The Wisconsin Badgers roster for next season is beginning to take shape. It's had a lot of changes, as we knew it would with all the graduating seniors. There have also been a few transfers out, though entirely out of the depth of the roster and not the impact players. The only player that may sting a little that left is Xavier Amos. However, it seemed as if his reasons were clear: He doesn't want to be a role player; he wants to play more.
Head coach Greg Gard has done an excellent job of rebuilding the roster. He first added in the more traditional way with three incoming freshmen: Zach Kinziger, Will Garlock, and Hayden Janes. He's also gone into the portal and added three others: Austin Rapp, Nick Boyd, and Andrew Rohde.
Wisconsin Basketball Departures
Graduating:
Max Klesmit
John Tonje
Steven Crowl
Carter Gilmore
Kamari McGee
Marcus Ilver
Transferring Out:
Chris Hodges
Daniel Freitag
Camren Hunter
Xavier Amos
That's 10 players leaving, and so far, only six players are coming. The scholarship count has gone up to 15, so there's a lot of room for players next season. Greg Gard may not use all 15 scholarships, but they're available to him.
This means that Gard is certainly not done, and there will be more additions before next season. However, if things were to stop right now, who would be the starting five? That's the important question that you came to this article for.
Let's also assume, for the sake of this piece, that John Blackwell sniffs the NBA Draft but returns to the Badgers, which is the most likely scenario for the Badgers.
Way-Too-Early Projected Starting Five for Wisconsin
PG: Nick Boyd
SG: John Blackwell
SF: Andrew Rohde
PF: Austin Rapp
C: Nolan Winter
While I used the common designations for the positions, Gard doesn't get fixated on that. He likes versatile players, which is one of the reasons he picked up Boyd as a combo guard. He also picked up Rapp, who is a stretch-4. This lineup may roll out like this, but he will have room to play with the roles and assignments.
With the roster as it stands, this seems to be the most likely starting five for Wisconsin next season.