Look Ahead: Wisconsin Roster Headed for Likely Makeover in 2021-22

MADISON, Wis. – As the final seconds ticked down of an underperforming season, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard gave four of his seniors a curtain call.

One by one, Aleem Ford, Micah Potter, D’Mitrik Trice and Brad Davison were subbed out before the final horn sounded in Wisconsin’s 76-63 loss to Baylor Sunday. The four joined their teammates, along with fellow seniors Trevor Anderson and Nate Reuvers on the bench and watched UW’s season end in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

There were a lot of hugs, a lot of tears and a lot of sunk shoulders by a team who fell well short of their goals.

“Honestly, it didn't hit me until I started shaking the hands of the coaches and the players,” Trice said. “It's just tough. It's tough to go out like that as a senior. Time really flies by. I know I've been here for a while and a lot of guys are probably tired of seeing my face, but it really felt like it was a blur.”

Returning the vast majority of a roster that won a conference championship last season, the Badgers (18-13) never could fully correct an inconsistent offense, poor perimeter shooting or sticking to the program’s core fundamentals during critical junctures (defense, turnovers, etc.). All the shortcomings contributed to Wisconsin falling well below preseason expectations in a pandemic-shortened season.

In a Big Ten chocked with talent (nine teams made the NCAA tournament with four being top two seeds), the Badgers finished in sixth place in the league, going 0-9 against the five teams who finished above them and 6-11 against teams who finished the season with a winning record.

Gard was asked about his veteran team's lack of success against the nation’s top teams this past year but instead chose to highlight the overall body of work.

“I've been doing this a long time, and I've never been around a group (of seniors) that's had to endure more over the last two-plus years, going back to Coach Moore and that whole tragedy that they still carry with them,” Gard said. “Rallying and winning a piece of the conference championship last year, having no tournament, which was an emotional blow, and this year having to navigate through a season in the middle of a pandemic and have unprecedented discipline in terms of what they had to follow every day and the protocols. We were one of the few in the country that got through without any pauses or any issues.

“I thanked them for all they've done for this program, going beyond basketball and beyond even this year, because that group of seniors obviously have been through a lot, and they've had great jubilation and some extreme trials. As I told them, that's life. You're going to have some things go your way, and you're going to have some things not go your way. But as long as you're doing the best you can and giving your best effort, that's all we can ask. And they definitely every day gave us all they could.”

How Wisconsin will rebound entering next season will be determined over the next few days, weeks and months. Thanks to the NCAA granting a blanket waiver to all student-athletes this season, all seniors could return for a free year of eligibility, meaning the entire roster in theory could return intact next season.

It’s unknown how many of Wisconsin’s seven seniors (six scholarship players) will return but Trice’s father confirmed to BadgerBlitz last month it’s “highly unlikely” he comes back. Ford, Reuvers and Trice all made posts on Instagram thanking the fans and speaking about the next step in their journeys. Potter – UW’s second-leading scorer – is also likely to move on..

If all seniors don’t return, Wisconsin will have to replace its top five scorers, 68.8 percent of its scoring, 64.6 percent of its rebounds and 79.7 percent of its assists.

However, an influx of young talent might not be a bad thing. The coaching staff has liked the development of forward Tyler Wahl from year one to year two as well as the immediate impact made by true freshman guard Jonathan Davis. And while fans didn’t see much of it on the court this season, UW has two promising young forwards – Ben Carlson and Steven Crowl – who will likely play considerable minutes next season. 2021 signee Matthew Mors – a McDonald’s All-American nominee – could compete for minutes, as well.

“The guys that are here now, Johnny, T-Wahl, Steven and a couple other freshmen obviously got a little taste of it,” Trice said. “Those guys are going to be the leaders of the team next year and the guys that got a lot of the minutes that played this year are going to have to step up in a major way next year with us losing a lot of seniors.

“There's going to be good recruits coming in and a lot of hype around them, so all these older guys -- well, they're younger guys right now but they're going to be considered older guys next year, are going to have to step up in a major way in the off-season.”

One of those recruits is point guard Chucky Hepburn, who led his team to the state championship game the last two seasons and has the skill set to jump right into the mix. The Badgers are also hopeful to have Lorne Bowman back in the fold. He is expected to rejoin the program after initially withdrawing from school to deal with an unidentified family problem.

Either way, UW’s rotation will likely look vastly different but being devoid of talent shouldn’t be a problem. More importantly, the Badgers will likely have a normal offseason strength and conditioning program and have fans returning to the Kohl Center.

Time will tell if it will be a product more successful than the one the cardboard cutouts saw last season.

“The older guys have done a really good job of putting the culture in the right spot and helping guys the younger guys, and that was the intention behind having a bigger younger group coming, be sitting kind of in the wings learning from these guys,” Gard said. “They know there's going to be a lot of work. The older guys didn't get to this point by taking it easy.

“There's going to be a lot of work they're going to have to do in the offseason, starting with spring workouts and strength and conditioning, into the summer, and hopefully we can get back to some sense of normalcy in terms of offseason training, which I think was key for us that we didn't have it last year or this past summer. Hopefully, we can walk back into some sense of normalcy because the off-season is huge for everybody. It's ginormous for our program. We have to have that offseason strength and conditioning component. Not only just summer but spring and into the fall in hopefully a normal pattern where we can really help these guys prepare for what's coming.”