools before them turned it down.

Ben Johnson balancing NIT Tournament and Transfer Portal

Most other teams that turned down their invite did so in order to get a headstart on recruiting the transfer portal, which is already full of talented players actively searching for a new home. Johnson told Andy Greder (Pioneer Press) in a recent interview that he’s been actively recruiting the transfer portal while simultaneously trying to focus on coaching the Gophers to NIT victories, a balance he admitted is tough.

“The hardest part about it is the longer you play, the longer you don’t know what your roster is going to look like, so you are (looking) in the portal, but you are kind of in the portal guessing to a certain extent, unless you know you have open scholarships already.“

Ben Johnson on balancing NIT and Transfer Portal (via Pioneer Press)

But it sounds like Ben may have hinted to Greder, off the record, of one player he is expecting not to be on roster next season, and that is super senior and Mahtomedi native, Parker Fox, who is playing the 2023-24 season at 24-years-old.

Parker Fox ‘leaning toward’ leaving Minnesota Gophers

Near the bottom of Andy’s article Saturday at TwinCities.com, he notes that Elijah Hawkins has already committed to staying in Dinkytown next season, but that Fox is “leaning toward” not using his final year of eligibility.

Gophers point guard Elijah Hawkins told the Star Tribune last week that he will be returning next season. Key substitute forward Parker Fox appears to be leaning toward not using his seventh year of eligibility next season.

Other than those two players, the Gophers’ roster is more to-be-determined until their season comes to an end.

Andy Greder – Pioneer Press

If Fox does indeed move on from his life as a Minnesota Gophers basketball player, it will certainly hurt this team. Parker is no longer the phenom athlete he was prior to multiple knee surgeries that stunted his rise as a college basketball player, but he is the emotional motor the Gophers can always look to whenever they need a jump start.

Related: Cam Christie Doesn’t Appear Interested in Transfer Portal but NBA Draft is a Real Threat to Gophers

Not only that, but he’s adapted his game in a way that makes him a sneaky important part of their gameplan off the bench. He’s proven himself as much more than a dude who likes to jump over people on his way to the rim. Fox is has morphed himself to a heady player who, even while mostly glued to the floor, is going to test an opponent’s weaknesses and lean into them wherever possible. And hey, he can still get up a little bit.

If Fox has indeed informed Ben of his offseason exit plans, I appreciate him doing it as early as possible, so the program can use that knowledge in the transfer portal, even before their season ends.

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