The Gophers men’s basketball program welcomed back more than 70 former players for alumni weekend last Friday and Saturday — a sign of support for the U and head coach Ben Johnson, whose seat has warmed amid another losing Big Ten seasone his fourth year.

Johnson was asked Monday how alumni can help him continue to build the program. He thanked them, then quickly changed the subject.

“Alumni is great. I love to have them around — came to pracwtice, came to the game,” Johnson said of the 69-60 loss to then-last place Penn State a week ago. “I just want everybody to know the best support — I don’t care if you’re alumni, if you’re a fan, a season-ticket holder — it’s financial.”

The Gophers have more urgent needs: not finishing in the bottom three in conference standings and missing out on the 15-team Big Ten tournament. But Johnson’s point was to emphasize how name, image and likeness (NIL) funding is the foundational piece to the success of any program — and how that must improve at Minnesota.

That will be true whether Johnson is retained for a fifth season or athletics director Mark Coyle brings in a new coach.

After last season, two key players were plucked off the U roster, with bigger NIL paydays contributing to center Pharrel Payne going to Texas A&M and Elijah Hawkins heading to Texas Tech.

A key question pertaining to Johnson’s future is how much are those losses — from Coyle’s perspective — are chalked up to reasons versus excuses for an rollercoaster season that has included some nice wins but more head-scratching losses and a poor record at Williams Arena.

“I hate harping about it,” Johnson said about NIL funding overall. “I’m not trying to complain about it. I know fans hate hearing about it sometimes. But that is the honest-to-God reality. You look across the college landscape, especially in the spot that we’re in … particularly in men’s basketball. That is the driving factor, the support that you can get financially.”

ESPN reported this week that if Johnson sticks around, he’s expected to have more NIL to spend on next year’s roster. But the Pioneer Press has learned it’s premature to know how much money might be available to spend. It’s also unclear to what extent boosters and NIL collective Dinkytown Athletes are waiting to know what Johnson’s future might be before deciding how much they are willing to spend for next season.

That doesn’t mean they are calling for his head, either. But there is certainty the Gophers roster will need a nearly compete overhaul this offseason. At least seven seniors, including all five starters, are out of eligibility in 2024-25.

Dawson Garcia, one of the Big Ten’s leading scorers with a 19.6-points-per-game average, took a hometown discount to stay at Minnesota for his final year. The Savage native is earning for approximately $500,000, compared to $1 million he could have received elsewhere. Garcia is believed to make up roughly half of the U’s men’s basketball NIL total.

Talents such as the 6-foot-11 Garcia are not cheap and hard to replace.

The Gophers coaching staff and Dinkytown Athletes will need to attract and sign a handful of talented or developing players from the lower levels or college basketball or within the Power Four conferences. This is on top of a few returning players and three incoming high school freshmen.

Next year, college teams will start to build rosters via revenue sharing from their own athletics department. Each school in the Big Ten is estimated to be able to distribute $20 million annually to its student-athletes through revenue sharing. How that money is divvied up by schools remains to be determined.

The Athletic said this week Georgia’s athletics department is expecting to spend at least $13.5 million (66%) on football players. Johnson said Friday that decisions on distribution levels at Minnesota are being made at an administrative level. He didn’t share how it might break down at the U.

The addition of revenue sharing “opens up some doors, and that’s great,” Johnson said.

“But,” he added, “now, all these people know that there’s rev share involved. So, what do you think that’s going to do to the price of things, right? Agents aren’t dumb. Kids aren’t dumb. Like, when they see the numbers of what is being thrown out there as possible rev share, and they see what the Big Ten and the SEC have in terms of money? If you’re an agent and you’re a parent or a player, what’s the first thing you’re thinking? It’s going to drive up the price.”

The addition of revenue sharing is expected to tighten the currently wide NIL gap between the Gophers and their deeper-pocketed competition. Instead of being outspent by, say, four times as much right now, perhaps the U is only outspent by 50%.

When it comes to the overall athletics department budget at the U, the need to begin revenue sharing next year might hinder its ability and/or willingness to pay the $3 million buyout Johnson would be owed if the U fires him this spring.