With the college basketball season nearing its end, the list of transfer players grows longer by the day. What names should Wisconsin Basketball look into?
While Wisconsin Basketball has historically not been very active in pursuing transfer players, this has begun to change a bit under Greg Gard’s leadership of the program. In addition to walk-ons Trevor Anderson (UW-Green Bay) and Owen Hamilton (Northern Illinois), the Badgers came out on top of the battle for Micah Potter (Ohio State), who is poised to play a huge role on the team next season. Also, let’s not forget that Gard heavily pursued forwards Wyatt Walker (Samford) and Malik Osborne (Rice) as well, though they ultimately signed with NC State and Florida State, respectively.
The expectation is that the coaching staff will be active in the transfer market once again over the next few months. Even before another scholarship opportunity on the team opened up when Tai Strickland opted to leave the program last week, Wisconsin was going to look into the possibility of adding a grad transfer or a second class of 2019 recruit capable of making an instant impact on next season’s team to join Tyler Wahl.
With the departures of seniors Ethan Happ, Khalil Iverson, and Charlie Thomas, and with Potter potentially having to wait until December before he’s eligible to play, the Badgers could really use a boost in the frontcourt. Gard will likely often opt to utilize guard-heavy lineups regardless, but the Badgers really need to add another big body with a proven track record of production to join Potter (when eligible), Wahl, Aleem Ford, and Nate Reuvers.
Here are some names that the Badgers should take a long look at adding to the 2019-20 roster.