What to make of the program after their 3-game win streak.
Just two weeks ago Ben Johnson’s Gopher basketball program was left for dead. The writing was on the wall for offseason changes and watching the rest of this season was going to be a labor of love. The team was sitting at 0-6 in the Big Ten with half of those being at least 18-point losses and completely blowing an opportunity to get their first conference win, falling to Ohio State in double OT.
The team consistently was competitive for one half of each respective game but their inability to execute an offense or score points would be their demise as the losses piled up. And it seemed to come to a head in Madison when Wisconsin blew out Minnesota 80-59, scoring 50 points in the second half. Immediately following that game a team meeting was had, Ben Johnson did not come out for his post-game radio interview as they addressed some of the issues for over an hour in that Kohl Center locker room.
Update: #Gophers coach Ben Johnson told Star Tribune’s Marcus Fuller that the LONG team meeting postgame was led by the players and they took turns addressing why the two halves of #Badgers loss were so drastically different. It sounded like nearly everyone had a voice in it.
— Andy Greder (@andygreder) January 11, 2025
They followed up that Wisconsin game and team meeting with a loss at Maryland, but then things turned.
Ben Johnson’s team beat a ranked Michigan team that was 5-0 in the Big Ten, they traveled to Iowa City and beat the Hawkeyes in Carver Hawkeye Arena for the first time since 2015 and then they beat #15 Oregon in the Barn.
Now this team is riding high with a 3-game conference winning streak, including two over ranked opponents.
Would the real Gopher team please stand up?
On the one hand, this team has three straight wins and with a little luck (and a healthy Mike Mitchell Jr) should have beat North Texas, Wichita St and Wake Forest. They also did everything they could to give away their double OT loss to Ohio State. You don’t have to squint too hard to see this team with a 14-6 record and 4-5 in the Big Ten.
On the other hand, not only have the losses been bad. They gave up 50 in the second half to Wisconsin, looked hapless against Michigan State and Purdue, an ugly three point win over Western Michigan, they were unable to score 60 points a few times and this season has been really difficult to watch at times.
This little run has been fun and there’s hope that they can continue to be competitive for the final 11 games of the season. But the underlying problems with the program and the challenges to fielding a team capable of making the NCAA Tournament persist. There have not been any articles about the projected employment status of Ben Johnson on TDG. If Mark Coyle makes the decision to take the program in another direction, that will take care of itself. There really are significant challenges facing the program and questions that need to be answered if they want to find a way to being more successful.
But for now, at least the season has become enjoyable again. When Ben Johnson first took over the program he talked about his program having an identity of “dudes.” Teammates who played with toughness, with grit and teams that opponents dreaded having to play because they knew it was going to be a battle. This year’s team may be the first to really embody this “dudes” identity.
Johnson deserves credit for what has been accomplished in the last two weeks. This team was ugly at times, the writing appeared to be on the wall. But this team stuck together, they continue to battle and I am looking forward to seeing how the remainder of this season plays out with these dudes.