The Wisconsin Badgers have been struggling down the stretch and a lot of fans have been unhappy with head coach Greg Gard as of late. After such a promising and surprising start to this season, the Badgers have fallen back down to earth and the fans are ready to get move on from Gard after this season.
The truth of the matter is, they may not get their wish. There are records as to why Greg Gard would come back for the 2024-2025. First of all, Wisconsin has him under contract for at least another few years, and just received a contract extension from the school.
This season, the Badgers have an 18-10 record and a 10-7 record in the BIG10 Conference. For some strange reason, Wisconsin is projected to be a five-seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. Their best win of the season was no doubt back on Saturday, December 2 against the Marquette Golden Eagles and they are now ranked fifth in the country.
The Wisconsin Badgers Have Had More Success Than Not Under Head Coach Greg Gard
Gard has been the head coach of the program since 2015-2016 when Bo Ryan retired the year after they reached the Final Four before losing to the Duke Blue Devils in the National Championship Game. His record up to this point with the Badgers basketball program is 182-103. He has won over 63% of his contests and that is very hard to do in college basketball.
Greg Gard is 53 years old. He only missed the tournament in 2017-2018 and also last season. Wisconsin could also miss the tournament this season, but the odds are of that happening feels slim for some strange reason. The Badgers in the final three games of the regular season will face the #13 Illinois Fighting Illini, the #2 Purdue Boilermakers, and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
They have been to the NCAA Tournament five times under Gard and it would have been six in 2019-2020 had they not canceled due to COVID-19. This should be the sixth time they make it to the big dance under him as head coach.
For a team that was supposed to underachieve this season and that had a lot of question marks entering 2023-2024, they have been better than expected. Max Klesmit, Tyler Wahl, Chucky Hepburn, and A.J. Storr have been some of the key players this season for Wisconsin.
As long as the Badgers make the tournament, don’t expect them to make a coaching change for the 2024-2025 season. If a collapse happens and they miss the NCAA Tournament, then other talks could be had. Wisconsin should have at least 20 wins before March Madness begins. As long as they beat Rutgers and beat whoever they face in the BIG10 Tournament, that’s good enough.
Beating Illinois or Purdue would officially lock them into the big dance for this season. Head coach Greg Gard understands he is feeling the heat from the Wisconsin Badgers fanbase, but the only noise he needs to pay attention to is the one inside the locker room.
