Steven Crowl knew the challenges that awaited him in 2023.

Slowly growing into his 7-foot frame and getting a sense of Big Ten basketball acumen over two seasons, Crowl approached the summer like a man with nothing to lose. His running mate, senior Tyler Wahl, saw things in a similar fashion.

With the graduation and transfer of three forwards, a pair of Minnesota natives would be leaned on heavily on Wisconsin’s coaching staff and a roster of young, unproven players. As a byproduct, the pair try to rely on the other to help the Badgers navigate a crowded Big Ten conference.

“Last year we were trying to figure it out,” Wahl said of his chemistry with Crowl. “We had a lot of new guys in the starting lineup trying to get a feel for each other … We know what each other likes to do, know where we want the ball, where our spots are. We’ve been doing a good job of getting each other involved in the offense.”

The numbers confirm that both forwards are having the best seasons of their respective careers. Crowl leads the Badgers in rebounds (7.1 rpg) and field goal percentage (.487) while ranking third with 11.3 ppg and second with 2.6 assists per game.

Wahl has posted double-doubles in two of the last three games and is averaging 11.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game.

But heading into the regular season finale tonight against Minnesota at Williams Arena, 25 minutes from where Crowl played high school basketball and 26 miles from Wahl’s high school gym, Wisconsin (16-13, 8-11 Big Ten) is on the precipice of missing the NCAA Tournament for the second time in five seasons.

There are a lot of reasons why UW finds itself in the position it's in, but one can be traced to the wear, tear, and burden on the two starting forwards.

Crowl has started all 29 games and is averaging 30.9 minutes, 896 minutes of court time that surpasses his career-high set in 33 games last season. Wahl missed three games due to injury but is averaging 31.6 minutes in his appearances (820+ minutes). Reserve forward Carter Gilmore has logged nearly 545 minutes this season, but the Badgers have no other low-post player in their rotation.

Wisconsin hasn’t had two frontcourt players over 1,000 minutes in a season since 2018 when Ethan Happ played 1,017 and Khalil Iverson had 1,003. Ironically, that was the last time UW didn’t play in the postseason.

And the makeup of Big Ten rosters this season has afforded Wisconsin no breaks, including tonight. The Gophers (8-20, 2-16) have three forwards coming off a confident performance. Jamison Battle hit the buzzer-beating three-pointer on Thursday night to beat Rutgers, ending the Gophers' 12-game losing streak and capping a 20-point performance from him. Forward Dawson Garcia finished with 19 points and seven rebounds while freshman Pharrel Payne has continued his late-season surge with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Wisconsin has used Wahl, Crowl, and Gilmore together on the floor in practice but has been reluctant to do so in games, choosing to keep one in reserve to give one of the others a breather or use for foul trouble.

It’s a sign of how the college game has changed over the last decade, with teams wanting to play smaller rather than bigger due to the easier ability to switch defensive assignments.

“(College Basketball Hall of Fame Coach) Rick Majerus had a quote about switching, the open shot is more dangerous than trying to find the mismatch,” head coach Greg Gard said. “It takes time between shot clock and throwing the ball away. You think switching it and get a little guy on a big guy, or vice versa, it’s not as easy to take advantage of that. It’s easier to take advantage of not switching, not getting the ball stopped, not covering a pick-and-pop shooter, and giving up an open shot. We’ve done probably more exchanging to make sure the ball is always covered more than anything.”

Being a team that is smaller in stature compared to past iterations has had mixed results, Wisconsin ranks No.23 nationally in kenpom.com’s adjusted defensive efficiency (95.0 points per 100 possessions) but the Badgers are last in the conference in rebounding (31.2) and rebounding margin (-4.4).

It is part of the reason why Wisconsin is 4-7 in games decided by five points or less or in overtime since mid-January, including Thursday’s 63-61 defeat to No.5 Purdue in which the Badgers didn’t score in the final 3:30 with no offensive rebounds.

“It’s pretty frustrating,” Wahl said. “We’ve been playing well enough to win and we just haven’t been able to get it done.”

This was the season that both players were expected to make a big leap. Wahl – the lone healthy senior on the roster – was having a banner season averaging 14.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game until he suffered an ankle injury against Minnesota on January 3. He watched his team lose the three games he missed and has struggled to round his game back in form.

Crowl knew he needed to take a step forward physically after getting his first starting experience last season (8.8 points in 33 starts). He spent the summer getting stronger, adding between 10-15 pounds so he could handle the physicality in the low post. Since arriving with the program, Crowl has added roughly 33 pounds to his frame.

The physical and mental growth has been noticeable in Crowl’s fouls. While inconsistencies in officiating have caused him to be whistled for offensive fouls in conference play, Crowl is averaging a foul every 14.1 minutes, significantly better than last season (a foul every 9.9 minutes).

"Steve is one of the best big men I have ever played with," junior Jordan Davis said. "He’s a smooth operator. He can find you in the post and create for himself in the post, too. He has really good vision and court awareness. He has a feel for the game and knows when guys are coming to double team him. He’ll kick it out and find an easy shot, or go one-on-one with the guy and score really easily."

When the two are on the floor together and producing, the Badgers have had success with a 7-3 record in conference play. When both players have been limited to single digits, like they were on Thursday, the Badgers are 0-5.

The effort is there, according to Wahl, but the question is does UW’s starting frontcourt have enough gas left in the tank to sneak the program into the field of 68?

“I feel like we’re in the games,” he said. “If the effort wasn’t there, we wouldn’t be in them. We’d be getting blown out. Credit to this team. We show up every day, try to get better even with all the ups and downs we’ve been going through.”

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