Ben Johnson, a sophomore guard on the Northwestern men’s basketball team, has decided to transfer but has not yet been granted a release from the university, his father said Sunday.
“He has asked the director of athletics, Mr. (Rick) Taylor, to release him from the remaining two years of his scholarship,” Hal Johnson said. “And Mr. Taylor has that request on his desk.”
Johnson’s father said his son – who would be the 10th player to leave the program in the past two years – met with Taylor during the past week to request the release. After the season, the two-year starter went home to Minneapolis and finalized the decision with his parents before turning in the necessary paperwork.
But Johnson’s father was quick to say that the family isn’t upset that the request remains in limbo. NU’s coaching staff is in Minneapolis for the Final Four, and Hal Johnson said that might be contributing to the delay in making his son’s transfer official.
“The paperwork or the details or whatever are yet to be worked out,” Hal Johnson said. “I would expect (NU head coach Bill Carmody) is going to be in Minnesota until the final game, and therefore it would be early next week that this kind of an issue could be addressed.”
The Daily’s attempts to reach both the coaching staff and Taylor over the weekend were unsuccessful. Ben Johnson was also unavailable for comment.
Johnson led the team in scoring his freshman year, averaging 11.6 points per game. But former head coach Kevin O’Neill gave him more freedom on offense than Carmody allowed. Johnson saw his minutes decrease slightly this past season, in which he finished as NU’s third-leading scorer at 10.7 points per contest.
Johnson had a season-high 24 points against Iowa in the last game of the Cats’ 2001 campaign.
Once the transfer is official, Johnson will become the third player to depart from the team in 2001. Freshmen Harry Good and Casey Cortez left during the season for undisclosed reasons.
In addition, Johnson would be the 10th player in the past 17 months to leave the program early, including four players who transferred to other basketball programs after Johnson’s freshman year. In 2000 NU won only five games and went 0-16 in the Big Ten.
The Cats showed significant signs of improvement this season, winning three of their last six regular-season games and doubling the previous season’s overall win total. But NU used only eight players in its rotation and depended on all five of its starters, including Johnson, to play 30-plus minutes in many of its games.
Johnson’s father said the decision was not a rash one made at the conclusion of the season, but one made after much deliberation.
“This has not been a spur-of-the-moment decision by any means,” Hal Johnson said. “This is a decision that Ben is choosing to make, and we support him 100 percent as his parents simply because he believes this is something he wants to do and is in his best interest.”
Johnson’s departure will give Carmody four scholarships at his disposal to use for next season. The late signing period for college basketball begins April 11.
Hal Johnson said he does not know which schools his son is considering for next year and doubts that Johnson himself has a list or a favorite in mind. He added that any schools named right now would be pure speculation.
“Ben is very grateful to have had the opportunity to demonstrate his talents at Northwestern,” he said. “What happens after this remains to be seen.”
