Postseason or not, though, 2023-24 showcased an improving Golden Gophers basketball program, something 3rd year head coach Ben Johnson needed to in order to keep his job. It’s a lot easier to keep the boat afloat at 18-14 (9-11) than it would have been had this year’s team struggled to another 9-22 (2-17) or 13-17 (4-16) season. And… if he can keep the team together, which is never a guarantee these days, next year looks even brighter.

Tom Izzo thinks Ben Johnson’s Minnesota Gophers are future Big Ten champs

How bright, you ask? If you take Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo at his word, then they could be the best team in the Big Ten next season. That’s what he told media members after beating the Gophers in the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday.

“Ben Johnson has done an unbelievable job this year. (Minnesota) could be the number one team in the league next year” – Tom Izzo

— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) March 14, 2024

Before we get into why Izzo’s statement may not be quite as hyperbolic as some may believe initially, let’s introduce some important context. Tom Izzo loves Ben Johnson, who has never coached nor played under the Michigan State legend, though Izzo did recruit Johnson out of DeLaSalle high school and when Johnson left Northwestern and joined the Gophers as a transfer.

Tom Izzo on Ben Johnson: Everybody in the room knows that I'm close with Ben and should be close with Ben. I love what he's done. All he's got to do is hold this team together, and he'll come in as one of the favorites, if not the favorite next year. The guy deserves a lot of…

— GopherHole.com (@GopherHole) March 14, 2024

Every opportunity Izzo has gotten, since Ben got the job in Dinkytown, the East Lansing legend has praised Johnson, as a coach, and the University of Minnesota for having the balls to hire him. Tom clearly cares about Ben Johnson and his career and is more than willing to talk about how bright the basketball program’s future is under the 43-year-old hometown U of M alum.

Gophers winning the Big Ten in 2024-25 not that hyperbolic?

But all of that could be for good reason. It’s quite possible that Izzo sees something in Ben Johnson that we can’t see from the cheap seats. And there is no doubt that, should the Gophers remain together this offseason (and out of the transfer portal), next year could be the best team we’ve seen since prior to the pandemic.

Related: Four Minnesota Gophers MBB Players Receive 2023-24 Big Ten Honors

Every major contributor on roster has eligibility remaining. Older players like Dawson Garcia are questionable NBA prospects. NIL money gives college programs a lot better chance of keeping their star players, who would otherwise leave for professional paychecks, even if they aren’t expected to be drafted to the NBA and are forced overseas.

Impressive stuff lately from Minnesota freshman Cam Christie, averaging 15.8 points, 3.0 assists over last five. Smooth shotmaking last night vs. Purdue. Shooting 43% off the catch, 43% off the dribble, both on real volume. Solid passer. Still 18 y/o, 6'6", Max's brother. pic.twitter.com/aZEtVvwOYh

— Jonathan Wasserman (@NBADraftWass) February 16, 2024

And the Gophers’ one sure-fire future draft pick, Cam Christie, isn’t expected to jump to the next level after his true freshman season. So, the opportunity is there to bring back an improved and more experienced team with a lot of the same names.

Related: Cam Christie’s NIL Value is Reportedly Up to $10,000/mo; Pharrel Payne’s Rising Too

It’ll be up to Ben Johnson and Dinkytown Athletes to keep their best talent out of the transfer portal and possibly add a piece or two that could put them over the top and into March Madness. Cherry High School (Duluth area) is sending their star top-100 national recruit, (PG) Issac Asuma, down I-35 S to join Johnson’s program next season too.

#Gophers fans, Isaac Asuma can score the basketball 👀 pic.twitter.com/8POlneJxWS

— Joe Doerrer (@jd3hoops) June 28, 2023

Add some veteran backcourt depth in Gophers’ all-time single-season assists leader, Elijah Hawkins, and a microwave off the bench like Mike Mitchell Jr, to pair with young stars like Christie and Asuma… there’s no doubt Minnesota has enough perimeter talent to compete with anyone.

Related: Future Gopher Isaac Asuma Posts Near Triple-Double in ‘Border Battle’ Showcase

Dawson Garcia starts the big man party but what about junior to be, Pharrell Payne, and super senior Parker Fox, who still has a year of eligibility remaining, thanks to a bevy of injuries and the COVID year of free eligibility. Then, there is shutdown defender Braeden Carrington and the mostly untapped potential of Josh Ola-Joseph.

Now again, we can’t pretend the transfer portal doesn’t exist. But Ben Johnson has been on of the few losing programs in the country the last two seasons that has been able to retain more talent than it loses in the portal. His biggest loss, Jamison Battle, was paid $150K in NIL money from Ohio State, something that may not have happened if the Gophers were in a better NIL situation themselves, at the time.

We do not know if they’d be able to block an offer like that but there’s no doubt they’d have a better chance now than they did back then, thanks to the rise of Dinkytown Athletes, the University’s official NIL collective.

When the regular season ends, the top eight teams will receive first round byes, the top four teams will be awarded a double bye. With his back up against the wall and his job on the line, Ben has responded with one of the most talented basketball teams that the University has put on the floor in recent history.

The Gophers are currently 17-9 (8-7) and ranked 72nd in the NET. If they finish with 10 conference wins or more, it will be just the third time that’s happened at Minnesota since before the turn of the century (2016-17, 2004-05).

After a win at The Barn on Thursday night vs former Gopher Jamison Battle and the Ohio State Buckeyes, Minnesota is knocking on the door into NCAA Tournament conversations, but most bracketologists still refuse to acknowledge their existence.

Minnesota picked up its 17th win of the season tonight. Gophers only won nine a year ago. If Ben Johnson can retain the majority of his roster, the NCAA Tournament should be the goal in 2025.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) February 23, 2024

Why? Because of their #72 NET Ranking. Head coach Ben Johnson wanted to build confidence in a team that desperately needed to see some W’s pile up early on. It worked, in a sense, but it also hurt in today’s college basketball, which is ruled by NET rankings.

What are the NET Rankings and why do they matter?

Sure, there is still a committee that holds final say on who goes dancing on Selection Sunday, but it’s the NET Rankings that they are instructed to hold most valuable. Here’s how the NET Rankings work and how they are weighted. The first bullet point explains Minnesota’s low ranking, despite a chance at making history as a program:

• Beating bad teams won’t really help you, but losing to them will destroy you
• Road wins are more valuable than home wins
• Offensive & Defensive Efficiencies matter too, along with margin of victory

Quad System: In the NET Rankings system, the entire country is broken down into four different tiers or “quads”, but a team’s quad can be different, depending on where the game is played. Beat a top-30 team, it’s a Quad 1 win no matter the location. On the road, however, any opponent with a top-75 NET Ranking becomes Quad 1.

Related: Gophers Cam Christie Earns Big Ten Freshman of the Week Honors

The Gophers are 1-5 vs Quad 1 opponents this season and have three such games left. All of them are on the road: @ Nebraska, @ Illinois and @ Northwestern. The Gophers have already beaten Nebraska and Northwestern at home. Both wins were Quad 2, because the games were played at Williams Arena (where only top-30 counts as Q1).

Beating Iowa in Iowa City would have counted as Quad 1, which is why blowing that massive 19-point 2nd half lead hurt the Gophers March Madness chances so badly. Ben Johnson and his boys have handled all quad 4 games and don’t have any remaining. The Gophers’ only Quad 3 loss came vs Indiana, on the road. They get that rematch on March 6.

Minnesota Remaining Opponent Quads

How can the Minnesota Gophers get into the NCAA Tournament?

So, the question arises: how do the Minnesota Gophers secure a spot on the tourney dance floor next month? The easy answer is to win the Big Ten Tournament. Since that has never happened in the program’s history, it’s probably not a route we should count on, though.

Luckily, if the Gophers handle their business the rest of the regular season, they’ll be in the final field of 68, no matter what Jon Rothstein thinks. What will that take? Again, their NET Ranking Friday morning is #72. To safely secure an at-large bid, they need to get to #60. If they can rise to #65~ish, Selection Sunday will be a sweat

Related: Iowa Wolves Sign Former Gophers Guard and DeLaSalle Grad Gabe Kalscheur

This five-game stretch to close the season will decide their fate, and there isn’t a lot of room for error. But really, the most important game is Sunday. Lose @ #43 Nebraska and it’ll be an uphill battle the rest of the way. But get a win in Lincoln and the Gophers will add their second Q1 victory of the season and impossible for bracketologists to ignore.

At that point, it would be more about not screwing things up. Stay close vs Illinois and Northwestern, DO NOT lose at home vs struggling Penn State or Indiana and it’d be hard to keep the Gophers out. Throw in a Big Ten Tourney win or maybe an upset in Northwestern to close the regular season, and they’ll probably be a lock.

If the Gophers win three of their final five games, they’ll reach 12 conference wins for the first time since 1996-97, which doesn’t officially count. So officially, it would be the first time since 1981-82.

Just before the Big Ten Tournament tipped off today in Indianapolis, it was cancelled. I will keep this blog updated on any new updates that come out.

The keyword here is “cancelled”. It is not postponed. We will see what happens next with college basketball. Currently, the NCAA Tournament is still scheduled to take place without fans, starting next week.

All other conference tournaments have also been cancelled, except the Big East, which is still playing its first game of the day, for whatever reason….

UPDATE: The Big East cancelled their tournament at halftime of the game they started between Creighton and St. Johns.

The Big Ten Tournament is cancelled.

— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) March 12, 2020

Big Ten Tourney cancelled

— Mike Grimm (@MikeGrimm3) March 12, 2020

Statement from the Big Ten Conference:

The Big Ten Conference announced today that it will be canceling the remainder of the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament, effective immediately.

The Big Ten Conference will use this time to work with the appropriate medical experts and institutional leadership to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The main priority of the Big Ten Conference continues to be the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, fans and media as we continue to monitor all developing and relevant information on the COVID-19 virus.

B1G Statement – bigten.org

The Big Ten Tournament has been cancelled.

The conference issued the following statement Thursday morning: pic.twitter.com/EOAxKsmmx1

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 12, 2020

Watch Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren's live press conference surrounding the tournament cancellation: https://t.co/d9PRcLYJ6P

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 12, 2020

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Big Ten Tournament bracket was just released and the Gophers (12-seed) will kick off festivities on Wednesday night, 5 PM CT, vs Northwestern. All games in this tournament will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.

Just like they did today vs Nebraska, Minnesota has dominated lesser competition all season. They’re problem… they haven’t played much “lesser competition” this season.

That’s why they are two games below .500 and still have a KenPom Ranking of 29. Indiana is 19-12, on the bubble to dance, and ranked 40 in KenPom. So, I expect the Gophers to dominate Northwestern just like they did earlier this season.

Then, our tournament hopes (both NCAA and NIT) could fall on a win vs Iowa on Thursday. That’s right, even with their high KenPom and NET ranking, the Gophers are in danger of missing the NIT Tournament.

Who knows what could happen if the Gophers were to upset Iowa. They are in the middle of the bracket so the best teams wouldn’t match up until Saturday… Illinois would be our quarterfinal game if we make it that far.

Hell, if we shoot like we did today vs Nebraska, we’ll win the whole damn tournament and dance when it’s over… but that won’t happen. A couple wins so we can watch Dan Oturu and Marcus Carr mop up the NIT would be nice, though.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Heading into Sunday, the Gophers were hanging on the edge of the NCAA Tournament field after a loss @ Maryland on Friday night and a Seton Hall upset over Villanova on Saturday. If the Gophers want to make sure they lock in their bid to the NCAA Tournament, they again need to get to 20 wins. 

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Seton Hall moves ahead of #Gophers in the seeding line with the upset over Villanova today. Minnesota projects among last four NCAA tourney byes again by Lunardi.

— Marcus R. Fuller (@Marcus_R_Fuller) March 9, 2019

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Pitino’s squad could make it into the dance with 19 wins but why leave it up to fate? Win one more game and you are in. No stress. No worries. With the Big Ten Tournament upon us, the Gophers (7-seed) will have their shot at that 20th victory in the 2nd Round on Wednesday vs Penn State (10-seed).

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The 2019 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket. #B1GTourney pic.twitter.com/jIWfLEoU9k

— Big Ten Men's Hoops (@B1GMBBall) March 10, 2019

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In the earlier meeting vs Penn State this season the Gophers squeaked out a 1-point victory.. You know Wednesday won’t be easy. It never is. 

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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