Last year, it would have been easy to say the biggest strength of Wisconsin basketball was its depth. And the scoring, take-over ability of anyone in that depth. There were hero games from players off the bench like Carter Gilmore and Kamari McGee. We even had a Jack Janicki tooth-knocked-out game. However, the depth this year is a big question mark with so many unknowns beyond the starting five.
To make matters worse —or, if you are a glass-half-full sort of person, truly better— most of the depth is young, really young. This is the exact opposite problem from last season. If you bring to mind last season's team, you remember how old that team was, with six seniors gluing everything together. This season only features three (or four if you count a walk-on). All three are transfers into the program.
The good news for this year's roster is that it's extremely top-heavy. Meaning, the five starters are all going to be better than last year's starting five. Nolan Winter and John Blackwell have both gotten better. Austin Rapp seems to be the real deal. Add in the glue wing that can drop down shots in Andrew Rohde and the dog with an insane motor, Nick Boyd.
The strength for Greg Gard this season is his starting five
Related: The surprising true freshman Greg Gard says deserves more minutes for Wisconsin
Last season, the Badgers did not need to rely on a freshman at all. The only one that got any sort of minutes was a walk-on in Jack Janicki. The recruits either weren't ready or weren't actually that good. This year's squad is going to be almost the opposite.
Greg Gard is going to need his freshman, not all of them, but four of the five will play minutes. He will be forced to use Aleksas Bieliauskas and Will Garlock, with limited frontcourt depth. However, both look more seasoned than they should for true freshmen. He has also said that Hayden Jones is ready and needs more minutes.
This team has a lot of potential. The talent seems better than last year's squad, but the depth Gard had last year is a big question mark for this season.