As the weather outside gets frightful, the jumpers of Dekker and Kaminsky will be oh so delightful. That’s right folks, the college basketball season is a little over a week away from starting, and Wisconsin is near the top of the preseason rankings.
The Badgers snagged the No. 3 spot in the AP preseason poll, their highest ever to start a season. This is almost certainly based on them returning seven out of their top eight scorers from a team that reached the Final Four, the first of the Bo Ryan era. With another loaded and experienced team, hopes are high in Madison to double Ryan’s Final Four total.
“Wait, Shad, you bumbling idiot, not only do you frequently air ball free throws, but you also forgot that the one scorer we did lose was Ben Brust, the all-time leader in 3-pointers at Wisconsin!”
Quite the contrary, reader who has sadly seen me at the SERF basketball courts. While Ben Brust was definitely an integral part of the Final Four squad last season, his loss will be offset by the talent already on this roster, namely sophomore guard Bronson Koenig.
First of all, let me be clear by saying I am not here to diminish Brust. If he still had eligibility, I would want him on this team on an instant. Brust had a unique combination of being a knockdown shooter combined with his knack for being a sneaky and effective off ball cutter.
As mentioned earlier, Brust owns the all-time UW record for career threes made, and the spacing he provided with his accurate stroke cannot be diminished. His 39 percent accuracy from deep warranted defenders to always stay near him, giving UW’s bigs and driving guards room to operate in the paint.
Brust also scurried around the court like a water bug, darting through screens for efficient catch-and-shoot opportunities that fatigued defenses. Then, if a defender started to fall asleep and stay too close to him, he would cut into the paint ready to lay in a high percentage and deflating shot at the rim. At 6’1”, Brust also used his intelligence and court vision to become an extremely effective rebounder given his short stature, averaging almost five boards per game. So how on earth does a team replace a guy who averaged almost 13 points per game and brought so much more to the court?
Enter Koenig. He came to Madison as a heralded four-star point guard of the future, and he had a solid freshman season. The Badgers had a crowded backcourt, employing Traevon Jackson and Josh Gasser along with Brust, so Koenig came off the bench last year. As the season progressed, he earned more and more of Ryan’s trust and saw increased action in crunch time, including receiving over 15 minutes per game in the postseason.
Koenig is already a very polished ball handler and he exhibited excellent court vision in his playing time last season, averaging the second-most assists per minute on the team. While he cannot be expected to be as brilliant from beyond the arc as Brust was, Koenig is certainly no slouch from distance, sinking 33 percent of his triples as a freshman, numbers that should escalate with more experience.
While it will be impossible to completely replace a shooter as deadly as Brust immediately, Koenig has what it takes to pick up most of the slack. The added dose of creativity and ball handling that Koenig brings to the table should only make the Badgers more dynamic, while only sacrificing a small step down in shooting. Though it will be disappointing to see all that Brust brought to the table disappear, have no fear Badger fans, for Koenig is here.
