Madison — Wisconsin basketball signed three players out of high school in the 2023 recruiting class. The headliner is four-star big man Gus Yalden, who already has a litany of nicknames and hype as the future of the Badgers' front court. Alongside him is a fellow big man from a familiar place — Nolan Winter out of Lakeville, Minnesota, as well as an all-around guard in John Blackwell from Michigan.

It's a different story from a season ago, as last year the sniper Connor Essegian was Wisconsin's only scholarship freshman signee to join the program. The influx of talent, especially in the front court, is extremely welcome for a team that underachieved a season ago. The returning players like what they see from the three freshman early.

“The whole freshmen class, they just compete. I’ve never seen a group of guys come in so early and not be timid," Essegian said. "Even when I came in, I feel like I wasn’t very timid at all, but these guys have a different energy about them."

While head coach Greg Gard maintains that it's "open season on minutes," Wisconsin returns its entire starting five from last year. Not every starter is locked in, but despite Gard's comments, there's not a lot of minutes up for grabs.

Regardless, if the Badgers want to make it back to the NCAA tournament this season, the crucial minutes to decipher are those coming from the bench. Depth was a big issue for Wisconsin last year, particularly at forward. Thus, the question becomes: how quickly can Winter and Yalden get up to speed?

"It's early. They both have done good things. Gus missed pretty much all of last week in contact situations, but he's been back Monday and Tuesday and has been really good. And Nolan, he obviously caught our attention this summer. I think a little further along than we had envisioned," Gard said. "I'm not bashful to play young guys, I think I've shown that. So just keep competing, just keep getting better every day. They're both a little different. Gus' moxie and IQ. Nolan's IQ is really good too, but he's seven feet, Gus is 6-foot-8, 6-foot-9. Nolan I think can play some at the four. He's shown how he can move and his versatility."

Gard clearly isn't quite ready to assess how quickly his young bigs can contribute. His team, however, thinks their time is quickly approaching.

“They’ve been great. Obviously there’s been the ups and downs, but we’re here to help them through that. They’re learning how to be more physical, and they’ll continue to learn with more scrimmages and stuff as we get into Big Ten play," resident big man Steven Crowl told BadgerBlitz.com.

“I think you’ll see them sooner than later.”

Backup point guard Kamari McGee, now in his second year with the program, agrees with his center.

“I feel like they’ll be ready soon. We have some of the top players in the conference. The bigs are getting beat up every day, Steve is cooking the bigs every day," he said. "John is working with me and Chucky and the rest of the guards, so they’re gonna be ready for sure. I know they’ll have some time, some moments where they’re contributing big, and that’s gonna come in handy.”

While it's early, Wisconsin appears much deeper this season than it was a year ago. The freshman class is a big reason why, and the future looks bright at the Kohl Center.

Without further ado, let's dive deeper into what we can expect from each freshman:

Yalden played high school ball Indiana, but he's a native of Appleton, Wisconsin. That's a big reason why the Badgers were able to hold off other top programs such as Auburn, Iowa, Oklahoma and Maryland to secure the Rivals150 prospect's services.

Much of the hype surrounding Yalden is born out of his viral highlights, which depict a massive high schooler destroying smaller, less skilled competition.

“In high school, I was so much bigger than people so I could just bury them or hit em a couple of times and I’d be able to find my positioning, find my way," he said.

Now, Yalden has slimmed down and dropped about 40 pounds as he transforms his body.

"He changed his eating habits, too. I know he's cut a lot of the junk food and sugars out when I talked to him about it. And that was really on his own decision. That was gonna be something, we would help him get in shape once he got here, but he jumped on it before he ever got here," Gard said.

"So now it's a matter of, he's lost that weight, now how do we add the functional weight and add the strength. I think that's the one thing...getting him stronger while at the same time keeping him lighter of foot and more mobile as he's made himself as he reshaped his body."

What makes Yalden such an intriguing player, though, is that even in high school, he wasn't just a bruiser with his size. The big man has legitimate skills and is an absolute technician in the post.

"Skilled passer, versatile player, knows the game well for a freshman," St. Johns transfer AJ Storr told BadgerBlitz.com. "Big body, big frame so definitely a good player."

“Gus has great footwork down in the paint," forward Marcus Ilver said. "You don’t see that often from a freshman."

Yalden stands a few inches shorter than Wisconsin's seven-foot center Crowl, but the freshman relishes the opportunity to learn from the established big man.

"Being able to play behind Steven Crowl is something that’s been amazing for me this offseason, he’s taught me so much from that five spot," he said. "I think he does a really good job in point action where we throw to him and kind of let him play point guard from there. Whether it’s a pitch ball screen, chase ball screen, pitch and throw…Steve does a really good job making reads off that and throwing off the defense. Being able to guard him has been able to grow my game.”

Tyler Wahl, Wisconsin's starting power forward, has also been part of the mentoring process for Yalden.

“They push me so much by being so good and kicking my ass sometimes," he said candidly.

Yalden's potential is clearly through the roof, but what will it take for him to get minutes early in his career?

“Being able to defend will get me minutes for sure, but I also think being able to be a facilitator and playmaker, being able to get my teammates involved, other players," he said. "Being a well versed, all-around player and giving everything I have for my team all the time is gonna get me on the court.”

If it's not broken, why fix it? For their third and final commit of the 2023 class, the Badgers once again tapped into Lakeville North high school in Minnesota to nab Winter and beat out the in-state Gophers for his pledge.

Lakeville North has given Wisconsin Nate Reuvers and Wahl, as well as class of 2024 verbal commit Jack Robison. Winters is hoping to carry on that tradition of successful big men in Madison.

“To me, Madison is actually a lot like Lakeville," he said. "It’s really low key, you feel like a lot of people know each other in the town. Stuff to do, it’s just lively.”

At 6-foot-11, 210 pounds, Winter is a tall, lanky forward who by all accounts can play at both the four and five. The physical tools are plain to see, but what's really exciting about Winter is his shooting ability for his size.

"Nolan, just a knockdown shooter," Ilver raved. "I mean, he’s still working on his body, he’s gotta get stronger, but his shot will help him a lot.”

As a big man who can bury jumpers, Winter joins Wisconsin at an opportune time. His de-facto mentor Crowl spent the offseason working on improving his outside shot from the inconsistent 30.7 percent he shot from three last season. If all goes according to plan, the Badgers could have several stretch forwards ready to roll sooner rather than later. Still, Winter is fundamentally a post player at the end of the day.

“Me and Steven, he helps me a ton in the post. We go at it in the post and he gives me little tips and tricks, tells me all about the physicality," Winter said. "And I think lately in practice I’ve been doing better taking what he’s giving me, holding my own. Obviously Big Ten, it’s a big boy conference.”

Again, the path to playing time for the freshman bigs is rather limited, but Winter's all-around ability can only help his cause.

"Nolan, he’s another versatile guy. He’s seven foot, can shoot the ball, put it on the floor. (He'll) be great here," Storr said.

Winter will need to earn his minutes from the coaching staff, but he's certainly already earned respect from his teammates, especially from his fellow freshman forward Yalden.

“Nolan’s got one of the brightest futures of anyone on the team," he said. "He can shoot the sh*t out of the ball, rebounds really well, gets to the rim, finishes strong and I think he and I will have a really great career together.”

A product of Brother Rice high school in Boomfield Hills, Michigan, Blackwell was the first commit for Gard in his 2023 class. He was the most lightly recruited freshman the Badgers signed, but he immediately passed the eye test for the staff. Despite being lightly recruited by high-major schools, Blackwell appears to have a very promising future. His high school coach, Rick Palmer, put it very bluntly.

"Give Wisconsin credit," he told BadgerBlitz.com. "They got this right and many other schools got this wrong."

Blackwell is a strong, sticky defender with good court vision as well as a sneaky ability to score. In many veins, he conjures up images of McGee, Wisconsin's junior guard with very similar traits.

“I’ve thought that to myself before. I really see a little bit of me in John," McGee said. "And I love him. I love pushing him, I love when we’re on the same team in practice so I can talk to him, stay in his ear. That’s my little guy.”

Gard runs a very tight ship, a program based on fundamentals and defense. It's little surprise, then, that the Badgers were attracted to Blackwell early.

"I think the best thing about him is his defense," Crowl said. “I think he’ll be a great player here. He’s a bigger guard, he can shoot it, he can handle it."

Blackwell, a self-described "gym rat," isn't lacking an ounce of confidence.

“I’m an all-around player. I do it all," he paused. "In a humble way, I do it all. I rebound, pass, defend, I can play one through three, and I’m just a competitor. I wanna win.”

Blackwell has a big hill to climb early in his career as he chases minutes. Between Chucky Hepburn, Max Klesmit, Essegian, Storr, McGee and even Isaac Lindsey, the Badgers have a copious amount of guards they feel comfortable with on the court. Blackwell maintains that through good practices and bad practices, effort and defense will earn him minutes.

“Compete at all times," he said. "One thing about it, you can be missing shots, your handle might be off, but as long as you compete and play on defense, you’ll most likely stay on the floor.”

Blackwell wasn't the most coveted recruit by big-time programs. And yet, he sounds as if he couldn't be happier where he ended up.

“I love the people, the team, everything, just soaking it all in. I had a break to go back to Michigan, I didn’t want to go back, but I had to. It’s just great to be here. The football game was amazing. Running Bascom Hill, it’s been a pleasure being in Madison.”

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45, @seamus_rohrer, @DonnieSlusher_

*Like us on Facebook