Big Ten stat shows how much Wisconsin will rely on new players to score

The Wisconsin Badgers are only returning two starters from last year's roster that nearly won the Big Ten and made it into the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The depth behind those starters is that the only returner is Jack Janicki, who averaged only 11 minutes per game. This means that the scoring is going to need to come from all the players coming in.

According to a Big Ten stat posted by Jon Rothstein, Wisconsin is returning only 35.9% of their scoring. This is 10th in the Big Ten. It's not the best in returning scoring, that's Purdue with 86% and it's nowhere near the worst with Indiana and Maryland returning 0% of their scoring. However, it shows that they will need to replace 64.1% of their last season's scoring. That's a pretty big number.

Wisconsin will need to replace 64.1% of their scoring from last season via new players

The good news for Wisconsin is that they have three top-level scorers coming in via transfer. A fourth crucial depth piece and then a good 2025 recruiting class. In terms of scoring production, the four transfers did this last season:

Austin Rapp - 428 points
Nick Boyd - 414 points
Andrew Rohde - 279 points
Braeden Carrington - 216 points

To put that in comparison, John Tonje scored 724 points, Steven Crowl scored 365 points, Max Klesmit scored 303 points, and Kamari McGee scored 240 points last season. This means that there will need to be a bit of Greg Gard magic still to be had, for they haven't quite replaced the scoring they lost with the scoring they gained. And, of course, all four transfers are coming into the Big Ten and will have to adapt to the conference.

This probably means there will need to be some breakout performances and some freshmen that actually contribute this season. The best candidate for a huge step forward this season is actually one of the returning players, John Blackwell. He could have a monster year next season.