NEW YORK — With a Big Ten Tournament loss and his redshirt junior season now in the books, Ethan Happ is weighing his options.
Though he said that nothing is set in stone, he said, moments after Wisconsin’s 63-60 loss to Michigan State, that he will declare for the NBA Draft so that he can compete at the NBA Draft Combine on May 16-20. His decision to return or forgo his senior year, he added, is dependent on the feedback he gets from NBA officials.
"Right now I’m sure that I’m going to get the feedback of second-round pick," he said. "I would come back to college basketball if that was the finalization, but I’m hoping to up that in the combine process."
Happ, who has been consistently dominant in his three years on the court in Madison, is on pace to finish in the top-five in every major statistical category at UW. This year, Happ became the eighth player in Badger history to earn multiple first-team All-Big Ten honors, as he was recognized for the second-consecutive season.
If @EthanHapp22 plays 37 more games with the #Badgers (reasonable expectation), he's on pace to finish:
— Tommy Valtin-Erwin (@TommyValtin) February 24, 2018
2nd in PTS
1st in TRB
3rd in AST
2nd in STL
3rd in BLK
1st in ORB
on UW's all-time leaderboards. Not sure we'll ever see such an accomplished all-around player again.
The UW superstar will follow in the footsteps of former teammate Nigel Hayes, who tested the waters of the NBA at the combine after his junior year before returning for a final season in Madison. Hayes went undrafted in the 2017 NBA Draft and has spent most of his rookie season on assignment with the Westchester Knicks of the G-League. Happ said if that’s the path in front of him this year, he’ll be back on the Kohl Center court next fall.
"I would have to be told by a few GMs that they would probably take me in the first round,” he said. “It's not like, 'No, this is my last game for Wisconsin.'"
