The 2024 transfer portal was not that kind to the Wisconsin Badgers as some players decided to enter it.
How’s the team doing now? They have an identical record with the overall no. 1 team Purdue Boilmakers.
Coach Greg Gard’s squad are doing just fine despite the departure of the likes of Chucky Hepburn and AJ Storr.
Among the notable players they were able to retain are seniors Max Klesmit and Steven Crowl who both decided to play for a fifth season with them. How were the Badgers able to stay competitive?
Gard credits his coaching staff and their approach to recruitment for it.
“Well, I’ve got really good players. And, you can’t win at a high level like this, without really good players. That’s the nature of this era that we are in, especially in college basketball and the transient nature of it,” he told reporters after their win over Iowa Hawkeyes.
“We were kind of the trendsetter of it as a sport, but, our staff did an amazing job of putting together this roster, and who we were going to select in the transfer portal, in putting the team together.”
Crowl and Klesmit, together with scorers John Tonje and John Blackwell, are playing like they are on a mission lately.
The team is on a three-game winning streak although if they were not upset by UCLA, it would have been a 12-game winning streak.
Greg Gard credits team chemistry
Some program go after the most talented players. Badgers see talent as complement to team fit.
For Gard, his roster should bring together people who love playing with each other.
Intentionally, putting the roster together, and not having too much of ‘X,’ or not enough of ‘Y,’ and vice versa. And then, it comes down to the chemistry of it, because that can always be a coach’s concern, whether you’re bringing in freshmen, or transfers, and how does this group come together? . . .
. . . You can have a lot of talent, but if you’re chemically imbalanced, it won’t work. You need to have a lot of talent, and the chemistry within this group is strong. This group loves hanging out with each other. It’s a great group of guys on and off the court, and they really have winning number one, on the priorities.
It will be hard to argue against this statement by Gard. The team looks like something programmed in a way that players will have each other’s back.
One time, it was McGee who stepped up when Klesmit was out due to injury. Last few games, it was Gilmore.
Badgers will hope that their great run will continue as they try to avoid the curse that’s been hounding them since 2023 when it comes to tail end performance.
For more great Wisconsin sports content
Follow us @WiSportsHeroics for the latest and trending news about Packers, Brewers, Bucks, Marquette, and the rest of Wisconsin Sports. Stay updated by reading more of our Wisconsin Sports articles by clicking here and college basketball by clicking here!
