NFL
By: Melo Williams
Wisconsin men’s basketball 2024-2025 season tips off tonight vs UW-River Falls at the Kohl Center at 7:00 pm CST.
When the Badgers hit the floor, it’ll be a whole new team and starting lineup, but a team with experience, chemistry, and depth.
With the losses of mainly Tyler Wahl, AJ Storr, and Chucky Hepburn, recent media polls place the Badgers finishing near the bottom of the Big Ten, tying for 12th place with Nebraska in an 18-team conference. Also, no Wisconsin player received a vote for any preseason all-conference teams.
The Badgers have many questions to answer, but with the leadership of coach Greg Gard and his assistant coaches, the leadership and experience from players like Kamari McGee, Steven Crowl, Max Klesmit, Carter Gilmore, and John Blackwell, and with the addition of graduate student John Tonje experience, those questions will be answered sooner than later.
I do believe the depth Wisconsin has will benefit them in the long run. Nolan Winter, Xavier Amos, Camren Hunter, Marcus Illvus, and freshman Daniel Freitag all can and, I believe, will contribute at different times when needed to win some games for the Badgers.
Coach Gard tried many different lineups seeing who played best with who, and as he said, having depth is a good problem to have, especially when the players can contribute to winning.
I believe Wisconsin will finish in the 6th to 10th range in the B1G. For that to happen, though, I believe it falls on four players the most: Steven Crowl, Kamari McGee, John Blackwell, and Nolan Winter.
Steven Crowl must own the paint consistently on offense and defense. Wisconsin will need Crowl to apply his ability to score at the rim and knocking down his mid-range shot.
By doing that will open the floor for three-point shots and one-on-one opportunities for Max Klesmit, John Tonje, and John Blackwell. Crowl can score at all 3-levels and is a solid passer as well.
Kamari McGee must continue to the solid point guard play that Chucky Hepburn displayed, and I believe he will easily. McGee doesn’t force much, runs the offense well, and shows great leadership communicating with the players.
I believe the point guard position is in good hands with McGee because of his understanding of how to play the position, knowing where everyone is supposed to be, and controls the pace of a game really well. Defensively, McGee can defend full court and is an overall great on-ball defender. Kam can score as well on all 3-levels.
John Blackwell has the ability to make a jump in scoring with a lot of comparisons to Johnny Davis and his increased scoring in one season.
do believe this can happen, but it probably won’t just because of Crowl, Klesmit, and Tonje are getting a fair share of the touches. But as Blackwell has shown in the past, he can score the ball, and with the work he put in over the summer, his scoring will be more efficient, and I believe that’s key for not only Blackwell but for the Badgers offense.
Defensively, we know John Blackwell will hold his own and create points off turnovers, so Blackwell’s impact will be huge without a huge jump in scoring.
Nolan Winter must step up and play big on both ends of the court and do a lot of dirty with Crowl on defense. Winter saw plenty of playing time last season to be ready to step in and make an impact for coach Gard’s Badgers this season.
Winter has the ability to score on all 3-levels, but I think he may be best for the Badgers finishing at the rim and in the mid-range game. Winter has the ability to take a big man off the dribble and, with his athleticism, finish at the rim, beating the defender off the dribble.
Overall, we know Wisconsin Badgers basketball teams are going to compete, defend well, and stick to what they do. I do believe this team has responded well during the preseason to Greg Gard’s expectations and challenges to get better as individual players and as a team.
My projected starting lineup for the Badgers is Kamari McGee, Max Klesmit, John Tonje, Nolan Winter, and Steven Crowl, with Camren Hunter, John Blackwell, Xavier Amos, Carter Gilmore, and Marcus Illvus as the main rotation players.
I predict the Badgers will go 11-9 in the conference.
The Badgers first four games before facing No. 10 ranked Arizona on November 15th are UW-River Falls, Holy Cross, Montana State, and Appalachian State.
