Biggest question marks for Wisconsin men's basketball in 2024-25
The Wisconsin Badgers enter the 2024-25 season with new faces, unanswered questions, and plenty to prove. Can Greg Gard’s team exceed their expectations and make a push in the Big Ten?
The Wisconsin Badgers basketball program enters the 2024-25 season with plenty of new faces, question marks, and, depending on who you ask, modest expectations, with a projection to finish 12th in the Big Ten.
Head coach Greg Gard and his squad have a lot to prove, particularly in a conference that isn’t forgiving to teams searching for an identity.
"I like this group. The depth of this group. The versatility of this group. The size of the group. The experience. … I think that's the thing that jumps out the most in today's era," Gard told reporters.
"Our past success has been predicated upon experience and maturity and our ability to add that to our group through the three guys who joined us through the portal, plus the guys who have returned and gotten better."
Here are my biggest questions for the Badgers heading into the season.
Who fills the void at point guard?
Losing three-year starter Chucky Hepburn to the transfer portal this offseason was a significant and unexpected blow for the Badgers, and now the question is who steps up to fill that void.
Right now, Kamari McGee appears to be the frontrunner at point guard.
“He’s understood what he can do and understood what he can’t do,” Gard said. “I would say the previous two years, he didn’t have a clear grasp of that. He knows when to step on the gas and when not to. He avoids trouble a lot, which was sometimes a fault of his in the past. He’s done a really good job of the command he’s taken.”
The senior from Racine showed an ability to be impactful in spurts off the bench last year, but he’s far from a proven commodity. Since transferring to Wisconsin from UW-Green Bay, McGee has played around eight minutes per game. However, he took a step forward as a junior, averaging 2.1 points and 0.8 rebounds per game on 54.3% shooting from the field.
McGee appears well-positioned to play a more prominent role—one that requires him to be more than just a strong on-ball defender. He'll instead take on more ball-handling responsibility and be counted on to initiate the offense—in addition to maintaining his usual defensive intensity.
What exactly that looks like is anyone's guess at this point.
There exists a world where Wisconsin leans on a committee approach at point guard, adjusting their lineup based on matchups. Junior transfer Camren Hunter and true freshman Daniel Freitag each bring something different to the table. John Blackwell or Max Klesmit could also be options in certain situations, allowing Gard to put his best five on the floor.
I like this team's depth at point guard quite a bit—there are three solid options who are capable of playing minutes right now. But at some point, they’ll need a dependable leader to run the show that they can lean on in big moments. The question is: do the Badgers have that?
What can Wisconsin expect from the transfers?
Coach Gard and his staff were incredibly active in the transfer portal this offseason, bringing in John Tonje from Missouri, Xavier Amos from Northern Illinois, and Camren Hunter from Central Arkansas. The trio brings experience, shooting, and some much-needed depth to the roster, but it’s still uncertain how much they’ll be able to produce.
"I think they all are good fits, and I think the staff did a really good job of evaluating and being very intentional," said Gard. "I think that's one thing you have to do in today's era. You have to be really, really specific and really intentional on who you're going after, and that it's not just throwing something against the wall and hope they fit... There was a direct intentionality with those three guys, specifically at those three positions."
Tonje seems like the best bet of the three to slide into a sizable role from the jump — whether that be as a starter out on the wing or coming off the bench to provide a scoring threat. The sixth-year senior is a career 47% shooter from beyond the arc and, at 6-foot-6, has the ideal size you'd like from a more traditional small forward. Gard even mentioned that Tonje is someone who could potentially see time at the "4" in a small ball lineup.
Then there's Amos, who, on paper, felt like a perfect fit for the Badgers. Amos, a stretch four, joins the program with two years of eligibility left and is coming off a season at Northern Illinois where he averaged 13.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game on 38.5% shooting from beyond the arc on 4.2 attempts per night. At 6-foot-8, Gard mentioned that Amos has enough versatility to be an option on the wing in certain situations, which was a surprising development. That said, sophomore Nolan Winter looks like the favorite to start alongside Steven Crowl, which means that Amos will likely slot into a role as the top reserve forward.
Hunter’s role might be the most up in the air of all the transfers. With McGee coming out of the woodwork and emerging as the Badgers starting point guard, it’s unclear where Hunter will fit into the rotation this season. He’s a physical guard who can bully defenders in the lane and is a more than capable spot-up shooter. When Wisconsin secured him from the portal, I assumed he was brought in to start. While that could still end up being the case, it's looking like he'll begin the year as a backup.
It’s possible none of these newcomers will crack the starting lineup to open the season. Still, Wisconsin men's basketball needs at least two of them to become reliable contributors, either as scoring sparks off the bench or dependable rotation pieces who can handle the physicality of the conference. If the Badgers want to exceed preseason expectations, it’ll come down to how well these transfers adapt and fit into their roles.
Can Steven Crowl be consistently consistent?
This is it for Steven Crowl. The big man is entering his fifth and final season in Madison, and it’s fair to wonder if we’ve seen the best of what the Minnesota native has to offer. Throughout his career, Crowl has shown flashes of being a legitimate difference-maker in the post—whether it’s his back-to-the-basket game, his ability to step out and knock down the occasional 3-pointer, or even facilitating for his teammates.
But consistency has always been the missing piece.
Crowl put up 11.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 55.6% from the field and an impressive 44.8% from beyond the arc last season. Still, his production fluctuated—Crowl reached 15+ points in 12 games but was held to single digits in 14 others.
At this point, Crowl is who he is—a good center with the potential to make a big-time impact in the paint. But the Badgers need him to step up and deliver night in and night out. It’s not just about scoring more points or grabbing a couple of extra rebounds; it’s about being a steady presence that can be counted on, especially against tougher Big Ten competition.
"I think the biggest thing for him is he has to demand the ball, and he needs to have it, if not every time down the floor," Gard said of Crowl. "We can't go two or three possessions in a row without him having some type of touch in the paint... He has to become dominant and consistently dominant because we've seen it in flashes... He needs to have touches because he makes so many good things happen."
KenPom’s data indicates that Crowl ranked fourth among Wisconsin’s regular rotation players in shot percentage last season (18.8%), placing him 57th in the Big Ten. The Badgers undoubtedly need that number to increase.
The 7-footer is one of just five players in Division I this season who has made 100+ starts with the same program. Now, the Badgers will need to lean on Crowl even more than they have in years past. But that's on Crowl to assert himself and play like an all-conference frontcourt player.
"I think his next step, his final step here in this last year, is to make himself into an all-league big guy like I think he can be," said Gard.
Crowl has delivered back-to-back seasons averaging double figures in scoring, and while John Blackwell is projected to be the team's leading scorer, Wisconsin men's basketball will need their big man to take that final step if they want to secure a spot in the Big Dance.
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