It’s been a little over a month since the Wisconsin basketball season ended in Brooklyn. The Badgers fell to James Madison the dreaded 5-12 matchup. Since then, Wisconsin basketball has lost a number of impact players including Tyler Wahl, AJ Storr, Chucky Hepburn, and Connor Essegian.
Over the last week, the Badgers have landed three transfer players to replace Wahl, Storr, and Hepburn, They are Cameron Hunter, Xavier Amos, and John Tonje, With the new additions and freshman guard Daniel Freitag, here is how I see the roster currently looking.
Wisconsin Basketball Projected Starters: Cameron Hunter, Max Klesmit, John Tonje, Xavier Amos, Steven Crowl
I think this seems like a clear starting five. Greg Gard did not bring in these transfers to come off the bench. They would be wasting their time if that was the case. Hunter did not play last season, but averaged 17 points a game in 2022-2023 for Central Arkansas. At 6’2 and almost 200 pounds, Hunter should be one for the stronger guards in the Big Ten.
Amos, the transfer for Northern Illinois, has a ton of promise in this game. He averaged almost 14 points a game last year, including 27 points at Northwestern. Add in his 38% three point shooting percentage, Wisconsin basketball might have found a steal in the portal.
Tonje just committed today. He played at Missouri last season. After only playing in eight games last year because of injury, Tonje committed to play for New Mexico just a few days ago. However, Gard was able to flip Tonje. At 6’6 and 210 pounds, hes a slightly smaller version of AJ Storr.
Klesmit and Crowl are the staples of this starting lineup and will be the leaders on this team. They both had solid seasons last year and will be asked to lead and produce again in 2024-2025.
Wisconsin Basketball Projected Rotation Players: John Blackwell, Kamari McGee, Daniel Freitag, Nolan Winter, Markus Ilver, Carter Gilmore
Wisconsin basketball has four solid bench players in Blackwell, McGee, Freitag, and Winter. While Freitag will be a true freshman, he is one of the most electric players on this roster already. Blackwell and Winter were really good as freshmen this past season. Blackwell even made the All-Freshman team. The should both push 20+ minutes a night. McGee is the energy spark plug on this team.
I’ll add in Ilver and Gilmore, but it will depend how the game is flowing. The Gard needs offense before the media timeout, it will be Ilver. If it’s to protect foul trouble, it will be Gilmore.
One player I would not sleep on is freshman Jack Robison. He could be a redhsirt candidate, but I could also see him taking some minutes in the rotation too.
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