In fewer than 15 months, Carson Johnson went from redshirting at a Division II school to becoming the best player in the Summit League.

The Denver sophomore guard was named Summit League Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year Tuesday, becoming the second player in the program’s modern Division-I era (since 1998) to earn conference Player of the Year honors, joining Yemi Nicholson, who was named Sun Belt Player of the Year in 2004-05 and earned Associated Press All-American honors.

But this wild ride is one that Johnson fully believed would happen.

“Honestly, yeah,” Johnson said when asked if he expected instant success at DU. “It sounds kinda bad saying that, but when you put in the work and you really are about it, you just have that confidence in yourself. Anything is possible.”

Over the past 11 months, Hamilton Gymnasium became Johnson’s sanctuary. Yes, you can find him there on game days putting up huge stat lines for the Pioneers as the Summit League’s leading scorer at 22.5 points per game in conference play. But the work he put in before and after practice — with teammates and by himself — that fueled the Iowan’s historic season in crimson and gold that is still not over.

“It’s easy for me to say, but I’m not surprised at all,” DU coach Tim Bergstraser said. “We knew when we pulled his redshirt last year that we really believed he’d be doing what he’s doing now. When we made this transition to Denver, I was telling the staff when I was trying to get the job that I believed Carson could contend to be a Player of the Year. I really believed he’d be a guy in that conversation. 

“He’s a special human being. He’s earned everything for who he is as just a person and his work ethic, how he is in the classroom and the community and as a teammate. I’m not surprised one bit.”

Bergstraser and associate head coach Spenser Bland saw something in Johnson as a high school recruit that no one else in the country did. They identified him at an offseason camp and brought him to Minnesota State-Moorhead, where they wanted him to be the program’s future point guard.

That future arrived earlier than expected last season when MSUM lost both of its starting veteran guards and had to pull Johnson’s redshirt shortly before Christmas.

The rest is history. 

Johnson started the final 23 games of his freshman season and led his team in scoring at just under 20 points per game. He also carried them to an NSIC tournament championship and all the way to the NCAA Central Region championship game.

Along with three other players and Bland, Johnson followed Bergstraser to Denver last offseason and there was never any expectations of a rebuilding year. That group came to the Mile High City to win and knew it was possible right away because of Johnson.

“That was one of the things that sold me out of high school,” fellow sophomore Shaun Wysocki, who also came to DU from MSUM, told The Denver Gazette. “(Bergstraser) just being one of those guys that doesn’t fear anyone. We don’t take anything for granted, don’t take any days off. We’re here to win games, here to win championships. I knew when he got the job here (at DU), it was gonna be the same thing. I knew it wasn’t gonna be a rebuild whatsoever.”

DU finished the regular season at 15-16, surpassing last year’s win total by four games, and with an 8-8 record in the Summit League, the program’s first .500-or-better record in conference play since 2017-18. The Pios next go to Sioux Falls, S.D., for the Summit League tournament as the No. 6 seed. They will face No. 3 North Dakota on Friday for a spot in the semifinals.

They’ve notched wins against just about every team in the conference, including the trio at the top, and believe they can be the ones cutting down the nets Sunday.

“We have a lot of confidence because we know we’re still not perfect,” Johnson said. “We know we’ve played against some really good teams and we’ve beat them, but we still haven’t played our best basketball. There’s still room to improve every time we step out here. We’ve shown that we can compete with anybody.”

Bergstraser said having talented scorers can often be the difference. Johnson is one.

In addition to leading team in scoring, he has a team-high 94 assists and 85 3-pointers. He has already become the third DU player in the modern D-I era to eclipse 600 points in a season. His 625 points are second-most by a Pios player in a season, trailing only Tommy Bruner (816 in 2023-24).

He’s a sophomore who said he has no plans on leaving DU, believing he doesn’t have to go elsewhere to find a jump up in competition with the program this summer making the move to the West Coast Conference.

“I’m just super excited about that,” Johnson said. “When I was coming out of high school, (Bergstraser) was the only one that really truly believed in me, him and (Bland). Being able to make this jump with them, it means the world to me because I’m with the guys that believed in me from the start. I’m excited about the future.”