MADISON, Wis. -- Anyone who felt confident offering up a preseason prediction for Wisconsin didn't have a great sample size to go off of for many players who were expected to join the regular rotation.

Heck, even head coach Greg Gard wasn't quite sure what to expect. Leading an inexperienced bunch that went through live games on a trip to France, Gard pointed to the development of Chris Hodges, Markus Ilver and the team's "most improved player," Carter Gilmore.

Just how that growth would play out? Gard said he would find out right along with those on the outside.

"There’s so many unknowns with this group that I want to see - and you’re probably going to learn as I learn - and I want to see them underneath the lights with people in the seats. How we respond in certain situations," Gard said in the first week of October during a preseason press conference.

Up and down the lineup, the list of players in the rotation had new names entering the program or stepping into unfamiliar roles. The trio of Steven Crowl, Chucky Hepburn and Tyler Wahl each averaged 25-plus minutes a game a season ago, so the extended playing time wasn't anything new. But now the ball was coming their way often and they were bumped up to the top of the opposing team's scouting report.

"It’s been interesting," Wahl said. "Last year it was a completely different story where having the ball in your hands and it’s a lot of fun, you’re winning games. This year it’s been different and we just haven’t been on the winning side of a lot of these close games."

Behind them, Max Klesmit, Kamari McGee and Connor Essegian were introducing themselves to the program. Gilmore played just 7.9 minutes a game as a sophomore. Jordan Davis, who began the year as a starter, was in a similar spot after averaging 6.5 minutes a game in 2021-22.

With the exception of McGee, who recently emerged a consistent piece of the rotation, the top eight currently accounts for 92 percent of the team's minutes. On a team that lacks depth, there isn't much of an opportunity for Gard to yank players off after committing a turnover or taking an ill-advised shot.

"We still have a young group that is learning a lot and it’s been a lot of baptism by fire for some of these guys," Gard said after the win over Iowa. "And some days it’s great. Some days you’re the windshield and some days you’re the bug, and the thing about this group is they’re very resilient.

"They haven’t hung their heads, they haven’t pouted, they’ve practiced pretty well and they’ve always bounced back and responded when they take one on the chin a little bit. So that’s always a good sign as a coach that they keep coming back and want to learn and want to get better."

Coming off the team's 12-point win over the Hawkeyes - its largest margin of victory over a conference foe - Gard had honorary captain Brian Butch come in to the locker room to speak to the team. Butch knows all too well what the curve for developing from high school to college can look like. He redshirted as a freshman at UW despite an All-American in high school.

"He came in here as a McDonald’s All-American but he redshirted because older guys were kicking his butt every day, and the older guys pass on those lessons to younger guys," Gard recalled.

"And we’ve been very fortunate that we’ve had guys who do that - that take care of the guys below them and under them. Tyler is in that role now where you’re an elder statesman, but at the same time you have a responsibility to grow and get better yourself and try to play as consistently as possible. So it’s a lot of hats to wear when you get to be an upperclassman. Everyone think it’s easy, but it’s not. For him this is all learning. You’ve heard me use the learning word a lot tonight and he’s learning how to handle all those responsibilities."

The results haven't matched up with Wisconsin's improvement. As Gard mentioned after UW's most recent close loss to No. 5 Purdue, he wanted to see his players "get rewarded." But in the last two games, the matchup against Zach Edey to go along with an injury to Hepburn against Michigan likely would have spelled trouble for the Badgers earlier in the season.

This past Thursday, the trio of Crowl, Gilmore and Wahl was asked to either be the primary defender on Edey or double hard on the catch. Neither finished with more than two fouls and never allowed the Purdue big man to get in a rhythm. Two first half fouls for Essegian, the team's second leading scorer, sidelined him for much of he first half. Subbing in for him, Isaac Lindsey picked up the load hitting three tough shots for an eight-point spark off the bench.

"They are doing so many things right and they’ve given us every single thing they have," Gard said after the loss to Purdue.

Last week against Michigan, the two transfers - McGee and Klesmit - were the duo to step up with Hepburn exiting with an injury in the first half. Logging 25 minutes, McGee totaled six points, one rebound, one steal and helped push UW's lead to three with clutch free throws. Klesmit has tallied 19 points in the last two games. Against the Wolverines, he had two rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks to go with the 19-point game.

Gard had to hang up on a Wisconsin communications staff member when he relayed just how close the Badgers were to sitting next to the conference's best teams. If UW managed to win those games, they would have been on a six-game winning streak and tied for first place at the time.

"That’s part of the frustration of it is you’re so close and yet you’re not," Gard said.

With Wisconsin sitting just above .500 at 16-13, it's hard to imagine this is the same team that opened the year 11-2 after a win over Minnesota on Jan. 3. The play on the court would display a different product as well. But for a team that's margin for error is razor thin, injuries to starters, scoring droughts and minor lapses on the defensive end have been too much to overcome to this point.

"This group one thing they’ve always been is they are resilient as hell. I mean, they have not flinched a bit and I think that’s why we have so many close games and battles is they refuse to give and that’s a great sign," Gard said.

"There’s a lot of things we have to get better and some of that will come with experience and going through these lessons and growing pains. That will pay off into the future because the vast majority of this group will be back, so you have to look at this as a process that sometimes doesn’t go as you want it to in terms of the end result. But what lessons can we garner from it that can help us down the road."

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45, @pete_brey12, @seamus_rohrer

*Like us on Facebook