Lucas: Future full of young Badgers on the rise
March 29, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas
Gard and company eager to attack offseason of development and roster building
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
But not before attaching this caveat, "We're younger across the board."
It was a not-so-subtle acceptance of the challenge in accelerating the learning curve.
Along with shaping and managing the roster, transitioning from old souls to young pups, Gard admitted that a team's makeup is subject to more off-season change today than any time previously because of the NCAA's burgeoning transfer portal and the fluid nature of college basketball.
"You just have to prepare for it," he said, "and not be surprised."
Gard is not the only head coach dealing with some personnel uncertainty.
Especially in the Big Ten where three programs will have new leadership on the bench.
"What you're going to find is there will be a lot of turnover in our league," Gard said. "We were an old league this year and those guys who weren't old — and were at the top (of the all-conference lists) — are going to have employment opportunities at the next level, so they're going to be gone, too."
Prior to the start of the NCAA tournament — where the Badgers knocked off No. 8 seed North Carolina in the first round and lost to No. 1 seed Baylor in the second — Wahl and Davis were reluctant to talk about becoming the faces of next season's UW team. Understandably so because they were focused on the here and now and didn't want to get ahead of themselves. But the rebuild will revolve around them.
"They will lead the charge — Tyler has two good years of experience and Johnny has obviously gotten a lot of experience this year for a freshman," Gard said of Wahl who started the last 18 games (21 of the last 62) and Davis who was the first guard off the bench and played in all 31 games.
"Even though the other guys didn't play very much, they were eyes and ears and listened and they were watching the older guys. They didn't play in games, but they were in the practices every day. Sometimes that education can be as valuable or more valuable than playing just because of the everyday competition, and those older guys that they have to go against."
One of those "other guys" was 7-foot freshman Steven Crowl who toiled primarily on the scout team and battled daily in practice with Micah Potter and Nate Reuvers. Due to North Carolina's size in the frontcourt, Crowl played three minutes against the Tar Heels and delivered two rebounds and an assist. Up until then, he had not seen more than a minute of action in seven Big Ten games.
"He's a good example of a guy who really maximized his time and was like a sponge in practice and really used the reps against the older guys to his advantage," Gard said. "Now, he will use that knowledge and go attack the offseason physically to become bigger and stronger."
Qualifying and expanding that last remark, Gard stressed, "It will be a big offseason for everybody. But having a little bit of knowledge, like he has, it's like, 'Okay, I got a little taste of what it's going to be like. I saw how the older guys did it. And now, I have to prepare myself for my opportunity.'
"Everybody knows we have a lot of work in front of us. The young guys know that — they know there's a lot of minutes walking out the door. There's going to be a lot of opportunity but it's not going to happen magically. You're going to have to work and put a lot of time in and not waste any days."
It applies to former walk-on Joe Hedstrom, a redshirt freshman, and walk-on Carter Gilmore a true freshman who made a surprising cameo appearance at Northwestern and wound up playing five minutes. He had just three minutes of playing time in four other Big Ten games combined.
"We've got to build the strength component," Gard said, "adding muscle to everyone's frame."
Freshman Ben Carlson is one of the team's more interesting studies because there is more unknown than known about his game. Surely, the 219-pounder would be a candidate to put some more beef on his 6-foot-9 frame. But after scoring 13 points in 17 minutes in the season opener, he appeared in only six more contests (seven points total) and was sidelined the rest of the season with an injury.
Carlson wasn't even practicing with his teammates until March.
"Getting him back here the last week or so, the 10 days that he went live, he got some bounce back," Gard said. "He looks healthy. He says that he feels healthier. He jumped back in gradually and he did some good things on the scout team. From where he was — not playing or practicing for two to three months — to jumping back into it at the end, seeing what he needs to do for the future is a good sign."
Gard also saw some positive signs from Jordan Davis (6-4, 202), the brother of Jonathan Davis. "He definitely got better from when he showed up in August to where he is now," Gard said. "He's hungry, he wants to contribute. He was very inquisitive as the year unfolded. He always has great questions and that tells me he's thinking about the right things. He's learning where his niche can be."
Lorne Bowman Jr. falls into that discovery category. What will his niche be? As a senior at St. Mary's High School in Orchard Lake, Michigan, he was a highly accomplished guard who averaged 25 points, six rebounds and six assists. He was first team All-State, the metro Detroit Player of the Year and a finalist for Mr. Basketball. But he returned home last fall because of some family issues.
"The plan is that he will come back here in June and start with our eight-week session — I just felt that was the best transition for him," Gard said of Bowman, the first player to commit in the 2020 recruiting class. "He'll come in with the other incoming freshmen (Class of 2021) because he never had a normal summer last year. He came in August and ended up going home in September.
"I think it helps everybody kind of starting at the same time together."
Joining the 6-2, 185-pound Bowman on campus will be guard Chucky Hepburn (6-1, 185, Bellevue, Nebraska), and forwards Matthew Mors (6-7, 220, Yankton, South Dakota) and Chris Hodges (6-9, 235, Schaumburg, Illinois). The latter three of have signed national letters of intent, but at least one additional freshman is projected to join the roster as late signee.
"Those eight weeks in June-July are hopefully back to normal or closer to normal," Gard said. "It was non-existent last year and that was a huge missing piece. The spring is good. But the volume in the spring is not enough. It sets the floor with the returning players. But you won't have any of the newcomers here yet. The June-July window is always where you can put things into place.
"Number one, you have a regimented plan for eight weeks in the weight room. And you have a regimented plan on the court even though it's somewhat limited because of the hour limits per week. But it's about the chemistry time and the bonding time in the weight room and on the court.
"It's hanging out in apartments. It's being in Madison together. It's part of that process of having a team start to learn one another. Or learn one another better. Or grow. When you do have that it hopefully sets things in place for what happens down the road.
"Trying to figure out what had an impact — or what didn't have an impact on us last summer — is hypothetical. But knowing how we operate and how that is a big component of our development process, I think it's fair to say it did have a pretty big impact."
In assembling players, young and old alike, and acclimating them to a basketball culture, Gard said, "That off-court stuff is as important as what they do on-court and in the weight room. They're humans. We have to have a connection and we've gone now for over a year without much connection with other humans. Sometimes you take for granted how important that interaction and bonding is.
"But those are the intangible components of building a team and having a team connected.
"When you're away from each other, it's hard to do."
That point was reinforced in the Indianapolis bubble for the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.
"It's the most time that they spent together all year," Gard said. "When they were here (Madison), it was locker room, training room, practice court, leave — in addition to the testing. They were discouraged from being here (the facility). They weren't allowed to congregate here.
"So, they'd go their different ways. Some would go to the dorms. Some would go to apartments.
"But they all went on their individual routes."
Gard was proud of his players and the sacrifices that everyone made.
"We made it through the year without anybody getting the virus — no staff members, no support staff, no players," he said. "They did a really good job of walking within the guidelines set up. Some of it is luck. Like I've said all along, wrong place at the wrong time and you can contract it. But we were one of the few programs to walk through the whole thing without interruptions, pauses, problems."
That the Badgers were able to play 31 games is a testament to adhering to the protocols.
"There were times in September and even into October, when our football team went through their issues, there was a serious concern not only with me but with coaches in our league," Gard said. "They saw how it was impacting football programs and there was serious doubt on whether we'd get a season (in basketball) …"
But they got to play a full schedule, a reward to the seniors now leaving the program.
The consequence of their exodus is obvious.
Gard is left with an extremely inexperienced team. Listing the most pressing needs going into next season, he said, "Any type of veteran help in the backcourt or frontcourt just to help bridge and tutor the younger guys.
"I don't think you can close your eyes to any position. Can you add experience? Can that experience help regardless of what the statistical impact could be of a newcomer or a transfer? How can that experience help others within your program?
"I don't know if there's an exact cookie cutter approach to it."
The "it" would be the process of navigating the NCAA's transfer portal.
"If you find somebody that makes sense positionally — or is a need — you kick the tires, so to speak," Gard said. "You try to dig up as much information about the person before you really put the wheels into motion. The assistants are monitoring it and they keep me up to date if there's something specific or if it catches their attention."
"You're always looking at, 'What do you need to help your roster?' Sometimes, it's specifics in mind. Sometimes, it's a name or somebody that you know is a really good player. I don't know that you go in looking with tunnel vision. You kind of peruse it. If something makes sense, or piques your interest, you dig a little deeper."
Another impactful spring, summer and fall is in the offering for Wisconsin and the Big Ten.
"Like everybody," Gard said, "we have to attack this off-season."
The only guarantee?
"The rosters and faces are going to look much different next year."
