Gopher Sports has been rolling out its 'Get to Know' Q&A series on the incoming men's basketball class, and two of the more interesting additions are on opposite ends of the map and the experience spectrum: Michigan transfer center Malick Kordel and Eden Prairie freshman guard Nolen Anderson.
Kordel, a 7-foot-2 center from Oberhausen, Germany, is entering his second year of college basketball but his sixth year playing the sport overall. He began his career at Michigan, where he saw action in 14 games off the bench for the Wolverines' national championship team and averaged 1.2 points. Before that, he spent 2024-25 with the Fraport Skyliners Juniors in Germany's ProB league. Kordel actually grew up playing handball and only switched to basketball in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he started playing pickup games and eventually joined one of Germany's top clubs in the Under-19 ranks.
In the Q&A, Kordel said the depth at Michigan limited his opportunities to play and that he found what he was looking for at Minnesota. "This year, I think I found a good system, a good coach, and good supporting staff where I can compete on the highest level," he said. He's rooming this summer with fellow Michigan transfer Winters Grady, and he pointed to his freshman year in Ann Arbor -- guarding three lottery picks in practice -- as invaluable prep for playing meaningful minutes at Minnesota.
Anderson, meanwhile, doesn't have to go far to feel at home. The Eden Prairie native starred at Wayzata High School, a four-star recruit and Mr. Basketball finalist who scored 1,839 points in his prep career, including 707 as a senior. He helped Wayzata win a state title as a junior and ranked second on that team in scoring. On the AAU circuit with D1 Minnesota, he teamed with now-fellow Gopher freshman Cedric Tomes to reach the Adidas 3SSB national championship game as runner-up.
There's also a family thread running through Anderson's commitment. His grandfather, Marlo Miller, played for the Gophers from 1957-60, making Anderson the second in his family to wear the maroon and gold. His mother played Division I basketball at Drake after starring at Bloomington Jefferson. "Just having the ability to have family and friends come to the game is super nice," Anderson said of choosing a program 30 minutes from home. He also called playing alongside Tomes -- a teammate since eighth grade -- a head start on team chemistry as both adjust to the college game this summer.
Two very different paths -- one a well-traveled European big man looking for his shot after a title-team apprenticeship, the other a hometown kid with three generations of family history in the program -- but both now part of the same rebuild for Ben Johnson's roster heading into 2026-27.
