Kadyn Betts arrived with the Gophers as a four-star recruit who skipped his senior year of high school to to get a head start on his college basketball career.
A 6-8, 215-pound Colorado native, Betts redshirted in his first year with Gophers coach Ben Johnson. But being on the sidelines didn't keep him from taking advantage of his freshman year.
"This last season was huge for me in being able to grow all the parts of my game," Betts told the Star Tribune. "Almost every single day, I was able to get my body bigger. I've been able to get my shot down and became more of an elite shooter. I worked on my ball handling and grew my knowledge of the game."
Betts physically resembles a Big Ten forward now after gaining strength and putting on 15 pounds to his athletic frame since last summer. He wants to get to 225 pounds by the start of next season, when his talent could be enough to get him in the Gophers' rotation as a redshirt freshman.
The U coaching staff noticed Betts challenging teammates more and more offensively on the scout team in practice at the end of the season. And "we were like, 'Wow we got something here,' " Johnson said.
"He had spurts where he looked good," Johnson said. "You can see him physically being able to score on guys because his body's matured. Because he took advantage of the weight room. You can see him understanding how to get open and how hard you got to cut and move and read screens. So, he had practices where he played really well."
During a 9-22 season, the Gophers had depth problems after a few players suffered injuries and illness. They even played with a Big Ten-minimum seven scholarship players more than once. But burning a redshirt opportunity never was discussed, Betts said.
"We never had that conversation," he said. "It was just about looking at the bigger picture. They could've used me maybe for a couple games, but we have just a bigger plan for the future. So, why waste it?"
The Gophers lost four players to the transfer portal, including forward Jamison Battle who committed Thursday to Ohio State. But Johnson's still deep at forward with Betts, leading scorer and rebounder Dawson Garcia, Pharrel Payne and Joshua Ola-Joseph. Parker Fox and Isaiah Ihnen also are expected to be back from season-ending knee injuries.
Betts is most comfortable playing on the wing. The Gophers hope to use him as an outside shooting threat, but his size and length (7-foot wingspan) should help them rebound and defend the post.
On the scout team, Betts said his favorite opponents to mimic were Michigan's star freshman Jett Howard and Penn State's sharpshooting veteran Andrew Funk. He was tough to defend at times.
"I think that just comes from the countless hours I've been able to put in the gym," Betts said. "[Assistant Dave Thorson] says real reps equals real confidence. I would work on all this stuff before and after practice. When it was time to play with the scout team, I could score to make the team better."
As a junior at Pueblo Central High in 2021-22, Betts was an all-state forward averaging 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. As a top-100 recruit, he would've been a candidate for Colorado's Mr. Basketball award this year. But he has no regrets about graduating early to reclassify to the 2022 class.
"I do think about what I'd being doing in high school," Betts said. "But just looking back at it right now, I've made myself better in so many ways being in college."
