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Gophers men’s basketball honoring key contributors with Big Warrior Belt this season

andy greder, pioneer press
·6 min read

Once his elementary school classes let out for the day, a young Ben Johnson recalls having 10 minutes to rush to his Minneapolis home before his favorite pro wrestling show started on TV.

Johnson couldn’t wait to see The Ultimate Warrior, enamored with his persona and performances in the ring. Thirty years later, Johnson can still recall the wrestler’s bright face paint and the neon tassels that dangled from around his bulging, bronzed biceps.

“His whole delivery,” the Gophers men’s basketball coach explained on Friday. “It just drew me to him. I’ve never forgotten him.”

Last offseason, Johnson was looking for ways to draw his players together this winter, so he bounced an idea off of J.B. Bickerstaff, a former Gophers player turned head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With his pro wrestling fandom in mind, Johnson has since introduced the Big Warrior Belt to his team this season. After each win, the black-and-gold replica pro wrestling belt is awarded to a Gophers player who best impacted that victory.

It has been slung over the shoulder or fastened around the waist of star players who went above and beyond to get a win. It has been handed to overlooked players who produced one play in a huge moment or provided great unsung defense. It has also gone to the bench-warming walk-on who helped the team prepare in practice that week, and in a twist, to the team manager who has been fighting leukemia.

After each win, the full team will surround the belt honoree for a group photo. (In the elation, some funny poses have been struck.) That picture is then printed, autographed by the warrior and hung up in the Gophers locker room for some posterity.

The Big Warrior Belt will make the trip to Iowa City when the Gophers (15-7, 6-5 Big Ten) play Iowa (13-10, 5-7) at Carver Hawkeye Arena at 2 p.m. Sunday. If they pull out a victory, another honoree will be named, followed by a brief ceremony and photo op.

“I love it,” said Dawson Garcia, the U’s most-valuable player but only a one-time belt winner so far this season. “I think it gives the extra incentive for guys to go out there and try to get that belt — and try to take it from each other. I think it’s a great tradition that we’ve started.”

Johnson said he had the Big Warrior Belt idea in his back pocket for a while and it came in conjunction with “Winners Week,” when Gopher players competed in a variety of activities to try to create a winning culture during preseason camp in September.

This year’s Gophers team is clearly more talented and deeper, but those smaller efforts appear to be contributing to success, too.

“I think it’s a cool way to celebrate who was that warrior for us because that’s what we want to be,” forward Parker Fox said after Cam Christie won the belt with his clutch, 19-point performance in Tuesday’s 59-56 victory over Michigan State. “We want to be that tough team. That team that is full of a bunch of warriors. I feel like if we do that, we will continue to win ball games.”

With nine Big Ten games left in the regular season, Minnesota’s six conference wins so far equal their combined win total across the previous two seasons.

Johnson introduced the belt to the team without getting into too much of the history of his favorite pro wrestler from the 1980s and ’90s. “If I referenced The Ultimate Warrior, our guys would have zero clue,” Johnson said with a laugh. “Then you gotta do the breakdown video and all that.”

Outside of the 13 other Big Ten teams, Johnson often says he has to compete against human nature.

“Human nature is I enjoy winning but I like for it to be on my terms,” the coach said. “What we’ve tried to create here is the individual piece is important, but it can’t override what we are doing as a team and that every single person in our locker room matters. It’s not always the guy who is going to get the shine in the paper or in social media.”

Ten of the 15 Gopher players have won the belt and only four have won it multiple times.

“I firmly believe that when you have a team that has good talent and has depth, sometimes the only thing that can splinter you is yourself,” Johnson said in January. “It’s finding ways to keep that locked in and united and keep guys motivated.”

After each win, Johnson will have an idea of who the big warrior recipient will be, but he consults with his staff before making the pick.

After a December win over Maine, players spoke up, wanting to give it to Erick Reader, a walk-on forward who didn’t even play in the nonconference game. Reader, of Bloomington, had brought effort to the scout team in practices that week and ended up getting hurt before the game. Teammates didn’t forget his contribution.

“They called that out,” Johnson said of his players. “They were the ones that wanted that. That was kind of cool because Reader is a fan favorite in our locker room because of everything he brings.

“If he doesn’t bring it in practice and give us a great look on scout team, I don’t know if those guys are ready or prepared,” Johnson said. “When he is not out there on scout team, that hurts our team. And our guys unanimously chanted for Reader to get the belt.”

The Big Warrior Belt went to Braeden Carrington on Dec. 6 for his outstanding defense in a win over Nebraska. He won it again on Jan. 7 versus Maryland, a 30-minute effort that served as his second game back after a several-week hiatus to address his mental health.

Earlier this week, the Gophers head student manager Drew Evenson was pictured with the belt over his shoulders with teammates and Johnson surrounding him at the U hospital. The event marked the end of Evenson’s leukemia treatment.

“To me, that is the ultimate warrior,” Johnson said of Evenson. “If anybody deserves a belt, it’s that guy.”

The Gophers program has seen Evenson go through the stages of his health scare.

“It just shows that in our program, everybody is important, every single person — staff, support staff, managers,” Johnson said. “This doesn’t work if not everybody is two feet in to work at a high level. That is what we are going to continue to do and develop and grow. I just think he is as big a part of this team, as anybody, and he deserved that recognition for himself.”

Big Warrior Belt winners

Tuesday vs. Michigan State — Cam Christie

Feb. 3 vs. Northwestern — Pharrel Payne

Jan. 27 vs. Penn State — Parker Fox and Josh Ola-Joseph

Jan. 7 vs. Maryland — Braeden Carrington

Jan. 4 vs. Michigan — Payne

Dec. 29 vs. Maine — Erick Reader

Dec. 21 vs. Ball State — Elijah Hawkins

Dec. 12 vs. IUPUI — Hawkins

Dec. 9 vs. Florida Gulf Coast — Mike Mitchell

Dec. 6 vs. Nebraska — Carrington

Nov. 30 vs. New Orleans — Hawkins

Nov. 21 vs. Arkansas Pine Bluff — Ola-Joseph

Nov. 18 vs. USC Upstate — Payne

Nov. 10 vs. UTSA — Isaiah Ihnen

Nov. 6 vs. Bethune-Cookman — Dawson Garcia

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