Any chance Johnson has at turning the program around will largely depend on how many of his good players leave this offseason. While there is hope that Dawson Garcia, along with most of the bright youngsters on roster, are committed to Ben long-term, they’re sure to suffer some large losses. It’s impossible to avoid these days.

Jamison Battle expected to go pro

One of those losses is already being reported and it’s going to hurt. According to both Ryan James (GopherIllustrated.com) and Andy Greder (Pioneer Press), two of the Gophers’ best players, Jamison Battle and Ta’Lon Cooper, are expected to forgo their final year of eligibility and go pro.

Jamison Battle wants to move on to the professional level and will almost surely do so. Talon Cooper went through senior day and he seems like he would like to go pro as well. What about everybody else? It’s time to wait and see.

Ryan James – GopherIllustrated.com (247Sports)

But next year’s roster has already taken hits. Battle was the U’s second-leading scorer and is expected to forgo his final year of eligibility and try his luck playing professionally. Transfer point guard Ta’Lon Cooper appears to be moving on, as well.

Andy Greder – Pioneer Press

Will Jamison Battle play in the G-League or NBA? We don’t know. But there’s no doubt Battle, especially if he’s willing to take his game overseas, can make money playing basketball. Ta’Lon Cooper will surely have to jump an ocean if he wants to do the same, right?

Gophers’ NIL game is weak

We can’t know all the details to why Battle and Cooper are ready to leave the program but some — if not all — of it is money-motivated. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that. Money is what motivates most of us. I ask that question as to point out the University of Minnesota’s clear disadvantage in the Name, Image and Likeness era of college athletics we currently live in.

If Battle could get, even as little as, say, $100,000 to continue his basketball career in Dinkytown, why would he roll the dice and possibly have to move across the world to keep his dream alive? The answer: He probably wouldn’t. We know that NIL money was part of why star prospect Dennis Evans pulled out of his LOI last month.

The University of Minnesota needs to make the handoff of NIL money much easier for willing donors. At the same token, we need more of those within the fanbase with deep pockets to step up and show their “buy-in” level, ASAP. If those things don’t happen, football and basketball at the University of Minnesota are in huge trouble.

Blow it all up

Of course, it’s always possible that a lawsuit reaches the right people and the NCAA // major universities are finally forced to pay athletes themselves. Something like that would level the playing field for teams like the Gophers and make “NIL” a thing of the past.

Backdoor deals would turn into transparent iron-clad contracts and we’d see a salary cap that all schools would have to abide by. Something like this will become reality someday but will it be soon enough to save Gopher football and basketball from sure disaster?

Neither the regents, nor the rich people who love Gopher athletics, should allow us to find out.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

But if you’re paying attention (many no longer are), you can see why AD Mark Coyle hired Ben Johnson. Let’s start with what happened last night, when the Gophers upset Ohio State, in Columbus, for their first Big Ten victory on the season.

Odd Timeout Shows Ben Johnson’s Coaching Genius

It was a nationally televised game (FS1) and Minnesota played with the lead for nearly the entire contest. It was their best overall performance so far this year. But in the final 38 seconds, they allowed the Buckeyes to go on a 5-0 run and tie the game with 8 seconds left.

The ball was inbounded to guard transfer, Ta’Lon Cooper, who quickly dribbled the ball past midcourt, went around a screen and into the near corner. Then, after a reverse cross-over through his legs broke some poor dude’s ankles (and confidence), Cooper set his GPS navigation for the rim.

When he reached his destination, he was fouled and sent to the line where one make would put the Gophers ahead with just 1.7 seconds remaining.

Dropped. pic.twitter.com/NjIbEw4M1H

— Minnesota Men's Basketball (@GopherMBB) January 13, 2023

But there was a problem. Johnson’s Gophers had struggled at the line all night and Ta’Lon Cooper is a 51% free throw shooter. Coming over from Morehead State, these were possibly the biggest free throws of his life, too.

And when he missed the first, overtime felt inevitable.

— TIMEOUT —

I thought, for sure, it was Ohio State who called the timeout after Cooper missed his first free throw. Freezing shooters in that situation is commonplace at all levels of basketball. But then I realized it was Ben Johnson who called the TO. ‘Why would he freeze his own guy’, was my immediate thinking.

Lucky for me, FS1 had both head coaches mic’d up for the entire game. It’s a sports broadcast I’ve never seen before. Viewers got to hear everything the coaches said for two straight hours. During play and for every timeout. Even inside the locker room. We got to hear nearly every word that came out of both head coaches mouths from start to finish.

The unique approach by FS1 also allowed us insight into why Ben Johnson called such a strange timeout, after Ta’Lon Cooper missed that first free throw. This wasn’t a young coach making a weird mistake in a pressure packed situation.

“After you make it…”

Ben Johnson knew exactly what he was doing. His junior point guard needed some high level coaching and Johnson was up for the task. The mission: convince Cooper that his 2nd free throw was going in before he got back to the free throw line.

Minnesota calling a timeout in this situation might seem like icing your own player at the free throw line.

But I see exactly what @CoachBenJohnson was doing, as Ta’lon Cooper is a 51.2% free throw shooter. pic.twitter.com/OYOTFzrnd1

— Ben Cary (@Ben_Cary_) January 13, 2023

This win isn’t going to put the Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball team in the NCAA tournament. In fact, there are going to be plenty of nights throughout the rest of this season that are hard to watch for Gopher fans.

Program in good hands

But for now, I still believe in the inexperienced Ben Johnson. His 2022-23 team continues to show noticeable improvement and, in his second season, the roster has more top in-state talent than any team under Richard Pitino.

The Gophers have also signed two McDonald’s All-American finalists, Dennis Evans (CA) and Cam Christie (IL), to this year’s recruiting class. Both guys could contribute immediately next season.