BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. – At an early age,
Ben Carlson embraced the entrepreneurial spirit — "I've always wanted to be my own boss" — which translated into exploring business ventures in his hometown of Woodbury, Minnesota. In middle school, he sold T-shirts "just for fun and to make some money" with a classmate, Sujay Garlapati. Friends since the first grade, they're now Wisconsin roommates.
Both exceled academically and athletically at East Ridge High School in Woodbury, a St. Paul suburb. Not only was Carlson a 2020 finalist for Mr. Basketball in Minnesota (won by Minnehaha Academy's Jalen Suggs), but he set school records for career points (2,004), rebounds (1,083) and blocks (145). Garlapati was a co-captain of the tennis team and graduated Summa Cum Laude with distinction.
Three years ago, Carlson and Garlapati decided to go into business based on a simple premise and passion: Carlson's affinity for collecting basketball shoes. He has always had a closet full. As many as 15 pairs, he estimated, at any given time, even now. So, Carlson and Garlapati purchase new and used shoes and resell them.
"Late my sophomore year of high school, I started selling my shoes just to get some money — I really didn't realize how much money you can make from it," said the 20-year-old Carlson. "I was talking to him (Garlapati) about it — he's my best friend and we do everything together — and it just took off from there. I just do it as a hobby because I love shoes.
"I always try to give good deals — cheaper than what other people are selling for. I don't know how many pairs of shoes I have in my apartment now just waiting to sell. It's kind of turned into me and my friend going to stores and buying shoes for low prices and selling them.
"It's resale pretty much. It's a lot of fun. It's pretty good money, too."
Armed with a developing business acumen and a 4.3 weighted grade-point average from East Ridge, Carlson received direct admittance to the Wisconsin School of Business, where he's majoring in management human resources with an entrepreneurship option. On Tuesday, the start of UW's second semester, he balanced four classes with basketball practice, a familiar time management theme.
"You have to have your priorities," said Carlson, who had a 3.7 GPA last semester.
Getting healthy was his main priority last season. In an auspicious debut, he came off the bench and scored 13 points in 17 minutes against Eastern Illinois in the 2020 opener. But he made only five more appearances before going to the sideline with an injury. Carlson didn't return to active status until March 19 and the NCAA tournament. He played one minute in the win over North Carolina.
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"He has come a long way from a year ago at this time where he was in the training room healing up and trying to get stronger," said UW assistant
Joe Krabbenhoft. "He's continuing to get better and better. As a coach, you want to see that happen in practice. It's not just going to magically happen in a game. It's a process by doing the little things right every day in practice.
"He's committed to the process. He has never wavered from that. He's had his ups and downs as pretty much everybody who has gone through this program has had. But there have been more ups than downs lately and that's good to see … He's a really good athlete and he's got a high motor. Extra effort, hustle plays have always kind of been his MO … Overall, he's got a well-rounded game."
The headline on Carlson's narrative thus far this season could easily read: "From selling shoes to filling them."Â
In his only two starts, he replaced
Johnny Davis and
Tyler Wahl in the lineup because of injuries. Big shoes to fill, indeed. Davis leads the team in four categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals). Wahl is the leading shot-blocker, second leading rebounder and third leading scorer.
On Nov. 15, Carlson took over for Davis and played a then career-high 19 minutes against Providence. Last Friday, he logged 23 minutes against Michigan State in the absence of Wahl. Â Leading up to the Spartans, he had seen only brief action: one minute against Northwestern, 14 seconds against Ohio State, two minutes against Maryland, one minute against Iowa, four minutes against Purdue.
"It was a big change from not playing a whole lot to starting, but I'm really glad that I had the opportunity, and I learned a lot," said Carlson who had six points, including his first triple of the season, and two rebounds in the Michigan State loss. "Obviously, they were a very good team, and we didn't play our best. They were long, athletic, and quick. It was a tough game.
"Missing a lot of time last year, I'm still learning every day. Every time you go into a game for an extended period of time it definitely helps with your confidence. It just comes with experience: practice experience and game experience. Just being in a game is huge for getting into the flow … Moving forward, I think it's going to help me a lot. It will only help me feeling better out there."
Wahl encouraged him "to be yourself and just play basketball. ''
Other teammates and coaches reminded him to "go out and play hard."
There were all things that he had heard growing up in Woodbury. His dad coached him on the fundamentals from the first grade through the eighth grade. In the early '90s, Marc Carlson played a couple of years at St. Cloud State before transferring to Iowa State for two seasons under the tutelage of the late Johnny Orr. One of his teammates was Fred Hoiberg, the third-year Nebraska head coach.
Ben Carlson's mother was no slouch athletically, either. Sheri Mandell-Carlson was a star volleyball player at St. Cloud State and inducted into the school's Hall of Fame. Both of Ben's sisters have earned scholarships in that sport. Brynn played four years at Kansas State and is now a grad transfer at Missouri. Britt just graduated from high school and enrolled this semester at Washington State.
"We always like to be active, whether we played volleyball in the backyard or basketball, it's fun to have a family of athletes," said Ben, who has two younger brothers, Brayden and Bode. "Everyone goes through the same thing in their sport. It's just good to be around people every single day that are going through what you're going through."
The support from his parents was especially invaluable during his high school career at East Ridge, where Carlson had three different head coaches in four seasons. Paul Virgin retired after his freshman year. Bryce Tesdahl coached Carlson as a sophomore and junior before taking over the program at Minnetonka. As a senior, he came under the wing of Josh Peltier who replaced Tesdahl.
"It was tough, and you've just got to be resilient," Carlson said of the multiple coaching transitions. "The coaches were all good people and they had pretty similar systems. But obviously, they each have a different way of coaching. They all had their little different mannerisms. I think I adapted pretty well. The best as I could. The hardest transition was my senior year. It was kind of like my team."
Tesdahl left after guiding East Ridge to a 28-4 record and a fourth-place finish in the Class 4A state tournament. Four starters also moved on, not the least of which was Kendall Brown who transferred to Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas. Brown is now at Baylor. Nonetheless, Carlson made the most of his final season by averaging 24 points and 12 rebounds on a team that won the league title.
As it turned out, Eastview High School's
Steven Crowl and Carlson committed to the Badgers on back-to-back days before the start of their senior years in mid-September of 2019. The former AAU teammates have shown the makings of a budding chemistry when on the floor together at Wisconsin. With Wahl's uncertain status for Thursday's game at Nebraska, both will be needed on the low block.
Carlson is hoping to take what he learned from his starts against Providence and Michigan State and apply that experience to his effort and efficiency against the Cornhuskers who have some muscle in the paint with 6-9, 239-pound Derrick Walker and some length on the wing with 6-9 Lat Mayen. In addition to posting three double-doubles since Dec. 1, Walker is shooting 70.9 percent from the floor.
When Carlson is lacing up his sneakers before the game, there may be an additional pause for reflection because of the pink laces. It's something the UW players and assistants will be modeling out of respect to
Greg Gard's mother, Connie, who's undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Gard will be wearing pink shoes in support of his mom during this Coaches vs. Cancer week matinee in Lincoln.
Although the Huskers have yet to win in the Big Ten (0-8), they still pose a threat, particularly with the return of 6-4 junior guard Trey McGowens, who had missed 15 games with a foot injury. He came off the bench in Nebraska's last outing, a Jan. 17 loss to Indiana. His younger brother, Bryce, a freshman, is leading the team in scoring with a 15.7 average. He's scored 20 or more five times.
The backcourt dual between first-year players — Bryce McGowens and Wisconsin's
Chucky Hepburn — should be telling. Not only is Hepburn, the Omaha native, playing in a venue, Pinnacle Bank Arena, where he won a state championship as a high school junior at Bellevue West, but he will be playing with a heavy heart. One of his best friends was killed in a Sunday night shooting in Omaha.
There's no shortage of storylines for this matchup. When asked about the role that Carlson might play for the Badgers over the next few months, notably as a bench contributor once Wahl is back in the lineup, Krabbenhoft foreshadowed a formula that might work for the team as a whole when he said, "He just needs to continue to focus on the little things right now and the bigger things will come."
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