Wisconsin Badgers Men’s Basketball Preview

By: Melo Williams 

The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team is looking to bounce back this season after a tumultuous 2022-2023 season. Last season, Wisconsin was put out of the first round of the B1G Tournament, missed the NCAA Tournament, and were invited to and lost to North Texas Green Eagles in the NIT Tournament Final Four. The Badgers finished the season 20-15 overall and 9-11 in the B1G Conference.

Badgers fans will get an early look at the projected 2023-2024 Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team when Wisconsin hosts its annual Red-White Scrimmage on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 4 p.m. (CT) at the Kohl Center.

Here’s the projected starting lineup and reserves.

PG: Chucky Hepburn 12.2 PPG, 2.8 RPG 2.8 APG
SG: Connor Essegian 11.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG
SF: A.J. Storr 8.8 PPG, 1.9 RPG (Storr transferred from St. John’s University)                                     PF: Tyler Wahl 11.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG
C: Steven Crowl 12.1 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 2.5 APG

The key reserves for Wisconsin will be guards Max Klesmit and Kamari McGee, forwards Carter Gilmore, Gus Yalden, Nolan Winter, and John Blackwell.

Wisconsin has 3 solid incoming freshmen out of the 2023 class, three-star guard John Blackwell, three-star forward Nolan Winter, and four-star forward Gus Yalden.

Here’s what Badgers head coach Greg Gard had to say about his incoming freshmen.

On John Blackwell, “We’re always focused on the present, but it’s always a great day for the future [as] our three signees all signed their national letter of intent this morning. [First off, there’s] John Blackwell out of Detroit. Excited about him. [He’s a] combo wingguard who knows how to play. Obviously comes from very good bloodlines with his dad playing back in the day at Illinois. John can score [and has] terrific defensive instincts. Really liked his potential and I’m excited.”

On Nolan Winter, “[The third recruit of our class is] Nolan Winter out of Lakeville, Minnesota. Close to 7 feet [and] really skilled. Excited about his potential and what he can do and what he can accomplish. [He’s] just scratching the surface of where he can be as he gets bigger and stronger. That combination of [Winter and Yalden] inside is a big foundation for us for the frontline in years to come.”

On Gus Yalden, “Gus Yalden, better known as the Gus Bus, [is] a big body that’s really skilled like a lot of the guys we’ve had in the past. High basketball IQ for a big guy. Understands the game. He will continue to get better in terms of being ready for college basketball.”

Though it’s a scrimmage game it’ll be a great opportunity to watch this veteran-led Badgers team put on a display of their talents.

RECRUITING:

Wisconsin missed out on the 2024 five-star Kon Kneuppel sweepstakes. Knueppel committed to Duke University to play for head coach Jon Scheyer. Knueppel is one of the top recruits in the nation.

ESPN had him ranked No. 22 overall and was considered the No. 5 shooting guard in the class of 2024. 247Sports has Kneuppel ranked 19th nationally, 7th among forwards, and the No. 1 ranked player in Wisconsin.

Knueppel’s final five schools were Alabama, Duke, Marquette, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Outside of Duke, the other four schools’ head coaches are from Wisconsin, which is rumored why they were all on Knueppel’s final list of schools.

Badgers also lost out on Jackson McAndrew a power forward out of Minneapolis, Minn. The 6-foot-9, 190-pound Minnesota native committed to Creighton.

Badgers head coach Greg Gard has secured two commitments out of the 2024 class, four-star guard Daniel Freitag, and three-star forward Jack Robison, and one out of the class of

2025 three-star point guard Zach Kinziger from De Pere HS (WI).

The Badgers are monitoring the temperature with recruit Jaden Smith top 150 prospect from Chicago, IL. Smith is a 6’11 big man who’s a rim-running shot blocker with above-average athleticism who plays above the rim.

According to the composite rankings, Smith is the No. 146 overall player in the 2024 recruiting cycle, the No. 26 C in the country, and the No. 5 player in Illinois.

Smith currently holds offers from Georgia Tech, Arizona State, Dayton, Eastern Michigan, Illinois State, St. Louis, TCU, and others.

As it stands, UW has the No. 22 ranked recruiting class in the country.

Schedule Overview:

Wisconsin will host UW-Stevens Point for an exhibition on Nov. 1 before officially opening the season on Nov. 6 at the Kohl Center vs. Arkansas State.

Wisconsin’s regular season features 17 home games, including 10 Big Ten conference matchups. UW’s schedule features 13 teams that qualified for last season’s NCAA tournament.

The Badgers will host five Friday night games this season, including marquee matchups against Tennessee (Nov. 10), Indiana (Jan. 19) and Michigan State (Jan. 26).

UW Badgers also will play five home games on Saturday/Sunday, including Marquette (Dec. 2), Purdue (Feb. 4) and Illinois (March 2).

Prediction

Wisconsin Badgers will finish 5th in the BIG Conference this season.

Connor Essegian and A.J. Storr give the Badgers the consistent shooting and scoring they need on the perimeter to balance out the inside scoring from Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl.

As long as Chucky Hepburn continues being the floor general he is and knocking down his 3-point shot the Badger’s offense will be dynamic with the ability to score on all three levels consistently.

We know defensively Wisconsin gets after it on the defensive end.

2023-24 Wisconsin Men’s Basketball Schedule

DATE OPPONENT
NOV. 1 UW-STEVENS POINT (Exhibition)
NOV. 6 ARKANSAS STATE
NOV. 10 TENNESSEE
Nov. 14 at Providence
NOV. 17 ROBERT MORRIS
Nov. 20 vs. Virginia
Nov. 22 vs. SMU / West Virginia
NOV. 27 WESTERN ILLINOIS
DEC. 2 MARQUETTE
Dec. 5 at Michigan State
Dec. 9 at Arizona
DEC. 14 JACKSONVILLE STATE
DEC. 22 CHICAGO STATE
JAN. 2 IOWA
JAN. 6 NEBRASKA
Jan. 10 at Ohio State
JAN. 13 NORTHWESTERN
Jan. 16 at Penn State
JAN. 19 INDIANA
Jan. 23 at Minnesota
JAN. 26 MICHIGAN STATE
Feb. 1 at Nebraska
FEB. 4 PURDUE
Feb. 7 at Michigan
Feb. 10 at Rutgers
FEB. 13 OHIO STATE
Feb. 17 at Iowa
FEB. 20 MARYLAND
Feb. 27 at Indiana
MARCH 2 ILLINOIS
MARCH 7 RUTGERS
March 10 at Purdue
March 13-17 Big Tournament (Minneapolis, Minn.)
March 21-24 NCAA Tournament 1st & 2nd Rounds March 28-31
NCAA Tournament Regionals April 6-8 NCAA Final Four (Phoenix, Ariz.)

Single-game tickets go on sale to the public on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 9 a.m. CT, and will be available online at http://UWBadgers.com or by calling 1.800.GO.BADGERS or 608.262.1440.

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