Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino has lifted the suspensions of Nate Mason, Kevin Dorsey and Dupree McBrayer, who will return to play next season, the school said.

The players were suspended for the last four games of the season after a sexually explicit video was posted on Dorsey’s social media accounts Feb. 26.

Mason, a sophomore guard, led Minnesota (8-23) with 13.8 points and 4.5 assists a game this season. Dorsey (6.8 points) and McBrayer (5.9 points) were key contributors as freshman guards. In their absence, the Gophers were forced to finish the season with no guards on scholarship and five scholarship players total.

“I’m very pleased that they’re being given another chance to come back and redeem themselves,” Big Ten Network analyst Stephen Bardo said. “That’s what college should be about, is second opportunities and young people learning from their mistakes. I think they’re very integral to Minnesota.”

Dorsey’s father told the Pioneer Press a month ago that his son didn’t post the video and his cell phone was stolen at the Mall of America two days before the video was posted. Bloomington police confirmed that there was video evidence of the phone being taken. The case is still under investigation.

In a statement sent to the Pioneer Press, Dorsey’s family stated that the video’s brief release, and his suspension for the rest of the season, “caused Kevin a great deal of stress and embarrassment, and he feels a tremendous amount of sorrow about how it has impacted his teammates, coaches and the University of Minnesota.”

“Kevin strives to represent the basketball program in a manner that makes the University of Minnesota and the community proud,” the statement read. “He is fully committed to Gophers basketball and making positive contributions to the team, the University and the community.”

Pitino wasn’t available for comment Tuesday. But after a season-ending, 33-point loss to Illinois in the Big Ten tournament, the third-year coach reiterated his decision to suspend the players was best for the program.

“We were starting to play well. Even in the losses, we were very, very close,” he said. “Then when you have an incident where you’ve got to make tough decisions, we did it. And we did it with the culture of our program in mind. We did it understanding that it would be extremely difficult to win. But we felt like it was the right thing moving forward.”

The Gophers, who lost 14 straight games before the suspensions, set a school record for losses in a season. But there were signs of improvement before the incident. Minnesota upset No. 6 Maryland for the team’s first Big Ten victory.

The success of Pitino’s team in 2016-17 will depend heavily on the impact of transfers Reggie Lynch and Davonte Fitzgerald and a top-20 recruiting class led by the state’s top prospect, Amir Coffey of Hopkins

Jordan Murphy, an All-Big Ten freshman forward this season, will face high expectations, as well.

Mason averaged 16.9 points and 6.3 assists in his last eight games this season. McBrayer, who started his last 11 games of the season, averaged 10 points, 3.4 assists and 1.6 steals in his last seven. Dorsey struggled in Big Ten play early but averaged 10.5 points in his last six games.

“Pitino thinks really highly of McBrayer and his upside,” Bardo said. “I think Kevin Dorsey showed he has the quickness and toughness, if he continues to improve, to be an outstanding guard. And, of course, Nate Mason has shown he’s one of the better guards in the league already. So I think those guys are very important and key cogs for the Gophers moving forward if they’re trying to improve.”