Ben Johnson is not only perplexed by the Gophers men’s basketball team’s placement in the unofficial Big Ten preseason poll for the 2024-25 season. The head coach questions the whole premise.

Given the continued amount of roster upheaval in the NCAA transfer portal era, Johnson doesn’t believe there can be firm educated guesses anywhere in the new 18-team mega conference.

“I’ll be honest, I have no idea how you can project even who is going to be (No. 1),” Johnson said Tuesday. “There was so much (turnover).”

Johnson has been asked by others what he thinks about other teams within the league. “It’s impossible. … And I have no idea,” he shared. “You just don’t know.”

The Gophers were picked to finish last in the Big Ten for the upcoming season, according to 33 media members who voted in a poll conducted by The Columbus Dispatch and Indianapolis Star.

The Gophers were picked to finish last a season ago as well, but ended ahead of four teams with 9-11 conference record and 19-15 overall mark. The U missed out on the NCAA Tournament, but made it to the second round of the NIT.

“With, what, about two, two and a half weeks left, we were in the thick of the Big Ten and almost finished .500,” Johnson said.

The uncertainty on what to expect for the Gophers rests on  nine new players, including seven veteran transfers. Seniors: guards Lu’Cye Patterson (Charlotte), Tyler Cochran (Toledo), Brennan Rigsby (Oregon) Femi Odukale (New Mexico State) and Caleb Willams (Macalester), and forward Trey Edmonds (Texas-San Antonio). Plus, junior forward Frank Mitchel (Canisius).

“You see (stats) of what (transfers) bring to the table,” Johnson said. “Even for my team, I have no idea. I see numbers. I see what they did at the other place, I have no idea if this is going to work or if it translates or what level it translates. If somebody is going to be able to rise up and be better than their numbers. It’s just a guessing game. You just got to let it play out.”

Given the unknowns, the U will rely on returning veterans — forwards Dawson Garcia and Parker Fox, and guard Mike Mitchell Jr. They were three valuable pieces fort the Gophers last season, with Garcia considered one of the 10 best players in the conference for this year.

“Especially because they have been through it and they know what it takes and what it looks like,” Johnson said. “They know what the habits got to be. They know how I am.”

Johnson said it will take more than a month after the season opener against Oral Roberts on Nov. 6 at Williams Arena to know what he has with his newly configured team.

He believes they are a work in progress; that will not include Cochran — the Mid-American Conference’s defensive player of the year in 2023-24 — who has been sidelined for weeks after recent  foot surgery.

“The one thing that I’ve expressed is we have to be a mature team,” Johnson said. “That’s one of our advantages: our experience. You just look at the number of guys that have played over 100 games. The number of guys that have come from good programs, who have been taught and coached. We have to be a smart, IQ, mature team. A team that I hope can be mentally tough — whether that is at home or on the road.”

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