After such an up-and-down season for Wisconsin, a loss in the Final Four can be tough to swallow. All the hard work and emotion poured into the season is suddenly put to a halt, and the players, coaches and community have to cope with the reality that the team came up just short of the ultimate goal.
But, like every other team in the tournament except one, the Badgers will have to look to overcome the tough reality of defeat and start to look forward to next season.
Fortunately for Wisconsin, the future of this basketball team looks good.
Many championship-caliber teams, like UW had this season, have to undergo a drastic rebuilding process to replace their seniors or players lost to the NBA. This will not be the case for the Badgers.
Of the nine players that saw the majority of minutes this season, eight of them will be returning. The only impact player the Badgers will lose from this season is senior guard Ben Brust.
That’s not to say that senior forwards Evan Anderson and Zach Bohannon didn’t play a key role in the team’s success in other ways, but it was Brust who had the most on-court influence.
Brust, Wisconsin’s record-holder for most 3-pointers in a single season, averaged 12.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and a team-high 34.7 minutes per game this season. The senior starter hit timely shots all season long and presented an experienced leadership role that cannot be easily replaced.
Next season, UW will return three starters that will all be seniors: guards Josh Gasser and Traevon Jackson, and forward Frank Kaminsky. Bench contributor Duje Dukan will also be a senior.
Having senior leadership and experience on a team is an important feat to have, and the Badgers will have plenty of it next season.
On the other end of the age spectrum, freshmen Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig will enter next year’s season with a full season under their belts.
Hayes and Koenig, two of UW’s highest recruits in recent years, improved all season long and were two huge pieces of the team’s success. After the invaluable experience they got this season and the offseason to get better, these two underclassmen will undoubtedly be huge assets for UW next season.
As of now, the departure of Brust presents two probable options for the Wisconsin starting lineup.
The first option is for Hayes, a forward, to step into the starting lineup, which would give the Badgers a much bigger look than what we saw in the starting lineup this season.
This change would give UW a more “classic” look than we have seen in past Bo Ryan teams.
The other option is that the team could elect to start Koenig in Brust’s guard spot to take on more of a shooting role, instead of his traditional point-guard role. This smaller, but faster starting lineup would resemble the one that Wisconsin displayed all season long.
These are the two most feasible scenarios looking forward right now, but a lot can change in the offseason.
As for new faces on the roster next season, the Badgers currently only have one player that will be joining the team. That face will be freshman Ethan Happ, a three-star recruit from Taylor Ridge, Ill.
Happ is a 6-foot-8 forward that shows many similarities in his play to that of Dekker. He can use his size to get to the glass, while he features a unique ability to handle the ball and shoot from beyond the arc.
Happ may not have the ability to make an instant difference, but he certainly has the skill set to make an impact as next season progresses.
Wisconsin was the most successful Big Ten team in the NCAA Tournament this season, and it certainly appears to be returning the most talent of any team in the conference.
This bodes well for the Badgers, who on paper have the ability to dominate the Big Ten and even make a return to the Final Four next season.
Only time will tell, but the future looks bright for coach Ryan and his squad.
