The 3 Biggest Questions Facing Wisconsin Basketball Ahead of 2024 Season

Who Will Fill Out the Last Roster Spot?

After losing out on potential transfers Noah Boyed and Frank Anselem-Ibe, Greg Gard will head back to drawing board to find his last transfer. There's a few directions he can go, but it seems like finding Steven Crowl's backup is the priority. There aren't any new names being linked to the Badgers just yet, but you can be sure they are looking at some big rim protectors to compliment Crowl. Regardless, they have a pretty solid rotation as is and this would be a player who would come in for limited, but important, minutes.

How Will the New Transfers Fit In?

Gard and company brought in three new transfers this spring to replace the production of AJ Storr, Chucky Hepburn and others. Camren Hunter, John Tonje and Xavier Amos will all be new faces this fall and how they might fit into the Badger roster puzzle is in the hands of the coaching staff.

Guard Camren Hunter will likely need to beat out incoming freshman Daniel Freitag for a starting job. Freitag has a lot of hype as the number two recruit in Minnesota, but Gard may end up going with the veteran. Tonje and Amos seemingly have much more obvious paths into starting roles after the departures of Storr and Tyler Wahl. There's a very real possibility that all three transfers start for Wisconsin for a very different looking team in 2024.

What Can Gard Do to Get Off the Hot Seat?

Wisconsin ended the 2023 season with an upset loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, so it seems like the bar starts there for Greg Gard. His seat was slightly warm this spring so it seems like anything less than a tournament victory will turn it hot. There's been grumblings for years about how Gard doesn't connect to his players and his system can't win in today's game. With a program that only has one tournament win in the last three years, with that one win being against a 14-seed, those grumblings will only get louder.

If the Badgers miss the NCAA Tournament this season, Greg Gard could still keep his job. But there would be zero room for error after that and it wouldn't be too surprising Wisconsin decided to go another direction. If he wants his seat to cool with the fans and the administration, winning a tournament game would go a long way.