It’s summer and the off-season in college basketball. However, teams like Wisconsin are beginning their summer workouts in preparation for the upcoming season. New players have joined the team and this year will look similar yet different. The Badgers only lost a few players from last year’s team that missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. This year, they are looking to get back into the big dance. While it’s still early, here are my three early thoughts on this year’s team.
The Depth and Overall Talent Should Be A Lot Better
There was a lot of unknowns with the 2022-2023 team. We knew Tyler Wahl, Steven Crowl, and Chucky Hepburn were the big three. The rest was up in the air. It’s fair to say Connor Essegian surpassed expectations as very few thought we would end up being a starter. Max Klesmit turned into a go-to scorer on offense at times as well and was a very good defender. Both players had really nice first seasons. The depth and bench? That was below average to be nice. Most nights it was either Jordan Davis/Essegian or Carter Gilmore getting minutes. As the season went along, Kamari McGee got more minutes and Isaac Lindsey got time too but not consistently.
This year? While Jordan Davis did transfer to Illinois State, the Badgers landed St. John’s transfer AJ Storr. It seems likely Storr could replace Max Klesmit in the starting lineup to go with Hepburn, Crowl, Wahl, and Essegian. Either way, the Badgers have a solid sixth man to go to. The incoming freshman class could all be contributors in one way or another. Gus Yalden will definitely get minutes in the post, John Blackwell could steal minutes at the point, and it feels more likely Nolan Winter could get minutes instead of being a redshirt candidate. Isaac Lindsey should crack the rotation as well as a shooting guard/small forward.
This Team Will Have A Lot Of Experience
Despite missing the NCAA Tournament, Wisconsin was in tournament mode from the middle of February until their loss in the Big Ten Tournament to Ohio State. They won some of those and lost some of those. There wasn’t a lot of experience on this young roster a season ago. Just about all those players return and have anywhere from one to four years of high level experience. I guarantee that will only help as you can’t simulate the speed of the college game. The only way you learn is by experiencing it. It’s fair to say Wisconsin’s eight of their potential nine man rotation will have at least a year of experience.
This Team Could Be A Darkhorse Contender In The Big Ten
It’s easy to remember Michigan State and Purdue. Right now, those are clearly the best teams in the Big Ten and I don’t think it’s close right now. Maryland will be a senior led team and Illinois returns two of their best players from a season ago in Coleman Hawkins and Terrance Shannon Jr. Most of the early bracketologies view Wisconsin as a six or seven seed in the NCAA Tournament. Unless something crazy happens, this team should make the NCAA Tournament.
Could the Badgers be a sleeper team in the Big Ten? I think they can be. The Badgers return their entire starting five from a year ago as well as only one rotation player. Not many teams in the Big Ten and in the country can say that.
To be honest, Wisconsin has no one to blame but themselves for missing the tournament last season. They had the team to do it. They did not play well in the month of February and let late game leads slip away. If they were to have beaten Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament they may have gotten in. Instead, they played arguably their worst half all season in the first 20 minutes. Despite a late push, it wasn’t enough. Players like Chucky Hepburn and Tyler Wahl didn’t have the season we thought they would either. I expect them to play better this year. Realistically, I think Wisconsin could be a third-sixth place team in the conference, but with the overall better depth, talent, and more experience, there’s no reason to believe they can’t hang with the rest of the Big Ten.
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