10/18/2016 basketball Edit

Badgers boast experienced, talented roster as season approaches

John Veldhuis • BadgerBlitz

Senior Writer

John Veldhuis has covered Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network since 2012.

The Wisconsin men’s basketball team might be set to return all of last year’s top nine scorers from last year, but head coach Greg Gard made it clear during his pre-season news conference on Wednesday that nothing is set in stone for UW in his first full season at the helm- at least not yet.

“It’s been extremely competitive,” Gard said of his team’s effort in their practices so far. “I think everybody sees that there’s a lot of potential here in terms of who could be on the floor. They understand that there’s going to be some scraps for minutes in terms of who’s going to be out there.”

The Badgers return all but six points and 15 minutes played from last year’s squad, which made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament as a seven-seed after knocking off Xavier before falling to Notre Dame in the East Region. The only departures from last year’s team are senior walk-on Jordan Smith, who played nine minutes in seven games for UW, and sophomore guard Riley Dearring, who elected to transfer after playing in three games for the Badgers last year.

The bulk of last year’s team remains, including senior forward Nigel Hayes, who was named the Big Ten’s preseason Player of the Year last week. Hayes toyed with leaving school early for the NBA, but elected to return for his senior season after he declared for the draft but didn’t sign with an agent. Hayes led the Badgers in minutes played and averaged 15.7 points per game, shooting 36.8 percent from the floor as a junior.

Senior point guard Bronson Koenig is also back for his final year with the Badgers, after he averaged 34.9 minutes and 13.1 points per game in his first full season running the floor for UW. Gard said that Koenig has taken a big step forward in his consistency between his junior and senior seasons, both in terms of his physical traits and his on-court leadership.

“He’s physically gotten a lot better,” Gard said of Koenig. “When you guys see him (in practice) you’ll notice a difference in terms of quickness level, speed with the ball, quickness with the shot. He’s become much more consistent.”

“I think that’s the biggest thing for him is we knew physically he had to take a step, and he’s done that. He’s really dedicated himself to diet and conditioning and sleep patterns and all those things that the elite players understand that eventually they have to do. He’s been fun to watch so far.”

Sophomore forward Ethan Happ is also back after he broke on to the Big Ten scene in a big way as a freshman, averaging 12.4 points per game in 28.1 minutes per game. Happ was UW’s leading rebounder last year and shot 53.8 percent from the floor, and Gard said he is excited about the steps Happ has taken over the last few months.

Seniors Vitto Brown and Zak Showalter are also set to return after they both played in all 35 games for the Badgers last year. Brown, a 6-foot-8 forward, averaged 9.7 minutes per game and had some ups and downs as a junior, but came up big for the Badgers down the stretch and scored double-digit points in five of UW’s last seven games last year. Showalter, a 6-foot-3 guard from Germantown, Wis., averaged 7.5 points in in a little over 31 minutes per game for the Badgers.

And while that group of five players appears likely to hold on to their starting roles, the Badgers do have a strong supporting cast of second and first-year players who Gard said have a chance to challenge for more minutes this year. Forwards Charlie Thomas and Alex Illiakainen along with guard Khalil Iverson all played in at least 30 games for the Badgers as freshmen last year, and the Badgers will have freshman guard Brevin Pritzl and sophomore forward Andy Van Vliet available after Pritzl took a medical redshirt last year and Van Vliet had to miss his first year with the team due to an NCAA eligibility issue.

It all adds up to a deep, experienced roster for the Badgers, who could be strong contenders in the Big Ten for a regular season title- and more, if things break their way.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a group that doesn’t come in with an expectation of trying to win the Big Ten Championship,” Gard said Wednesday. “And then when you get to that point if you can compete in this league then you know you have a chance nationally.”

John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.