Madison — The Wisconsin Badgers basketball team opened their third practice up to the media on Thursday. With the season opener just two-and-a-half weeks away, each practice is becoming more crucial.

BadgerBlitz.com was on hand, and has compiled takeaways from Thursday's practice:

It’s hard to tell how coach Greg Gard ever feels about playing time or rotations, especially regarding players who have yet to actually play. But it’s going to be hard not to play some of these freshmen.

Nolan Winter stood out from the first practice because of his size, as the second-tallest player on the team after Steven Crowl, but his talent is truly beginning to blossom.

The freshman from Lakeville, Minnesota didn’t always look the most comfortable or fluid in prior action, but is getting better each time we see him. He has obvious length, but his burst can’t be underrated. There were multiple plays during 1-on-1 drills in which he blew past much quicker defenders for a smooth finish.

On the other end, his thin frame did lead to him getting pushed around at times, which could become a struggle when he faces the stronger centers of the Big Ten.

However, he was able to repeatedly use his length to make up for a lack of strength by cutting off and intercepting passes from all over the court that seemed out of his reach.

Winter has perhaps enough talent to where he won’t have to play as the back-to-the-basket center in order to get minutes.

Fifth-year senior Tyler Wahl complimented the freshman’s “feel for the game.”

“He’s a big guy with great touch,” Wahl said after practice. “He just keeps getting better at everything.”

The other freshman big man, Gus Yalden, is progressing just as well.

What stood out most was how comfortable he looked with the ball in his hands. During 5-on-5 drills, Yalden was repeatedly given opportunities to control the offense from the top of the key, and looked excellent.

The freshman from Appleton can already make difficult passes in a way that usually takes years to learn. And when he doesn’t pass, he can usually find a shot in the post.

The most impressive basket I saw from him was a one-handed, floater fadeaway over Crowl.

His game reminds me of certain EuroLeague basketball players. He doesn’t have the most natural athleticism, but can pass it wherever he wants, controls the post and is clearly very intelligent.

With multiple weeks of practice now under their belts, the entire team looks better in regards to defense and rhythm, especially compared to the first time we saw them.

Their defensive efforts, especially, looked season-ready. They closed out on 3-pointers and swarmed the paint with an intensity that simply wasn’t there a few weeks ago.

Kamari McGee has especially stood out in this regard. Despite being the shortest on the team, the junior point guard is impossible to miss.

McGee always brought a palpable level of energy in his few minutes per game last season, but was far from the most polished perimeter defender. He’s visibly improved.

The junior cited new depth as a possible source of improved intensity and stressed the value of “having more bodies, having guys that can actually play at that tempo and keep up with the speed”.

“The intensity has definitely changed, and that’s thanks to the depth,” McGee said

Despite the influx of new faces, especially compared to last year’s class, rhythm hasn’t been an issue. When I asked both Wahl and McGee what they’ve noticed the team improve upon throughout the first few weeks of practice, both used the term “flow”.

“The flow of our offense has improved vastly,” McGee said. “Just the movement, how good it looks and how everyone just knows where to be.”

I’ve talked about AJ Storr in all of my practice takeaways so far, and it’s because there’s no choice but to. He simply pops every time we see him.

Storr rises up for floaters and layups with an ease that I’ve never seen in Madison. He makes every other Badger look robotic at times.

Not even Johnny Davis, the best Wisconsin scorer in recent memory, made baskets with as much fluidity.

However, what stood out most today from Storr was his passing. He sets up others with a similar ease at which he scores. On one play in particular, he weaved a bounce pass through multiple defenders from the perimeter to give Wahl an open basket underneath.

He’s also getting more comfortable with some of the defensive intensity that’s a requirement in Gard’s system. There were instances in the first few practices, and even today, when he didn’t give total effort on defense. There were other moments today where he was too physical and got called for fouls. The aggression and physicality is clearly there. He just has to learn when to use it.

At the end of one drill, Storr rose up and grabbed a rebound with one hand, before Gard got his attention and reminded him to use two hands. It was a small detail, but representative of how Storr will have to learn and live up to all of Gard’s standards if he hopes to get real playing time, which he deserves.

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