MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin ran out of gas playing its fourth game in four days, falling just short of winning a Big Ten Tournament championship. Still, players and coaches agreed that the run in Minneapolis a week before the NCAA Tournament showed they were trending in the right direction.

“We’re a better team walking out of here than we were walking in here,” head coach Greg Gard said.

The statement was true, but the success didn’t carry over, resulting in a season-ending defeat that was more embarrassing than frustrating.

The way 12th-seeded James Madison plays was no secret. Gard said everybody Wisconsin talked to informed them the Dukes “are going to come at you and they are going to foul you, and it’s going to be physical and they are going to reach and grab.”

That’s exactly what happened, and the Badgers looked unprepared. Losing their composure and pacing against the Dukes’ frenetic pace, Wisconsin committed a season-high 19 turnovers, including 13 in the first half. They had balls ripped away from them on the post, on drives to the rim, and simply through passes out of bounds.

When UW didn’t commit a turnover, it rushed and missed too many shots at the rim, including multiple point-blank layups.

Instead of playing like a veteran team that nearly won a championship, the Badgers operated without a clear direction as a group.

“They were just the more aggressive team,” guard Chucky Hepburn said. “They kind of just shocked us to start the game and we didn't handle it very well.”

So, a group that had aspirations of making the program’s first Sweet 16 in seven years was sent into the offseason in the blink of an eye and ended what was a roller-coaster campaign.

The Badgers stumbled out of the gate with bad defense against Tennessee and bad everything at Providence but flexed their strength after winning the FT Myers Tip-Off tournament and dominating No.3 Marquette in early December.

Going 16-4 and rising to No.6 in the country by early February, the Badgers dropped eight of the final 11 regular season games with repeated close losses mostly caused by iffy shot selection, inconsistent defense, and injuries.

But when the roster got healthy, the Badgers found their groove. UW beat Maryland, Northwestern, and No.3 Purdue in consecutive days to advance to the conference title game. Unfortunately, that run felt more like the exception than the standard.

“This group wanted to win a Big Ten Championship; we didn't get there,” Gard said. “We got all the way to the finish line last week in Minneapolis, and they didn't get that one. And they wanted to win and advance in this.

“In a 40-minute game, if you don't play well, like I've said a hundred times, you're going to go home. So for us, we fought turnovers and shot selection all year, and those sins came back to get us again.”

Why those problems weren’t corrected back in the season’s first month will be the big issue Gard and his staff need to figure out during the offseason. From a glass-half-full approach, the staff corrected last season’s biggest issue of the offense’s inefficiency.

A year after finishing 140th nationally in Kenpom’s offensive efficiency rankings, the lowest since at least 2002 when the site started tracking data, Wisconsin currently ranks 17th. UW’s 65.3 points per game and 41.4 field goal percentage was 13th in the Big Ten. UW’s 74.7 points were the most its averaged in 30 years, shooting 46.4 percent.

That improvement came in part from Wisconsin returning five starters and 92 percent of its scoring, the most of any major conference team, but its offense got even better with the addition of A.J. Storr.

Averaging a team-best 16.8 points per game, including 17.2 in Big Ten play, Storr’s natural athleticism, ability to attack, and create his open shot opened Wisconsin’s offense. He scored in double figures in 35 of 36 games, including 31 straight, and was a second-team all-conference and all-tournament team selection.

Projected as a second-round pick in late February, Storr told reporters following Friday’s loss that he needs to talk to his family before making any decisions about next season.

Should Storr return next season, he’ll join a veteran group that includes two fifth-year seniors in center Steven Crowl (11.2 pts, 7.3 rbds) and guard Max Klesmit (9.9) along with four-year senior Chucky Hepburn (9.2 pts, 3.2 assist-to-turnover, 73 steals).

Hepburn’s growth in leadership should help fill the void being left by lone graduating senior Tyler Wahl (10.6 pts, 5.4 rebounds) but not the versatility in the frontcourt the graduate senior brought in being just the fifth Badger to register 1,300 points, 700 rebounds and 200 assists in a career.

UW is in a better spot with its depth than last season. A member of the 2022-23 Big Ten All-Freshman Team, guard Connor Essegian was slated to be one of UW’s top reserves until getting injured in the opener, struggling defensively, and regressively offensively. Despite averaging 7.3 points per game, Essegian told BadgerBlitz he was not entertaining the thought of transferring.

The struggles of Essegian allowed reserve guards Kamari McGee (2.0 ppg) and John Blackwell (8.0 ppg) to step up and thrive in bigger roles. Being named to the conference’s all-freshman team, Blackwell struggled in his final four postseason games (seven points) but showed himself to be a high IQ player who can relentlessly defend. With the Badgers adding four-star guard Daniel Freitag this summer, UW’s frontcourt looks stacked.

The Badgers saw improved play in the frontcourt from forward Carter Gilmore (1.8 ppg) and Markus Ilver (1.1) but the staff is hoping freshman Nolan Winter can take the next step. Saying he only plays young players when they’re ready and can contribute, Winter appeared in every game and aptly battled conference low-post players Zach Edey, Julian Reese, and others.

“There's been a lot of baptism by fire, so to speak,” Gard said. “The other thing that's helped him is we've got better defensively around him. If we need to trap the post, we can, we have that part of our arsenal. But also how we can dig and raid and crowd the paint if he does get lined up one-on-one and send help to him and have help nearby. Not only has he gotten better and grown through this year, and there's no better teacher than experience, but the pieces around him collectively, we've gotten better defensively as the year's gone on.”

UW also is expected to have forward Gus Yalden available after redshirting and will add Lakeville (MN) North forward Jack Robison in the summer. Even so, the Badgers are expected to be active in the transfer portal.

Whether the Badgers add another impact player like Storr or not, Wisconsin has the roster makeup to be considered among the preseason favorites to win the conference. No matter where UW sits in the preseason prognostications, the pressure on Gard to win will be high.

The Badgers haven’t made a Sweet 16 since 2017 and haven’t won a NCAA Tournament game outside the state since 2021. Since All-American Johnny Davis left, UW is 20-20 in conference play. While Gard and the staff aren’t to blame for the missed layups and open shots that occurred Friday, they must shoulder some responsibility for not having UW prepared for the 31-win Dukes.

The college basketball landscape continues to change. The moves Gard makes over the next year will show whether he can prove to a frustrated fanbase his program is more than just a first-weekend tournament team.

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