A second player from Wisconsin's 2021-22 roster has entered the transfer portal.
Ben Carlson, a former four-star prospect Minnesota, will look for other collegiate options, according to his post on social media.
A former Minnesota Mr. Basketball finalist, Carlson set school records for career points (2,004), rebounds (1,083), and blocked shots (145). Carlson averaged a double-double in his final two seasons of high school, including averaging 24.3 points and 11.7 rebounds in his 2019-20 senior season.
Carlson is the second player to announce his decision to transfer from Wisconsin this offseason, along with freshman Matthew Mors.
Carlson scored a career-high 13 points in 17 minutes of a 77-67 victory over Eastern Illinois, his first collegiate game, but struggled from that point forward. He suffered a back injury after the Badgers’ seventh game that sidelined him until a brief appearance in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
He played in 32 games this past season, making two spot starts against Providence and Michigan State due to injuries. Largely in a reserve role, Carlson averaged 9.1 minutes and scored 1.6 points, and averaged 2.0 rebounds per game. He struggled mightily with his shooting, going just 1-for-22 from the perimeter, but got better in the low post as the season progressed.
He registered six rebounds in nine minutes against Michigan, scored two points and three rebounds in seven minutes over Purdue, and has at least one offensive rebound in four of UW’s final six games.
“(Ben) understands he has a ways to go,” assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft told BadgerBlitz.com in November. “If you have that approach, we’re going to continue to see progress in every aspect of the game. Being able to go out there and really for the first time in his career to go against like-sized bodies and athletes, now he knows what it’s like. I got a taste of it, I’ve got to improve on some things, go back out and show what I’ve learned. The good thing about basketball is you have test, after test, after test.”
With 25 offensive rebounds in 292 minutes on the court, Carlson is averaging an offensive rebound every 11.7 minutes, second-best behind senior center Chris Vogt (one every 8.3)
The departure of Carlson likely won’t affect Wisconsin’s starting lineup, as senior-to-be Tyler Wahl (11.4 pts, 5.9 rbds) and junior-to-be Steven Crowl (8.8 pts, 4.4 rbds) are slated to return. With sophomore guard Johnny Davis likely to declare for the NBA Draft, Wahl and Crowl will be UW’s two top returning scorers.
The forwards currently listed on Wisconsin’s roster entering next season are junior-to-be Carter Gilmore (0.9 pts in 22 games), sophomore-to-be Markus Ilver (0.5 pts in 8 games), and redshirt freshman Chris Hodges, increasing the likelihood that the Badgers will target forwards in the transfer portal.
The Badgers could have as many as three scholarships to use in the transfer portal for the 2022-23 season.
- Senior Reporter Benjamin Worgull contributed to this report
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