Young Badgers Ready To Start And Make A Run

MADISON, Wis. – It was one of the first practices of the season, a non-descript workout in the early fall to start building the base fundamentals and work up an early sweat. Uninformed onlookers would have assumed Wisconsin was preparing for one of the top teams in the country.

With games still weeks away at the time, Badgers players were diving on the floor for loose balls, generating bumps, scrapes, and bruises, and not willing to give an inch on any drill. It was those moments that senior guard Brad Davison was convinced that the youthful Badgers were going to be OK this year.

“When that’s happening (guys competing), we’ve got a chance to make a run at this thing,” Davison said. “We’ve got so much talent but a really inexperienced young group, so the key for us is to value the little things that we pride ourselves on.”

Davison isn’t kidding when he says the roster is untested. Of the 17 players on the roster, this is the first season in a Wisconsin uniform for eight of them. With 12 underclassmen on the roster (7 sophomores, freshmen), it is UW’s largest group of underclassmen in at least 20 years.

It’s a fresh start in a way for Wisconsin when they open the regular season tonight against St. Francis Brooklyn at the Kohl Center (7 p.m., BTN). That could be a good thing considering the 2021 calendar year has been marked mostly by questions.

UW was 9-2 after beating No.21 Minnesota on New Year’s Eve and in the thick of the Big Ten race. The inconsistent play proved to be a crippling blow, as the Badgers stumbled to a 9-11 record, tied for sixth in the Big Ten, and didn’t win consecutive games after January 20.

In the weeks after losing to eventual national champion Baylor in the NCAA Tournament second round, six seniors chose to leave via a professional career or transfer, a leaked audio recording of the seniors confronting and criticizing Greg Gard’s coaching and a reported coup by former assistant coach Alando Tucker to assume the head coaching job.

“I think you’re always looking to improve or change for the better and help,” Gard said. “Some things stay the same. Some things through the test of time have proven to me to be the best way to move forward. You adapt and adjust as the times require.”

Always one to mold his offense around his personnel, Gard hinted that his team will likely be a hybrid of the things that worked well in the past (touch the paint, get to the free-throw line, transition defense, etc.) and try to highlight some of the skill sets from the new croup. One area that hasn’t appeared to this point, according to first-year assistant coach Sharif Chambliss, is timidness.

“I don’t think hunger is going to be a problem with this group,” Chambliss said. “I think everybody is here not only to prove something about themselves but to prove what we can do as a team. The young guys are being led by a great leader in Brad Davison. We got other guys stepping up in Tyler Wahl and Johnny Davis. We’re excited about this group coming together, forming together.”

After tonight’s home game and Friday’s against Green Bay, the mental fortitude of the team will be tested quickly. The Badgers host Providence, play three games in three days in Las Vegas for the relocated Maui Invitational, play at Georgia Tech in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, host the annual in-state battle against Marquette before jumping right into conference play.

It’s a tough schedule for a team picked to finish 10th in the Big Ten but it’s a good jumping-off point. After all, it’s time to play basketball again, and the group is confident

“We’re going to surprise some people this year,” said Davis. “We just want to bring that tenacity back. We’re not just going to lay down and let you guys beat us. We’re going to bring the fight.”

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