Three takeaways from Wisconsin basketball's Red-White scrimmage

Madison — Wisconsin basketball gave its fans their first glimpse of the 2023-2024 squad Sunday evening, as the Badgers split into two teams and scrimmaged against each other for two halves.

BadgerBlitz.com was on hand, and has compiled takeaways from Sunday's scrimmage:

For all the talk about how difficult it is for freshman big men to adjust to the grind and physicality of the Big Ten, true freshman forward Nolan Winter has looked awfully impressive in the glimpses we've gotten of him this fall. Winter had an excellent performance in the scrimmage, tallying 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-4 from deep. He also grabbed 11 rebounds, two blocks and a steal.

"Im gonna bring whatever the team needs, whatever Coach Gard asks of me. If that's shooting, I'm gonna be ready to shoot every night. I feel like tonight, my shot was feeling good," he said. "Maybe it'll be defensively, using my legs. However he wants me, I'm gonna go in there, work my butt off and do whatever I can."

Not only did Winter fill up the stat sheet Sunday, he looked cool, calm and collected. When guards tried to take him to the rack, he trusted his footwork and his body, and it paid off more often than not. He denied fellow freshman John Blackwell on a lay at the rim on one occasion, and also rejected fellow big man Marcus Ilver.

Winter's highlight play of the evening came on a wild, broken play. Bodies hit the deck, and the ball was miraculously kept in play. With the defense breaking down, Winter spotted Steven Crowl out of the corner of his eye and lobbed it up to the seven-footer, who got just enough ball to complete the alley-oop.

"That little lob at the end, it was just kinda that Minnesota connection, I guess. But yeah I can definitely see myself playing with Steven, he's a really good guy. I've learned so much with him since I've been here. Being able to play with him tonight on the court, working the tandem. Two seven-footers, you don't see that very often. But I think we could get that done in the future for sure."

Winter is currently listed at 6-foot-11, 220 pounds. He's thin out there, for sure. But he's also highly skilled, and he put those skills on display Sunday evening.

"Putting on weight's obviously A1 for me. Being recruited, that's all I heard about. Ever since I was a little kid, I kinda did play a little guard. So being a guard, and growing up with some point guard skills while still having that quickness to me that I can use to my benefit while putting on weight and keeping those point guard skills and shooting, I think that'll really benefit me for my future."

Wisconsin is in desperate need of a serviceable backup big man behind Crowl and Tyler Wahl. Carter Gilmore and Chris Hodges are both back, but time will tell if they've improved enough to earn the requisite minutes. Winter, meanwhile, looks like he's mighty close to being a serious weapon for the Badgers.

One of the biggest storylines of last season was Chucky Hepburn and his inconsistent ability to ice games as the facilitator of the offense. The point guard took a lot of heat for some late game shots and decisions in close contests. An underrated part of that story, however, was Wisconsin's lack of a backup point guard they felt extremely comfortable with.

Kamari McGee, now in his second year with the program, looked like a completely different player at the scrimmage than he did last season. The backup point guard played smoothly and confidently, putting his mark on the game.

The first thing that stands out about McGee is his defense. He's clingy and physical like a press corner in football, and right out of the gate he made his presence felt on that side of the ball. On the Red Team's second possession of the game, he forced a turnover by ripping Hepburn's pockets as he tried to drive to the rim. That set the tone for his performance.

When all was said and done, McGee was credited with two steals. But time and time again, he found his way into the passing lanes, getting his fingers on passes and disrupting the timing of the Red Team's offense.

"I think that's naturally where you'd expect him to be," head coach Greg Gard said of McGee's development. "You could tell that his experience showed at times, where others that haven't had as much experience, they've practiced better...you see the potential there. Just keep working with him and help him, and understand that today, whether it went really well or not so well, today's just one day. So we'll keep working and try to get better."

McGee's defense has been his calling card since he arrived in Madison. Last season, he wasn't much of a factor on offense. That's part of why it made it so hard to replace the great shooter Hepburn with McGee. At the scrimmage, though, McGee looked much more comfortable on that side of the ball.

He finished with six points and three assists, and just looked more settled in than he has been in the past for the Badgers. On one of his buckets in the first half, he took the ball up the court, used a screen and drove to the paint for a nice lay, getting downhill in a hurry. If McGee can continue to improve and provide steady play behind Hepburn, the Badgers just got a whole lot deeper.

Wisconsin's offense was frustrating to watch at times last season. They relied heavily on the three ball, didn't have enough slashers and struggled mightily in late-game situations.

Sunday's scrimmage depicted an entirely different team, one with an ability to score in a wide variety of ways from all over the court. Gard believes that his team is deeper this season, and expects that newfound depth to help play a role in expanding the Badgers' offense.

"Well, I think we're deeper. So if that equates to being able to have more options on the floor, and be less fatigued, not only during the game but over the course of a season," he said. "But we've gotta continue to develop. And development isn't only a skill, it's a mindset, its decisions. I thought Max (Klesmit) was really good in ball screen decisions today. That's something we've worked on, you can tell guys have added experience. Guys that have experience got their teams the easiest shots. Now we've gotta continue to play though the paint. Defensively, putting the groups together that will get the majority of the minutes will help tighten things defensively. I've said all along I like this team because of the depth. We've got some younger guys that are challenging older guys for minutes, so I think everybody understands you can't be complacent. You've gotta perform every day, because we've got a lot of options that can come in and help this team."

Whether it was Connor Essegian displaying an improved handle and layup package at the rim on his drives, or AJ Storr getting way above the rim several times on highlight-reel dunks, this team looked much more diverse offensively. Couple that with the consistent scoring of Crowl and Wahl down low, a barrage of threes from your snipers on the wing — a group Klesmit may join sooner rather than later after hitting 3-of-4 threes — and you have a deep, diverse offense that can threaten you in lots of ways.

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