2023-24 Wisconsin Basketball season thread

[homer]

He gone

[RedStickBrew]

It’ll be interesting to see where Gus lands. He certainly has skill, but I would guess he needs to level down to get some guaranteed playing time. 

[homer]

He gone

[RedStickBrew]

I do not find this surprising at all. AJ wants to test the NBA waters and is likely a long shot to get drafted. He will go with the best NIL offer if he pulls out of the draft process. I would not say the door is entirely closed on UW but also not likely he returns.

[MrTPlush]

That would explain why his post was such a ‘goodbye’ vibe.

He probably can get just as much NIL money elsewhere and get better exposure. Not that Wisconsin is terrible for exposure…but he might be attractive enough for one of the elite schools to go after him.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, RedStickBrew said:

I do not find this surprising at all. AJ wants to test the NBA waters and is likely a long shot to get drafted. He will go with the best NIL offer if he pulls out of the draft process. I would not say the door is entirely closed on UW but also not likely he returns.

I think this is accurate. It seems like adding the portal announcement to his previous declaration is sort of a bet hedge--UW is actively looking at 4s but also at some people who can play the 3. So he feels the need to keep all his options open. Of course, that results in UW needing to keep THEIRS open as well. Just one of a couple hundred poker games going on across the country, each side waiting for the other to play their cards. Gotta love it when decisions regarding sports policy wind up in the courts.

It's pretty obvious to me that on Storrs' list of top eight options, six are the NBA, seventh is stagnating in the G League & hoping for the NBA & the eighth is getting the most NIL money he can w/ the least amount of academics. UW can compete pretty well NIL-wise, but as to the second point, well, I think Domasks' spot is opening up........

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

It’ll be interesting to see where Gus lands. He certainly has skill, but I would guess he needs to level down to get some guaranteed playing time. 

Agree with this as well. Under a particular system geared towards man-ball movement w/lots of motion he could probably compete, and compete well. Being able to guard mid-major bigs (if that's where he winds up) will help keep him on the floor, too.

 

[LouisEly]

8 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

It’ll be interesting to see where Gus lands. He certainly has skill, but I would guess he needs to level down to get some guaranteed playing time. 

He needs to get his priorities straight first before he's going to get playing time anywhere.

Part of me thinks that for some kids entering the portal is a way of "quiet quitting" while trying to maintain some dignity.  Nobody really follows where players end up after they go into the portal (does anyone remember - or care - that Dean Engram didn't end up anywhere after he entered the portal?) unless someone is purposely looking for them.  However, if someone were to leave the team but not transfer, it's a more public way of admitting failure.

[yourout]

I know it's the WNIT but who would have ever guessed the Wisconsin women's basketball team would be the last Wisconsin winter sport still playing.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

So....

McGee, Klesmit, Chuckie, Crowl, Winter, Blackwell, Ilver seem like the core of next year's roster as it stands. That could be okay.

Danny Wolfe (7-footer from Yale) entered the portal and might be a fit given UW's pedigree with rangy bigs. Could really use a dynamic 3, as losing Storr will hurt quite a bit.

Some talent coming in too. Rosters change so quickly in this sport these days, so who knows? Purdue and Illinois are going to lose a ton. I'd expect Michigan St. to reload, Michigan to make a lot of moves, and the rest of the B1G to be wide open.

[RedStickBrew]

1 hour ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

So....

McGee, Klesmit, Chuckie, Crowl, Winter, Blackwell, Ilver seem like the core of next year's roster as it stands. That could be okay.

Danny Wolfe (7-footer from Yale) entered the portal and might be a fit given UW's pedigree with rangy bigs. Could really use a dynamic 3, as losing Storr will hurt quite a bit.

Some talent coming in too. Rosters change so quickly in this sport these days, so who knows? Purdue and Illinois are going to lose a ton. I'd expect Michigan St. to reload, Michigan to make a lot of moves, and the rest of the B1G to be wide open.

Quite a bit up in the air right now as far as roster construction for next year. Five players left the program so far leaving three open scholarships for next year. Power forward will be a priority for sure. I saw that Brandon Angel hit the portal too which would also be a nice fit there. 
 

There is no way Freitag isn’t part of the backcourt rotation next year IMO. Blackwell backed up Storr last year and had a nice stretch of games before he got injured in the BTT so he may be in the mix for that 3 spot as well. 
 

Really just need to see where the dust settles after transfers enroll to get a clear picture of the roster for next season

[Jim French Stepstool]

16 hours ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

So....

McGee, Klesmit, Chuckie, Crowl, Winter, Blackwell, Ilver seem like the core of next year's roster as it stands. That could be okay.

Danny Wolfe (7-footer from Yale) entered the portal and might be a fit given UW's pedigree with rangy bigs. Could really use a dynamic 3, as losing Storr will hurt quite a bit.

Some talent coming in too. Rosters change so quickly in this sport these days, so who knows? Purdue and Illinois are going to lose a ton. I'd expect Michigan St. to reload, Michigan to make a lot of moves, and the rest of the B1G to be wide open.

With Crowl & Winter apparently returning, I'm surprised they'd be looking at any 5s. They are looking at the kid leaving Minnesota though, perhaps with the idea of him being able to play the 4 ( I don't see Winter ever doing that w/any regularity). And I just don't see them recruiting "over" Winter because A) IMO Winter showed more than enough promise & B) TJ Otzelberger isn't our coach.

Redstick mentioned Brandon Angel in his post. UW recruited him out of HS & from what I understand they have contacted him.

[Jim French Stepstool]

You need to kick all the tires in this day & age but personally, assuming health & a normal amount of strength & development I'd be fine with Blackwell starting in Storrs' spot.

[RedStickBrew]

4 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

With Crowl & Winter apparently returning, I'm surprised they'd be looking at any 5s. They are looking at the kid leaving Minnesota though, perhaps with the idea of him being able to play the 4 ( I don't see Winter ever doing that w/any regularity). And I just don't see them recruiting "over" Winter because A) IMO Winter showed more than enough promise & B) TJ Otzelberger isn't our coach.

Redstick mentioned Brandon Angel in his post. UW liked recruited him out of HS & from what I understand they have contacted him.

Regardless of position I could see Gard pursuing a defensive minded big. Winter is basically a more athletic version of Crowl from what I’ve seen of him. We could use a rim protector and rebounder

[homer]

 

 

[RedStickBrew]

2 hours ago, homer said:

 

 

Interesting. Maybe some truth to the rumors he’s getting a bag from Ill-annoy then

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, RedStickBrew said:

Interesting. Maybe some truth to the rumors he’s getting a bag from Ill-annoy then

Don't know exactly what to think about this, except that all the people that complained over the past few decades about universities making money hand over fist at the expense of the student (COUGH!!!! COUGH!!!!) athletes should be thrilled beyond their wildest dreams. Years ago, I was dumb enough to think that, eventually, the scholarship athletes would receive an across-the-board stipend besides their free education. And that NIL would mean that they could, if they chose, go out & make whatever deal they could for endorsements, autographs, etc. without the school being involved in any way. Foolish me. 

I AM getting the feeling Storr has gathered info & is, shall we say, less optimistic about his draft expectations than he was a few weeks ago.

[LouisEly]

17 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I AM getting the feeling Storr has gathered info & is, shall we say, less optimistic about his draft expectations than he was a few weeks ago.

I don't think so.  I think what's happening is that schools are reaching out to Storr now that he put his name in the portal and are asking him what it will take to get him to come there.  His primary goal is the NBA, so I think he's telling schools an inflated number that would get him to bypass the NBA draft process right now.  Once the draft evaluation process is over, if he gets the feedback that he won't be drafted then his NIL number will likely come down.  But Storr reportedly passed up $750K from Kansas and $500K from UW, and I think that's him reinforcing that his #1 goal is the NBA and it's going to take really big number to get him to forego the NBA and the evaluation process and commit to a school right now.

[Jim French Stepstool]

38 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

I don't think so.  I think what's happening is that schools are reaching out to Storr now that he put his name in the portal and are asking him what it will take to get him to come there.  His primary goal is the NBA, so I think he's telling schools an inflated number that would get him to bypass the NBA draft process right now.  Once the draft evaluation process is over, if he gets the feedback that he won't be drafted then his NIL number will likely come down.  But Storr reportedly passed up $750K from Kansas and $500K from UW, and I think that's him reinforcing that his #1 goal is the NBA and it's going to take really big number to get him to forego the NBA and the evaluation process and commit to a school right now.

That's plausible. I once felt that there wasn't a number that would keep him in CBB unless his chances of getting drafted are next to zero, but apparently there is. Rumors are the 750K he turned down came after he asked for 1 million. Yeah, he wants to give the eval every chance, but people are making their NIL decisions & his options lessen if he waits that long. I just hope for his sake the people advising him aren't in the running for the Bad Advice Hall of Fame.

I'm pretty sure the number UW threw at him was over $500K.

[LouisEly]

32 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Rumors are the 750K he turned down came after he asked for 1 million.

Kansas reached out and asked him what it would take to get him.  He said $1M.  Kansas countered with $750K.  Storr passed.

Storr's #1 goal is the NBA and it's going to take a lot right now to get him to forego that.

[MrTPlush]

Storr really hoping some team has more money than they know what to do with and give him 7-figures.

I mean, I don’t think he is even a 2nd rounder. Forgoing another year in college for whatever a G-league salary is seems…slightly shortsighted.

[BrewerFan]

1 hour ago, MrTPlush said:

Storr really hoping some team has more money than they know what to do with and give him 7-figures.

I mean, I don’t think he is even a 2nd rounder. Forgoing another year in college for whatever a G-league salary is seems…slightly shortsighted.

I think he's pretty likely to be at least a 2-way player. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Storr really hoping some team has more money than they know what to do with and give him 7-figures.

I mean, I don’t think he is even a 2nd rounder. Forgoing another year in college for whatever a G-league salary is seems…slightly shortsighted.

I don't know exactly what the NBA would be looking for, whether a team would overlook his shortcomings & "stash" him for future benefit, etc. But I'm pretty certain that the weaknesses in his game would more likely be improved in college than playing at the G-league level. Wisconsin would be one of those places, although it's almost certain that ship has sailed.

Shortsighted, or greatly misinformed. Which is likely synonymous.

[Jim French Stepstool]

It was just announced that assistant coach Dean Oliver is leaving UW. Was there for seven years. Recruited the midwest, I believe mostly Michigan/Ohio/Indiana areas. I wonder if some of the speculation coming out of Iowa City regarding Mccaffery & his future has anything to do with this. He's a former Hawkeye & may think there's an opportunity there, either immediately or in the near future.

I'm assuming Kirk Penney will be given the fulltime assistant position.

[MrTPlush]

11 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

I think he's pretty likely to be at least a 2-way player. 

Maybe, I’m not really much of an NBA watcher to know the likelihood of that. Seems it would be odd for a guy who isn’t very polished and a rookie…but probably has more to do with promising him the salary ($600k-ish?) than actually using him at the NBA level.

At that rate Wisconsin’s $500k isn’t impressive and $750k isn’t a huge improvement over the G-league as a two-way. 
 

He is probably destined for the NBA at that rate. Any team willing to give him $750k+ doesn’t wait around for the Storr’s of the world to figure their stuff out.