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Wisconsin will enter the 2021-22 college basketball season with plenty of new faces, and after an off-season filled with controversy, that’s probably a good thing. This is one of those rare years when a printed out roster should be within reach for the first few games of the season to help identify who everybody is.
Wisconsin fell way short of expectations last season with a senior-heavy roster, and its second round exit from the NCAA Tournament preceded one of the strangest off-seasons you’ll ever see. Former assistant coach Alando Tucker was not brought back for a third season because — as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported — he tried to undermine Greg Gard in a plot to work his way up to the head coaching position.
Additionally, an edited 37-minute audio file was leaked to the Wisconsin State Journal of a Feb. 19 meeting between the coaching staff and 7 seniors, who criticized Gard, though no media outlet has been able to confirm who leaked the recording.
Tucker was replaced by Sharif Chambliss, and 6 of the 7 seniors are no longer on the roster as the new wave of Badgers is set to get started. Expectations are low by Wisconsin standards (perhaps a fringe NCAA Tournament team), but it should be exciting to watch this group grow together this season and over the next few years.
Best player
Sophomore guard Johnny Davis is unquestionably the most talented player on the roster, and he should be ready for a huge season. Davis was not as aggressive as he should’ve been last season, but that can be a tough thing to do as a freshman playing on a veteran-led team. He came off the bench in all 31 games and averaged 7 points. While he did not shoot a ton of 3-pointers, he knocked down 38.9% of them with an overall field goal percentage of 44.1.
A hesitancy to be aggressive and get to the rim should not be an issue moving forward because this is Davis’s team now. It would be a major surprise if he doesn’t finish the season as the team’s leading scorer. Over the summer, Davis competed on the USA Basketball team that won the gold medal at the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup in Latvia, and he says that experience has given him a ton of confidence heading into a season where he will be relied on heavily.
Biggest strength
The biggest strength on Wisconsin’s team could be the hunger of many of the younger and incoming players. Coming into last season, everybody understood their role with almost every contributor returning. Now, many players need to prove themselves to earn minutes.
Brad Davison and Tyler Wahl are the only returning upperclassmen who were a part of Wisconsin’s regular rotation last year. Everybody else is in a position where they need to solidify their role. With new transfers and young players looking to carve out spots, there should be a healthy competition for playing time, especially early in the season.
Biggest weakness
Few of these players have been through the physical grind of a B1G season. Davis, Davison and Wahl are the only players who received regular minutes throughout the season last year. Wisconsin is losing a ton of production on both ends of the floor from last season.
Key to the season
The key to the season will be how quickly this group will come together. Last year’s team didn’t seen to have as much fun or the same type of team chemistry as it did the previous season when the Badgers went on an 8-game winning streak before COVID-19 shut down college basketball.
After the offseason fallout, it made sense that last year’s season played out the way it did. When one of the assistant coaches is reportedly telling players not to listen to the other coaches on the staff, that certainly could cause some issues.
Wisconsin will move forward with experienced and proven assistant coaches and a roster full of potential ready to buy in. The Badgers could struggle early, but if things start to click, they could be a tough team down the stretch.
Scouting the backcourt
Davis and Davison are clearly going to be the backcourt starters, and there is a good understanding of what to expect from them. Davis should be the star of the team and have a real breakout season, and the offense should run through him. Davison is the old man of the group and in addition to being a very good 3-point shooter, he will continue to make all the gritty hustle plays, take charges and drive opposing fans crazy.
Elsewhere in the rotation, expect to see plenty of true freshman Chucky Hepburn off the bench as a pass-first point guard. Gard has been cautious in not hyping Hepburn up in interviews, but Hepburn will make a big impact early. Junior Jahcobi Neath will see the floor as a transfer from Wake Forest known for his 3-point shooting ability.
It will be interesting to see how much we see of freshman Lorne Bowman II, who left the team last September to deal with a family medical issue and never returned during the season.
Scouting the frontcourt
As one of the few but proud people who spent $10-ish to watch Wisconsin’s exhibition game against Division III opponent UW-Whitewater, I got an early idea of what the starting 5 would look like. If things stay the same, Wahl and sophomores Ben Carlson and Steven Crowl will be in the starting lineup on opening night.
Wahl has operated as more of a role player who is aggressive on the boards and holds his own defensively, and it’s possible we see his offensive game develop as a junior. Carlson is a sophomore who would’ve been part of the rotation last season if not for an upper body injury that forced him to miss most of the season, and he will be relied on a ton. Crowl is a 7-footer who appeared in 12 games as a freshman, and he will see a ton of tough matchups against the bigs of the B1G.
Behind the projected starters, Carter Gilmore played in just 9 games as a freshman last season but earned a scholarship this offseason and will likely see the floor regularly. The Badgers brought in 7-foot, 257-pound senior Chris Vogt, who has played for Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati during his career.
A wild card in this group is true freshman Markus Ilver, who is from Estonia and moved to the United States with the goal of getting attention from coaches and earning a college scholarship.
Predicting how far they’ll go in March
A roster like Wisconsin’s heading into the 2021-22 season is always fascinating, because with so many new players coming from all over the place, it’s impossible to predict what will happen. Actually, it is possible, and I’ll do it right here.
The Badgers could struggle to find a rhythm early in tough non-conference games, including against the teams featured in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in Las Vegas. In conference play, Wisconsin benefits from a B1G slate that features Michigan, Iowa and Illinois just once during the regular season.
Eventually, players will understand their roles as different lineup combinations are tested early in the year, and Wisconsin will find a groove. After a slow start, the Badgers will get hot in February and finish 8th in the toughest conference in college basketball and crack a spot in the First Four. With a win, they’ll get that First Four bump and pull off the 12-5 upset before their season ends in a second-round loss to a No. 1 seed for the second year in a row. Wisconsin will head into the offseason with a bright future with nearly the entire roster coming back the following season.
Erik Buchinger brings his vast experience covering Wisconsin and B1G football to Saturday Tradition. Follow him on Twitter @DeceptiveSpeed.