How UW can maintain team-building principles during the transfer portal era
College basketball has changed forever due to the implementation of the modern-day transfer portal. Athletes can now transfer one time during their collegiate career whilst maintaining immediate eligibility.
This rule change forced college basketball coaches at every level to re-evaluate their team-building philosophies. Now, no two Roster construction blueprints will be the same moving forward. This is especially true as it relates to Coach Gard and the Badgers.
Many view Wisconsin as one of the most successful developmental programs in the country dating back to Bo Ryan’s tenure. Yet, in the transfer portal era, even a program like UW will need to adapt or risk getting lost in the shuffle.
If Coach Gard is going to keep pace with the top programs in the Big Ten, he’ll need to embrace the portal and use it to improve the roster on the margins.
Would he prefer to have four years to help develop a player? Yes, but he recognizes that isn’t the reality of college athletics anymore.
That said, UW can largely maintain the same team-building principles they’ve always used.
How can Wisconsin use the transfer portal to its advantage?
Wisconsin is, was, and always will be, a program that prioritizes recruiting and developing its own players.
The recruiting mantra at UW is to “get old, and stay old” – allowing players time to grow their respective games before earning larger roles as upperclassmen.
This very mantra has helped Wisconsin finish top four in the Big Ten standings in 19 of the last 21 seasons.