The Wisconsin Badgers lost to the James Madison Dukes on Friday night 72-61. Wisconsin appeared to find its game back in the BIG10 Tournament before flaming out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Badgers found themselves trailing 33-20 at the half to the Dukes.
Wisconsin finished the season with a 22-14 record and it will be interesting to see what happens for this basketball program this offseason. Tyler Wahl will graduate from the Badgers basketball program and he is going to be a huge loss for this team.
Connor Esesgian already has entered his name in the transfer portal. Is it possible that AJ Storr will also enter the transfer portal for the Badgers? That would be a huge loss for Wisconsin if he entered again after playing for the St. John’s Red Storm before this season.
Some of the key players who will be returning are Steven Crowl, Chucky Hepburn, Max Klesmit, and John Blackwell. Head coach Greg Gard is going to have to hit the transfer portal to replace Tyler Wahl on the roster for next season and maybe make another move or two depending on what happens.
Wisconsin Badgers Head Coach Greg Gard Is Staying After the Loss Against the James Madison Dukes
For the Badgers fans who want Gard fired and not back for the 2024-2025 season, that is not going to happen. Wisconsin made it to the tournament once again under his tenure. He has been the head coach for this program since the 2015-2016 season when Bo Ryan retired.
Greg Gard will be back for the program and is under contract for the next few years. Wisconsin should be a decent team again next season. At one point this year, the Badgers were ranked sixth in the country, and then once the month of February hit, they went into a cold spell.
Some doubted they were an NCAA Tournament team and fans were calling for him to be fired and they still are. The Wisconsin Badgers will need to win a couple of games in the NCAA Tournament next season for the fan base to be happy.
A lot of fans were not happy that they were not prepared to play against the James Madison Dukes. A lot of them were not happy that the Duke Blue Devils easily beat James Madison on Sunday. If Wisconsin does some how miss the tournament next season, then replacing head coach Greg Gard could be a conversation worth talking about.
