The expectations never get smaller, either.
They just keep getting bigger.
“The expectations for these kids is quite high,’’ Johnson acknowledged. “Everywhere we go at the start of the season, there’s going to be talk about us defending the national championship.’’
Johnson, obviously, has been down this path before. Not only does he know how to handle the expectations — reasonable or not — he knows what it takes to repeat as a champion.
“My biggest concern is just staying healthy,’’ he said.
Beyond that, it’s handling adversity, whatever form it may take during the season.
“If you lose a game or a couple of games how are they going to handle it?’’ he posed. “If someone gets hurt and they can’t play how are they going to handle that?
“Those are questions that you can’t answer now. But every coach knows that there are always concerns when you’re getting ready to start a season.’’
This particular coach knows that this team can be pretty good.
“We have the pieces to the puzzle,’’ Johnson said.
With one noteworthy exception: Megan Duggan, the school’s all-time leading scorer.
“We’ll miss her competitiveness,’’ Johnson said of Duggan, the 2011 Patty Kazmaier Award winner, who will still be around the program as a volunteer assistant through the first semester.
“I haven’t seen her level of leadership before with any of the captains I’ve had on my women’s teams or on the men’s side when I played. She plays hard, she works hard. She’s such a competitor.
“Hilary has a lot of the same qualities.’’
That would be Hilary Knight, who will captain the Badgers during her senior year.
“They’re different people,’’ Johnson said of Duggan and Knight, “but I think their leadership skills will be very similar. They’re both driven to be the best that they can be.
“If I’m Hilary and I’m sitting back and watching those little moments when Megan stepped in and handled things last season, that’s going to help me this season.’’
Johnson has been around Knight since coaching her when she was 17 on a USA select team.
“Even back then,’’ he said, “her drive and motivation was to try and become the very best female player. That’s what stirs her every day.
