That’s it. That’s a wrap. The ugliest Gophers basketball season is recent memory is complete, and while it might not have gone as poorly record-wise as Boston College’s 0-19 ACC campaign, certainly the peripheral storylines with the Maroon and Gold this year made for an equally off-putting bottom line.

Minnesota finished with eight wins (hey, at least they beat Maryland), 23 losses, five active scholarship players by year’s end, two consecutive losses to South Dakota teams from the Summit League, one dismissed senior, two sexually explicit videos posted to a freshman’s Twitter account and three indefinitely suspended players.

The latter item on the list above is perhaps the biggest asterisk to this article’s premise. Will Nate Mason, Kevin Dorsey, Jr., and Dupree McBrayer be available to play beginning next season? Reportedly, head coach Richard Pitino will address the matter soon, now that the season is over, since he wouldn’t discuss details at his press conference after the incident occurred. “We’re not going to get into speculating any of that other stuff right now,” Pitino said on March 1.

Let’s assume, though, that the four-game suspension and incalculable embarrassment is deemed to be a valid punishment and the three young players are greenlighted to play next season. The Gophers could be poised to compete as early as next season, and the 2017-18 campaign could be the most eagerly anticipated in years.

Bear in mind that Minnesota’s one-man Senior Day ceremony (“Joey King Day”) is going to get a rerun next year with “Charles Buggs Day,” the lone upcoming senior and the last-standing remnant from Tubby Smith’s tenure in Minnesota. While King represents a loss to the program in terms of 3-point shooting, free throw shooting, effort, loyalty and common sense off the court, Buggs has been a disappointment in his three years under Pitino, showing very little growth from Day 1 until now. It’s likely Buggs will be coming off the bench next season, meaning that from 2016-17 to 2017-18, the Gophers could march out a consistent starting five with very little variation. That kind of continuity would be huge.

That being said, next year’s rotation is going to look vastly different from this year’s, though it should benefit the team. Junior transfer Reggie Lynch is going to provide the Gophers with a tremendous defensive presence inside and allow them to play faster on offense. Pitino had opted to play small many times this season due to the raw, limited game of sophomore Bakary Konate, but Lynch will allow the squad to play big without affecting its athleticism. “I believe Reggie could be an all-league center,” said Pitino in January. “I think Reggie’s got a chance to play in the NBA … catches everything and he’ll score 50-some percent of the time when he’s down there, and he is very, very hard to guard.”

Because of great shot-blocking, Lynch will help Minnesota match up better against teams with size: Wisconsin with Ethan Happ, Purdue with 7-foot-2 Isaac Haas and Ohio State with Trevor Thompson. Depending on Lynch’s passing ability, he should be able to draw defenses into some double-teams that could open up the 3-point line, another area of mediocrity for the Gophers this past season.

The other junior transfer, Davonte Fitzgerald from Texas A&M, gives the Gophers an athletic 6-foot-8 forward that can stretch the floor and isn’t afraid to shoot 3’s. Because of limited play his first two years with the Aggies (which likely led to his transfer), we haven’t seen what Fitzgerald is fully capable of, though Pitino said early on he and Lynch were two of the team’s best players.

There is a strong likelihood that Fitzgerald starts at the Gophers’ small forward position next year (at 6-foot-8!). Minnesota tried Jordan Murphy there this season, but the All-Conference freshman felt more comfortable at the “4.” That’s probably fine, since Murphy has about 25 pounds on Fitzgerald and is less comfortable shooting from beyond the arc. Suddenly, the Gophers have beef down low with Lynch, while Konate shares time with big Arkansas recruit Eric Curry, who may eventually supersede the Mali native. Murphy no longer has to carry the entire load in the post and will be able to stay out of foul trouble (his Kryptonite) since the Gophers will have other physical forwards and centers to rebound and play defense in the paint. And at long last the Gophers may have a solid small forward, a position that’s given them trouble for two straight years. “I think next year’s team shapes up to be really big. I mean, really big,” said Pitino earlier this year.

At guard, the Gophers should have good depth – even if one player transfers due to the logjam. Mason has shown he can play at the “1” or “2,” and he’ll still be one of the team’s best scorers, especially if he improves his 3-point accuracy. Dorsey is a more of a true point guard with great defensive tools and could fit in quite nicely on a defensive-minded second unit. McBrayer fits Pitino’s mold of long, tall guards and showed a nice knack for getting to rim before his suspension. Freshman Ahmad Gilbert is strong defensively, but has been limited offensively because of a taped-up hand from an early-season injury. And you can’t forget about Amir Coffey, the four-star recruit from Hopkins and Pitino’s best acquisition to date. It’s possible the 6-foot-7 Coffey starts right away at point guard and gives the Gophers a Coffey-Mason-Fitzgerald-Murphy-Lynch front line. That’s an upgrade at three positions.

If this writer’s projection is correct, Minnesota could be looking at a trio of guards in Dorsey, McBrayer and Gilbert off the bench – all of whom showed their warts this season, yes, but also their potential.

The back-up at small forward will be either Charles Buggs or freshman Michael Hurt, who is a better shooter than Buggs but may need to add some weight to his frame. At any rate, there are options here.

The theme is that the Gophers will be deeper moving forward, which is hard to believe if you watched them limp to the finish this Big Ten season with three walk-ons forced into major minutes. The way it’s shaking out, though, Minnesota will probably tout a bench next season filled with players who have starting experience in Big Ten play and a starting five with a much higher ceiling. If everybody can check their egos at the door, that’s a formidable unit that will have a full year to gel before any of the main contributors reach senior status.

It’s possible, maybe inevitable, that 2016-17 has some more growing pains as roles are established and some players’ minutes get reduced – the curse of playing a lot as a freshman. But come 2017-18, this team will be deep and seasoned if Pitino’s plan is executed properly.

Hopefully at that point, the 2015-16 debacle will be a distant memory.