Rick Rickert was a phenom from Duluth East in 2001 when he joined the Gophers. He remembers a transfer from Northwestern who ran the scout team during practices that year.
“You could definitely see the leadership come out in him,” Rickert said. “I didn’t think coaching would be in his future, I was just thinking he was a good cat.”
Ben Johnson was the leader of that scout team before he played his final two seasons for the Gophers. Johnson’s basketball life has brought him back to Minnesota to revive the Gophers program. Rickert was one of many former teammates to congratulate Johnson when he landed the job.
After two awful seasons during which the Gophers went 22-39 — including 6-33 in the Big Ten — Johnson’s crew has won 19 games this season, including Tuesday’s first-round NIT victory over Butler, and will play Indiana State in the second round Sunday. The Sycamores are the tourney’s top seed. Regardless of the outcome, Johnson has had the season he desperately needed.
Picked to be the caboose of the Big Ten train this year, the Gophers went 9-11 in conference play and sent a message: no more rock-bottom basketball.
Rickert is thrilled — as well as relieved — for his former teammate.
“I gotta be honest: I was always really nervous for him going into this year because he’d had very underwhelming performances the past two years,” Rickert said. “Your first year should be your worst year. They should get better from there. But the second year wasn’t much better. I was like, man, he has another bad year, they’re just gonna let him go because you can’t have just losing seasons, but really bad losing seasons. We grew up in the Clem Haskins era so we were used to winning. I’m glad he has had some success this year.”
