Minnesota Basketball: Breaking down Gophers 2024-25 non-conference schedule

After managing just six league victories over the previous two seasons, 2023-24 proved to be the high water mark so far for Ben Johnson and Minnesota, with a 9-11 record in the Big Ten. But despite the improved record, the Gophers were never to establish themselves as serious bubble contenders for one major reason: an incredibly weak non-conference schedule.

The Gophers played just one other power conference foe during the course of the non-conference portion of their schedule, and the results weren't encouraging. They choked away a game to Missouri in the friendly confines of Williams Arena, a team that subsequently went on to lose every single game they played in the SEC.

In preparing for the 2024-25 season after a chaotic offseason, the hope among the Gopher fandom was that the non-conference schedule would provide resume-building opportunities and give the program a chance to test themselves out in Year Four of the Ben Johnson era. Instead, the schedule is arguably softer than it was a year ago, although the ESPN Events Invitational provides the team a chance to show their stuff against several other power conference foes.

With such few opportunities to build out their resume before they hit the meat of their Big Ten schedule, Minnesota knows they'll have to impress early on and likely play a near perfect non-conference to have any hopes of a postseason run - there can be no early-season stinkers like there were last fall against Missouri and San Francisco. That's a different type of pressure for Johnson and the Gophers, particularly for a program that has an unfortunate knack for throwing away close games. Whether or not the Gophers can get through this non-conference without any lumps may just decide whether Johnson returns for a fifth year, or not.