Wisconsin Basketball: Which Badger is poised for a breakout season?

Wisconsin basketball is much younger this year than it has been in the past. Which player is ready to step up and have a breakout season in Madison?

Ethan Happ will be the focal point of this season’s Wisconsin basketball team. There is no question about that and there won’t be all season. Happ is a top candidate for the Big Ten Player of the Year Award this season thanks to his balanced game on both ends of the floor. Aside from Happ, though, who is going to step up for the Badgers?

Last season’s starters Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koenig, Zak Showalter, and Vitto Brown have all graduated and they will not be easily replaced in the lineup. Sophomore D’Mitrik Trice will hold down the starting point guard spot and he is certainly a candidate to take a major leap from Year 1 to Year 2.

However, sophomore shooting guard Brevin Pritzl looks to be the player who can make the biggest impact if he plays to his potential during this season.

Pritzl was a four-star recruit out of high school and did not play much during his freshman season last year (he medically redshirted in 2015-16). Heralded as a sniper from 3-point range, fans are yet to truly see what Pritzl is capable of on the floor.

Last season, he appeared in 24 games, playing just 207 total minutes. In that time, he struggled to find a rhythm with his shot. Pritzl was just 13-for-38 (34.2%) from the field and a disappointing 5-for-21 (23.8%) from 3-point land. In Pritzl’s defense, though, it is very difficult to find an in-game shooting rhythm without much playing time.

Heading into this season, Pritzl should have no trouble finding minutes. In fact, as the likely starting shooting guard, he will probably play upwards of 20 minutes per game. The hope for Pritzl is that he can be a knockdown shooter in his time on the floor. With Wisconsin’s expected scheme for this year, his accuracy from deep would be extremely effective this season.

Star big man Ethan Happ is at his best when in the post and has not shown the ability to knock down deep jumpers in either of his first two seasons. With that being said, if he does not have any shooters around him, it would be easy for a team to collapse on him inside and force the other four players to beat them.

In this clip from the Badgers’ summer competition, Ethan Happ draws the attention on the inside before kicking out to Pritzl. The smooth shooting guard then moves into a quick catch-and-shoot and is able to get his shot off. This will be vital for Wisconsin if they can perfect this little two-man game.

Showalter, Koenig, and Brown (also Hayes to a lesser extent) were all dangerous shooters from behind the arc and Pritzl will be looking to make up for some of that this season. Although one summer game is nothing to get too excited about, Pritzl did show a flash of his potential in Wisconsin’s first game of their trip to Australia and New Zealand.

While shooting 7-for-9 from deep, Pritzl dropped in 27 points for the Badgers in an 85-75 victory.

Looking forward to this season, it is important that Pritzl does more than just shoot the ball, though. As a defender, he will need to be solid along the perimeter. The Badgers are very young and their youth could hurt them on the defensive end early in the year. Happ is already a solid defender, but next to him there are a lot of defensive question marks.

In the backcourt, Pritzl and Trice are both sophomores with limited experience. Trice is a solid defender already, but Pritzl’s limited collegiate experience leaves his defensive abilities at this level under speculation. As far as the rest of the lineup goes, it seems that there are several holes on that end of the floor, but the overall youth of the team means that there is plenty of defensive potential, especially with a player like Khalil Iverson.

Next: Previewing Wisconsin's 2017 recruiting class

Being a positive player on both ends of the floor is what makes a complete college player and Pritzl will need to do just that in order to have a truly great breakout season. His offensive game will hopefully be able to help Wisconsin spread the floor for Ethan Happ and maybe he can add a dash of inside scoring as well as some defense. Watch out for Pritzl to be a surprising player in the Big Ten for the Badgers.