Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard is being called the silent assassin from time to time but that should apply, too, to the whole team because of the way they quietly kill naysayers. How did they do it? Max Klesmit lets people in.
The Badgers recently climbed to no. 3 in the Big Ten and are the highest ranked team in their conference based on the Associated Press Top 25 College Basketball ranking.
Their current status is a far cry from what the critics said about them before the season started.
The team was predicted to finish 12th place in the standings. Critics can’t be faulted though because of their abysmal end to 2024 and many players who have departed via the transfer portal.
Some were also not big on the signing of John Tonje, which is a shame because of the way the graduate guard is playing right now and how he punishes defenses during crunch time.
There are still five games to go and the Badgers can still get better as they are favored to win against their upcoming opponents.
Max Klesmit on Wisconsin Badgers’ work this season
Badgers always seem to have a new hero each game since they lost three straight last December.
That may be because of the way their mindset were conditioned and prepared during the offseason.
Klesmit was asked by 247 Sports about the 12th place finish they got from critics and how they were able to disprove naysayers.
He credited the team chemistry and how they are all on the same page.
“I think our coaching staff, earlier in the pre-season, did a really good job preaching that we have what we have in this locker room, and it is going to work,” he said.
“We all need to be on the same page, we need to be together, and nobody is bigger than what we have in here. And, I think that everybody really bought into that. What I thought people bought into even more, is we can’t have outside noise and outside conflict kind of mess up what we have going on in the locker room, and the swagger and the moxy that we carry ourselves with.”
He added that they got a group of guys where everyone has something to prove and they are bonding over that.
“I think when you’ve got a band of brothers like that, all on the same page, together, you can accomplish anything. I think if we were the tennis team, we could be the best tennis team in the conference (laughs). I think that is all it is, the same like-minded guys in the locker room.”
The team has a chance to stretch their winning streak to six when they host the Oregon Ducks on Saturday.
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