BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — After successful high school careers, Aaron Moesch, Matt Ferris and T.J. Schlundt had scholarship options that would have helped fund their college educations.
From in-state programs at Green Bay and Milwaukee (Schlundt) to Eastern Illinois and Michigan Tech (Moesch) to William Jewell College (Ferris), they had viable alternatives to paying their own way.
Instead of going that route — taking what loomed as more of a sure thing by accepting a tender — they chose to challenge themselves on a path that offered no guarantees, athletically or financially.
As Wisconsin walk-ons, they have toiled in unsung roles, mostly on the scout team, and persevered on the court — two of them earned scholarships this year — while excelling in the classroom.
Although Ferris and Schlundt each have a year of eligibility left, they will join Moesch for the Senior Day ceremonies before and after the Feb. 25 game against Michigan State at the Kohl Center.
"I found a role on this team and it has been the best four years of my life," Ferris said.
"There are a lot of things that are going to be in my memory book forever," said Schlundt.
Moesch, Ferris and Schlundt will leave with their UW degrees, Final Four rings and priceless memories from their travels here and abroad to go along with a sense of pride and fulfillment.
"These three guys have been through a lot," said Wisconsin coach Greg Gard. "They've seen Final Four runs and they've seen a young group trying to find their way this year.
"So, they've seen the highs and the lows; the mountain top and the valley. And they've done a good job of staying true to who they are and really valuing the education that they got here."
It was not by accident, Gard stressed, that they were originally invited to walk on.
"That's not something we take lightly," he said. "We don't hand them out (preferred invitations) without a lot of thought process and digging into their backgrounds to make sure they're the right fit.
"The walk-on can be a very unglamorous role. And you have to make sure they don't have a misconception of what their role is, and they have the right attitude and continue to work."
That work ethic and unselfish commitment attracted Gard to Moesch, Ferris and Schlundt. And they each still have vivid recollections of the moment that they committed to Gard and the Badgers.
• • • •
"That's the one day I don't think I'll ever forget no matter what," said Moesch, a 1,000-plus point career scorer at Green Bay Southwest High School.
"I decided to wait until after my senior season of basketball. I didn't want to make a choice during the season because I didn't want to cause a distraction off the court for my high school team.
"After we lost in the regional final (to De Pere and Brevin Pritzl), I took some time to de-brief. I wasn't getting much sleep thinking about my high school season and high school career being over."
On top of that, he was thinking about the Eastern Illinois and Michigan Tech overtures. One night, the big picture crystallized for Moesch, who left his parents a note before going to bed.
It read, "Hey, I think tomorrow, I'm going to make up my mind and I'm going to be a Badger."
His parents, of course, woke him up as soon as they read the note.
"A lot of hugs," he recalled. "A lot of celebration."
The next day, Moesch shared his decision with one of his high school buddies.
"He gave me a hug," Moesch said. "But he didn't say, 'Congrats' or 'I'm excited for you.' Instead, he said, 'Hey, I'm a size 12 and 1/2 shoe.' He was hoping to get some free shoes from me."
Moesch had seen the Badgers play only once in person. But it was a doozy, the 2013 double-overtime win over Michigan in which Ben Brust drilled a half-court shot at the end of regulation.
"After the game," Moesch said, "Coach Gard talked to me and my parents and he said, 'If you're not going to say yes to us after that, I don't know what I can do.'"
• • • •
Ferris, the Eastern Valley Conference Player of the Year, wasn't aware that Gard was in the stands for Appleton Xavier's first round game against West De Pere in the 2014 WIAA tournament. Despite Ferris's team-high 17 points, Xavier still lost.
"As I was getting off the bus," Ferris said, "my coach (Matt Klarner) came up to me and said, 'Coach Gard was there watching, I'm not sure if anything will happen, but be on the look-out.'
"Sure enough, the next day, a Friday, I got an e-mail from Coach Gard, 'Hey, I heard you were interested in walking on. If you can, give me a call Monday.'
"I called and we talked for about 15 to 20 minutes. He invited me down to the game the next day against Purdue, it was Senior Night. After the game, Coach Gard brought me into the locker room.
"Coach (Bo) Ryan was standing there with my dad and a couple of friends. The first thing he said to me was, 'So you're the football player with the 5-point-0 GPA, right?'
"He ended up talking to me in the most casual way possible. He said, 'You're a good student and a good player and we have a spot for you on the team.' It was the most informal offer I ever received."
As a prep quarterback, Ferris had set single-season state records for passing yards (3,949) and touchdowns (50). He was the Gatorade and Associated Press State Player of the Year.
William Jewell College, a Division II program in Liberty, Missouri, offered a football ride.
"I kind of thought about it a little bit and debated the two options," said Ferris, who didn't have any other recruiting nibbles in basketball beyond Wisconsin's walk-on invitation.
"I just knew I loved to play basketball. I loved the big challenge of it all and playing for the home state school was kind of a dream of mine. When they came calling, ultimately, I couldn't say no."
• • • •
Not only did Schlundt have scholarship offers from UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee, but he had one from Saint Joseph's, the tradition-rich Atlantic 10 basketball program in Philadelphia.
Schlundt scored over 1,000 points as a three-year varsity starter at Oconomowoc High School before playing his final season at St. John's Northwestern Military Academy.
The college recruiters liked his shooting prowess and DNA as the son of Terrell Schlundt, a four-year starter at Marquette. As a senior, Terrell was the team MVP and co-captain with Glenn "Doc" Rivers.
The Golden Eagles and the Badgers pursued T.J. Schlundt as a preferred walk-on.
"Ultimately," he said, "it came down to, 'Do I want to follow in my dad's footsteps or make my own path and come here?'"
He chose the latter after visiting with Ryan, Gard and former UW assistant Gary Close. By bypassing the offers on the table, he knew what he was getting himself into as a walk-on.
"You have to keep grinding, you have to put in the extra work," Schlundt said. "And you have to trust the system — trust what the Wisconsin Badgers are all about because it obviously works.
If you're willing to make the sacrifices, Schlundt added, "Your time is going to come, your opportunity is going to come. Wisconsin rewards people who work hard and who do the right things."
• • • •
Schlundt and Moesch went on scholarship this season.
"It took five years, but it finally happened for me," said Moesch, who was of the mindset, "If I didn't receive a scholarship at the end of my time here, it wouldn't have been a failure.
"It sounds cliché, but you can't really put expectations on the future. Yeah, you can have goals you want to get to. But you can't say, 'If I don't get a scholarship in four years, I'm not happy.'
"If it wasn't good enough, so be it, I was still going to work as hard as I could."
He pointed out that it was still a matter of believing in the process and continuing to develop. "As a player, as a student and as a person," said Moesch, completing the thought.
Moesch and Ferris didn't know each other in high school. They were a year apart. But they have developed a strong friendship as teammates and have been roommates the last three seasons.
"Three weeks after we moved in together," Moesch related, "I said, 'You're going to be in my wedding.' It was one of those things, an instant friendship that you knew was going to last a lifetime."
They have many similar interests, including the Green Bay Packers and a sense of humor.
"We're both kind of goofy guys," Ferris said, "who don't take themselves too seriously."
That has been reflected by their co-starring roles in "Moesch Madness" — a series of postseason videos.
"We both think we're funny," said Moesch. "I don't think we are, but we both think we are."
And they are. Funny. So are their videos.
"Oh, gosh, they're characters," Schlundt said. "You've gotta love them."
Moesch, Ferris and Schlundt have all loved school — the Wisconsin School of Business. Their profiles read the same: "Majoring in business finance, investment banking and risk management."
Moesch has already landed a job with Epic, the Verona-based health care software company. Ferris has a job waiting for him, too, as a district manager of a national supermarket chain.
Ferris, like Moesch, needed just one class this semester to complete his double-major. And it was one of the primary reasons why he has opted to skip his final year of eligibility.
Schlundt is in a little bit different situation. While he plans on "walking" during May commencement, he will still need to get six credits over the summer. He already has job offers.
On not returning for his senior year, Schlundt said, "I felt it was the best decision for me. And I'm at peace with it. That's the biggest thing, I don't feel like I'm going to have any regrets."
On the contrary …
"I'm pretty excited about being a professional in the real world," he said, "which is kind of interesting because a lot of people tell me, 'You've got to stay … these are the best years of your life.'
"But I feel like I'm on the path for the next step in my life."
• • • •
Senior Day will be emotional not only for Moesch and Ferris, but for two of their roommates — Max Johansen and Jasen Baranowski — who are student managers.
"I'll be closing the athletic chapter in my life," said Ferris, 22. "It will be tough on me. I can't think back to the last time that I wasn't on a sports team. It will definitely be an adjustment."
Moesch, 22, promised that he will not go "Kaminsky" on everyone Sunday.
"I'm not going to come out with a GoPro strapped to my chest," he said, laughing.
But he has an album full of snapshots. His first two years were on Final Four teams.
"To be able to see things like that in your first year, wow," he said. "And in your second year, you're going all the way back to the national championship game …"
That's a double wow. Moesch, who redshirted as a freshman, has earned a spot in the rotation as a fifth-year senior and played more minutes this season than his first three seasons combined.
"I did what I was asked, I worked hard, I never took a possession off," he said. "It was something I molded myself into. Never doing too much, never slacking, just doing as much as physically possible."
One thing that Moesch was able to count on throughout his career was "coming into the locker and having 15 of my closest friends with me every day," regardless of the record or season.
When Schlundt was asked about the rewards that any player, walk-on or not, will take away from this program, he replied, "Teammates who are going to be friends for the rest of your life."
Schlundt, like Moesch, has become a part of the rotation and has logged far more minutes during his redshirt junior season than his two previous seasons combined.
Since early December — when he made his only shot attempt, a 3-pointer, against his dad's alma mater — Schlundt has averaged nearly nine minutes per game, including double-digits nine times.
How has the competitive experience prepared Schlundt, 22, for the business world?
"It's everything you learn subconsciously," he suggested. "All the time management skills, perseverance, work ethic, all those intangibles; something that is going to be innate to who you are."
Ferris has seen the least playing time of the three seniors. But he was just as committed.
"My goal at the end of the day was just to work hard every day and be a good teammate," he said. "Be somebody that guys on the team can look to and say, 'I'd like him on my team.'
"I didn't really care about the results on the floor for me personally as long as in the big picture our team was successful."
But did he ever think it was not worth it? Did he ever think about quitting?
"Everybody thinks about it and if they don't say that, they're lying to you," Ferris said. "It's a big-time commitment, especially to be a walk-on and not get the financial aspect of it.
"What it came down to, if I was ever dragging my feet after a 7 a.m. workout or I was tired after a long practice, I would look to the guys in the locker room. That's what makes it all worth it."
Moesch, Ferris and Schlundt have all stayed in their lane to the benefit of others.
"They represented us very well — they worked hard every day — and I couldn't have asked for any more out of them," Gard said. "They were good role models for us, on and off the floor."
