MADISON, Wis. – Needing to replace a host of seniors, starters, and rotational players, Wisconsin basketball shocked the Big Ten by shunning a predicted 10th-place finish to win a share of the 2021-22 conference title. A year later, in a virtually similar predicament, what will the Badgers do for an encore?

While the departure of All-American Johnny Davis and super seniors Brad Davison and Chris Vogt leaves large shoes to fill, the Badgers have three veteran starters to build around with a host of young talent, not to mention adding two guards with starting experience from the transfer portal. It leads many to believe the Badgers will surpass their projected ninth-place finish in the same preseason poll that massively undervalued them a year ago.

In advance of Sunday’s exhibition game against UW-Eau Claire and the season opener against South Dakota on November 7, BadgerBlitz.com takes a three-part look at the Badgers’ 2022-23 roster. We wrap our series looking at Wisconsin's five forwards.

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Wisconsin boasts two experienced frontcourt options with senior Tyler Wahl and junior Steven Crowl, giving the Badgers a noticeable post presence.

Wahl figures to replace Davis as Wisconsin’s best player. Having played in 94 career games with 53 starts, the 6-9 senior averaged 11.4 points and 5.9 rebounds last season. He shot a team-best 51.6 percent from the floor but was just 6-for-37 from three-point range.

Crowl received a huge boost in minutes last season, going from a total of 39 minutes played to starting 33 games. With that time on the court, Crowl produced 8.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and ranked second on the team at 49.6 percent from the floor.

But with the graduation of Vogt and UW not adding a forward or center from the portal, the Badgers' roster only lists three reserve forwards of varying degrees - junior Carter Gilmore (0.9 points in 22 games), sophomore Markus Ilver (0.6 points in eight games), and redshirt freshman Chris Hodges.

Greg Gard has said he has three stars embedded in the starting lineup and two of them are in the frontcourt. With the senior Wahl and the junior Crowl, it will be near impossible for the Badgers to have success with one and not the other.

Wahl finished third in the scoring but delivered an equally big impact with his defense, leading the team in steals (37) and second in blocks (25). It was fitting that Wahl stole the inbounds pass to clinch the Big Ten title at home against No.8 Purdue, a game in which he posted a team-high 19 points, five steals, two blocks, two rebounds, and two assists. It was one of six games where he scored at least 18 points.

But while his 51.6 field goal percentage led the team, Wahl knew his 16.2 percent three-point percentage wasn’t going to cut it. After taking a couple weeks off after the season to decompress, Wahl worked on his shot with his father, who gave him extra incentive to be accurate.

“I have to make shots because he’s a little slower to get the rebound,” Wahl said, smiling. “When I went back home, I was sick of waiting for rebounds, so I made sure I made some.”

In the Red-White Scrimmage, Wahl had 13 points and scored from all three levels, opening the game with a runner in the lane, hitting three three-pointers, and finishing a game-high plus-7.

“When we got back this summer, you can tell that he was in the gym at home working on that jumper,” Crowl said. “He’s knocked down some shots, some pull-ups, and different things. I think he’ll take a big step.”

The only senior on the roster, Wahl has emerged as the de facto leader. He has preached the importance of everybody needing to rebound (since Davis was also the team’s leading rebounder with 8.2 per game) and efficient ball movement between the high and low post.

“It’s something I’ve really put an emphasis on this summer and fall is being more vocal,” Wahl said. “In practice when people aren’t talking, it’s kind of a slow day out there, raise my voice a little bit, talking, get everybody going. If it’s in the scrimmages, get people into the huddle, talking things through if we messed up and there’s something going on. (I’m) definitely vocal in practice and on the court, for sure.”

Despite being underweight, Crowl survived his first starting season at Wisconsin to set the foundation for a bigger season this year. The tallest player on the roster, Crowl played last season at around 234 pounds, and was physical with what he had to work with against some of the stronger players in the league but said he has increased his strength/weight by over 10 pounds.

He believes the added strength, weight, and experience will help him avoid foul trouble. Crowl had to spend prolonged periods on the bench last season because of whistles, registering four fouls in seven games and fouling out of UW’s win at Purdue after scoring just four points.

“It’s the little things,” Crowl said. “Going over the back on someone, just let them get the rebound. I try to get rebounds I shouldn’t be getting. Little things like that just to keep you on the floor, which we’ll need this year. Hopefully, I learn from last year.”

UW was 12-1 last season when Crowl reached double figures, so having both Wahl and Crowl on the court and playing efficiently will play a major role in determining the team’s success in 2022-23.

UW was mostly consistent with a four-man rotation in the low-post last season but half of the cycle is gone with Vogt graduating and Ben Carlson transferring to Utah. That puts added pressure on Gilmore, Ilver, and Hodges to produce.

Gilmore and Ilver are scrappy and play quicker than Hodges, who is more a traditional four or five. Gilmore and Ilver could play anywhere from the two to the five and have more extended shooting range than Vogt did last season. The key is production, as Gilmore shot 25.9 percent from the floor and 1-for-13 from three-point range in 7.9 minutes off the bench last season, while Ilver played just five minutes in conference games.

Gilmore has received work in practice at the five, unusual for a player that stands just 6-7 but the norm now considering the game has started to evolve into position-less basketball. Gard said UW uses the numbers to purely keep players organized in transition and out-of-bounds plays, but the staff wants players who can play multiple positions. And considering Wahl is a defensive Swiss Army knife, which affords the Badgers the ability to switch positions in the low post, Gilmore can grow into a bigger role if his offense improves.

“He understands how to play in ball screens,” Gard said of Gilmore, who had seven points and a game-high seven rebounds in the Red-White Scrimmage. “I think he’s gotten really good at that, specifically in the middle of the floor with some of our drop coverage. He understood how to properly position his feet and play the drop and not get opened up and driven by. The one thing about Carter that stands out is he’s not afraid to mix it up. He’s physical (and) competitive … He makes things happen for us on both ends of the floor.”

Ilver got added exposure this offseason when he played for his native Estonia in the FIBA U20 European Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, and was praised by Gard for getting significantly stronger over the course of the last two seasons.

“I’ve seen the benefits of that, just playing more physical,” Gard said. “Last few days of practice he’s practiced really well. Now it’s a matter of being more consistent. That’s the thing … With younger guys, that’s the hurdle to get through. The biggest thing for him is the physicality he has to play with. It’s better than where it was a year ago. Now he just has to do it every day.”

Hodges is one of the more intriguing prospects on the roster. A former three-star recruit, Hodges opted out of his senior season due to the COVID-pandemic and redshirted last season as he built his body. He’s UW’s second-tallest player (listed at 6-9) and was an exceptional shooter, rebounder, and shot blocker in high school. He has also shown a nose for rebounding during open practices, as well, but the message Gard and teammates have preached to him is to slow his mind down, especially when the game seems to move at an even faster clip for young low-post players.

“One thing I’ve always written in notes with him is be patient on both ends of the floor,” Gard said of Hodges, who had two points and two rebounds in 25 minutes during the Red-White Scrimmage. “That’s something just through reps that he’s going to have to learn. The other thing is don’t get frustrated because Coach might not be happy with you every day or each possession, so you got to move on to next quickly.

"I’ve noticed that the game has slowed. It is not slow enough yet, but we’ve made progress from where we were in France. If I showed you film from France, you would have thought I put him on a merry-go-round. Everything was spinning in every different direction, and now I’ve seen him start to not worry about this or that over there and focus on what (his) job is and do that well.”

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