Wisconsin Badgers freshmen are playing important NCAA Tournament minutes
The last time the Wisconsin Badgers freshmen were making an impact in March was?
Don’t worry, it’s ok. Hell, I can’t remember either.
The names of Alando Tucker, Devon Harris and most recently maybe even Josh Gasser are maybe the only names who come to mind when thinking of underclassmen who were staunch contributors for a Bo Ryan guided program.
Gard remembers well. He assisted under Ryan for years before getting his shot at the head job this season, after Ryan called it quits midway through the year.
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“We’ve never had a group of freshmen that have played this much, at least in the 15 years I’ve been here,” Gard said. “We’ve had seniors in the starting lineup, seniors in the rotation. Hopefully this will help them not only for the rest of this year, but as a springboard into the rest of their careers.”
The obvious contributor has been Ethan Happ.
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Happ began his UW playing career in 2015-16 after redshirting as a true freshman last season. He’s also the only scholarship member of the Badgers’ Class of 2014.
Gard himself could be considered a freshman. Though this week especially, Gard’s been poised, candid and honest in media interviews as UW find themselves at the center of the tournament story once again.
Leading up to this Friday’s Sweet 16 showdown with Notre Dame, he just continues to say all the right things, making it difficult for anyone who loves sports, and a great story, to cheer against the guy, or Wisconsin.
In his Sweet 16 press conference Monday, back in Madison, Gard was pointed at to answer a question about the play of his freshmen thus far in the tourney.
And let’s be honest, Wisconsin hasn’t had to answer a question about a freshman playing in March for quite some time.
He took the question in stride. And at first, directed the heat off of his younger players and directly onto him.
“I haven’t done a great job of using them as much as I probably should,” Gard said. “I have a tendency at times to lean on experience a little bit more. I probably, looking back through games, wish I would have played them a little bit more, key times in other games, and let them develop more of a routine.”
It wasn’t necessarily an option for Gard, who took over a program at 9-9 overall, and were on the brink of losing their identity in a conference they’ve been a mainstay on top of.
“Part of it was we were trying to get everything going the right direction in late December, January, and I didn’t have as much time to experiment with different combinations and kind of let them play through things as maybe I would have liked to in a normal non-conference season,” Gard said. “They’ve been a big part of why we’re still playing, because some nights it’s been fatigue that they’ve had to replace or try to stem off fatigue from the guys that are starting. Last night was foul trouble with different combinations out there. They were able to at least stem the tide and keep us within arm’s reach so we could buy minutes when we had either Vitto (Brown), Nigel (Hayes) or Ethan (Happ) on the bench with foul trouble.”
Speaking specifically, Gard has been tremendously impressed with the play of Khalil Iverson, who’s ability to do the fantastic, and spark Wisconsin with huge offensive and defensive plays, hasn’t gone unnoticed.
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“A freshman sometimes tries to do things they aren’t capable to do yet or ready to do yet,” Gard said. “Khalil’s pretty much stayed within his box, so to speak, and helped the team a lot.”