Badger basketball is set for a successful year
MADISON, Wis. (BVM) — It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish was the story of Wisconsin’s 2019-2020 season.
After a disappointing 5-5 start with shocking losses to the likes of Richmond and New Mexico. The Badgers dug themselves into an early hole in trying to be one of 68 teams selected to play in the NCAA Tournament.
In a highly competitive Big Ten Conference that saw six teams inside the AP Top 25 Poll at season’s end, Wisconsin found their stride late in the season winning eight straight and nine out of their last 10 games. Giving them a 21-10 record (14-6 in conference) which was enough to narrowly squeeze into first in the conference and the number one seed heading into the Big Ten tournament.
Unfortunately, after the first round of the Big Ten Tournament the rest of the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the streaking badgers would not see the court again as a team for the rest of the year.
Wisconsin only lost one senior, sharpshooter Brevin Pritzl. Starters to return include seniors D’Mitrik Trice, Aleem Ford, Brad Davidson, and leading scorer and rebounder Nate Reuvers. Former Ohio State Buckeye Micah Potter also returns for the Badgers this season as the team’s second leading scorer with 10.1 points per game. Potter, who came off the bench last season, is the likely replacement to fill out the Badgers Starting five.
Other key contributors will be Sophomore Tyler Wahl and Junior Trevor Anderson who both played in every game last season.
Wisconsin’s senior leadership is giving them high expectations heading into this season as they were ranked 6th by Jeff Borzello’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2020-21. Which shows that Wisconsin’s strong play was being noticed at a national level.
Coach Greg Gard enters his sixth season as the head coach of the Badgers. He filled out the rest of his roster by adding four star recruits Johnathan Davis, Lorne Bowman II, and Ben Carlson. Three star recruits Steven Crowl and Jordan Davis were also added as well as unranked Justin Taphorn and Carter Gilmore.
While Wisconsin has traditionally slowly molded their players into their system, a recruit to keep an eye on will be Johnathan Davis. Davis finished his high school campaign as La Crosse Central’s all time leading scorer with 2,158 points and averaged 27.4 points per game and 9.2 rebounds per game.
Davis was selected as Wisconsin’s Mr. Basketball and was invited to play in the McDonald’s All American Game. He enters Wisconsin along with his high school teammate and twin brother Jordan.
Schedule talks are still underway as the NCAA has made new guidelines for teams putting the maximum number of games allowed at 27 for the regular season. The Big Ten Conference has also not confirmed whether or not they will play their regular 20 game conference schedule.
While the Kohl Center will likely be mostly empty for this season, Badger fans should be excited when watching the team play as they have the tools necessary to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
