Ben Johnson on Gophers at State Fair: 'I want our guys to view themselves as winners'

obviously the summer practices you know they've been over for a while you guys are going to get back together soon like what do you hope to kind of see from them when when they get back together here yeah I think you know we had a really good summer um so just trying to see carryover you know with I think we got eight new guys um so you're just trying to kind of speed the process up and you know hopefully you know there wasn't too long of a break in between when we finished the summer um with conditioning and just with retention um and just be able to hit the ground Runner with workouts and and make sure that uh we have a really good fall with skill development and you know getting everything that we want in uh before I think September 25th when we first start practice and and have a a big run at it this fall Daw missed a lot the second half of Summer practices heard better yeah he's great uh I actually saw him today um he's able to do some limited shooting stuff you know we're obviously going to be supremely smart with you know process and I know what he can do so I'm not as worried about that um you know got us now going in his third year in our system so now it's more of just making sure healthwise that um you know everything goes as planned which it has and he's a little bit ahead of schedule and you know him I mean he's antsy to get back full-time so it's it's good to see him uh back doing some stuff uh but again we'll be we'll be smart with that is there more weight on Dawson shoulders when he's healthy just in coming into a season like this now being in a program multiple years now I mean does he have more to care in a season like this you know I I think for him cuz he's a competitor um you know every year he wants to get better every year he wants more on his shoulders but as far as expectation it's just continued to be consistent um you know we've got the benefit and we did an intentionally of of having a lot of older guys so he doesn't have to carry as big of a load with hopefully the production part um but I'm fully confident the way he's played in the spring and this summer um that he's going to be able to have a really good year uh and just basically go from where he was at the end of last year I know uh you know he's really excited looking forward to just ending it the right way and um and doing what ever's got to do to to help us be successful they're good and bad with the non-conference schedule just do you what do you like what don't you like do you wish there were more power four so to say programs on there you know I love it um I think and again sometimes the hardest thing uh for fans to grasp fully is so much of it can be a numbers game and you look at our first year um we played at Mississippi State and at pit I think Mississippi state was the NIT team and pit didn't have a very good year then we played in a tournament with Western Kentucky and Princeton Princeton was really good and Western Kentucky I think won 19 games well we win those games and I think we were comfortably in in those you know whatever early early tournament predictions so you look at those numbers and we kind of tried to do the same thing as best we could this year um you know know we're in a tournament you don't know who you're going to get there's a chance we could have had Waker Florida in the first game and had him in the second game but you look at wake and Florida and where they're at I think both those teams are ahead of Mississippi State and Pittsburgh from our first year and then you know you take Yale who I think is going to be right up there to win the league going to have great numbers going to win 20 games and then North Texas is very similar to Western Kentucky in terms of you know they're going to be very competitive in their league so you know I think it's it's a give and take you don't always know you don't I you don't know your team fully and you don't know the other the other teams so sometimes it's like all right do you roll the dice and go with the team that ququ might not have the name but you know over the course of the year has been really good in their league versus if you play sometimes a power five team but they're not good in their league the game does you nothing so it's great to have a name but if they finish bottom four the numbers you know don't matter so you try to have the balance you try to make as competive as possible um you know it gets harder and harder now with just the portal and with you know just neutral sight tournaments and and neutral sights games and so um you know you just try to do the best you can you like being on on an affair a day like today where it's a chance to engage the fan base maybe a less formal setting than what we normally have yeah no no without a question um you know I think anytime you're able to walk around and and engage with the fan base we'll have our team out here today um you know for the fans to be able to to talk to our guys and see our guys and I mean we're we want to be as part of this community uh as much as possible and want to be you know representation of of this great state and uh this a great opportunity to do that you're coming off season you win 19 games you win game do you start to feel like you're you know you're building something here does it feel like this you know you're on the pace to take the next next step yeah I think you know if you look at kind of the course of where we started um you try to have a plan and I think we've progressively you know gotten better as far as our program and where we wanted to get to and for for year three you have a kid drafted you win nine League games you win 19 games you make postseason you win a you win a game in postseason on the road those are all really good steps and so now we just got to find ways to continue uh that progression and now I want our guys to view themselves as winners like we don't have to teach that like we did last year where now it's carryover and again it was intentional to have older guys that understand that message and I want them to have that confidence in our building um and to realize that what we did we don't want that to be a fluke and you got to act like it you talked about C getting drafted um I know there's not that pressure on on Isaac Asim but you know you seen from him from this summer what have you seen yeah no I'm um obviously a huge fan I mean we were both him and Grayson um physically they're they're in a great spot um not built like a typical freshman which will help um but Isaac's ability I mean he's he's not obviously as tall as cam but there's a lot of similarities with just IQ feel play the right way um you know a development type player where they understand you got to put the work in um you know I think he's going to have an extremely bright future really really excited uh to get him now fully ingrained in our program what's the key focus when you have so many new transfers again what are the things you need to work on and how much of that is kind of refined after having done it multiple years acclimating guys in the program it does it it reminds me so much a year one um you know older and and new bodies that's the hardest challenge is how quickly can you get everybody on the same page and I think it's just a relatable thing I think I don't know if you guys watched the Florida State football game they played Georgia Tech the other night and I want to say I was talking with PJ I think last year's team there was a lot of turnover and that helped them be really successful I think this year's team there was a lot of transfers that were talented but there were a lot of new transfers and it just goes to show like it takes time you know and early in the year you're going to have some ugly games some ups and downs you're going to have some doubts um it just it takes time you just got to state of course thankfully we've been there I've been there um but it's you know how quickly can we get guys acclimated that's why for this year is the first time ever we've done two exhibition games I didn't want to do a close scrimmage I want these guys to play in Williams Arena behind fans with refs to get those game reps it's not a a close scrimmage I wanted you know liuk kai to play in front of family as soon as possible so that the first game wasn't the second time like he gets that out the way um I think all that little stuff you know to me at least whether matters or not matters to me um but I just think those game reps are so key and um and again that's why I like this team the maturity of them think they understand it there's an urgency to them that understands that um and there's an IQ that gets that what's that what are your here oh man um you know I want to try I hope I don't get this name wrong I think it's like Eddy which has a new Philly cheese steak somebody hit me on uh I want to try that um that's on the radar the Donuts is always on the radar it's a long line yeah it always is uh and maybe some strawberry milk you mentioned talking about PJ how long how often do you guys chat about stuff kind of what's a relationship like with him Coach to coach yeah no it's it's always as you guys know great to pick his brain I he's doing this a long time and uh he's got a really good view of not only the landscape but of Minnesota and and what makes it you know successful here and what you have to do to be successful because I think every school is different but to have a coach that's been here for a long time and has success and understands the uniqueness of the spot that we're in the different challenges the different positives um to be able to have that you know kind of back and forth at least it helps me um so I always you know look forward to you know picking his brain um and just seeing kind of what he thinks of certain things in the landscape and how he's navigating stuff um because because there's there's a lot of similarities and and it's uh sometimes when you're at the topic can be lonely so to be able to have somebody that you can bounce ideas off is always a good thing