Wisconsin Basketball: Can Kobe King be the “X-Factor” in 2018-19?

Everybody knows Wisconsin basketball struggled this past season. With everyone returning, including Kobe King from injury, there is plenty of hope.

Year-over-year development in college basketball can be a powerful thing. We have seen countless teams rise from the doldrums of a down season only to explode with a loaded returning cast. For Wisconsin basketball, fans are hoping for a rise back to prominence in the Big Ten after a one-year hiatus. Valuable returning starters such as Ethan Happ, Brad Davison, and Brevin Pritzl are at the forefront of this but Kobe King, who will be returning from injury, needs to be the X-factor.

This is due to the fact that the Badgers have to make a substantial leap in order to return to their usual form. After making the NCAA Tournament in 19 consecutive seasons, Wisconsin missed out last season and did so by a wide margin. They finished the campaign with a disappointing injury-riddled 15-18 (7-11) record.

Heading into 2018-19, betting solely on the improvement of the players who saw the floor last season will not get the job done. It is not fair to ask all of those players to take the massive jumps that would need to happen in order for the team to return to the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the team saw sophomore D’Mitrik Trice and freshman Kobe King go down with season-ending injuries.

We have already witnessed a whole season out of Trice. While it is possible that he makes a leap next season, Kobe King is the question mark for Wisconsin basketball. Does he have what it takes to be a go-to scorer off the bench next season?

In ten games a year ago, King showed flashes of being an excellent offensive player. While his averages of 5.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in 19.0 minutes per game were far from spectacular, he consistently made tough shots and was occasionally relied on for a few possessions in a row to put the ball in the basket.

Out of high school, the 6’3″ King was nationally ranked within the top-200 in the class of 2017. This also was not tremendous but scoring ability at that level was. While playing for La Crosse Central, he averaged 28.0 points and 8.9 rebounds per game while being named Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin. He shot 61% from the field to go with 45% from 3-point range, numbers that are awesome at any level.

The excitement surrounding King is well-warranted. He is an in-state recruit that is recovering from a tough injury. Everybody should be rooting for him to make a great comeback because nobody should have to go through a season-ending injury after just 10 games. Yet, the other reason for wanting him to make a solid recovery is that he can be the missing piece of the puzzle for Wisconsin.

At several points last season, the Badgers struggled due to the inability of their bench to score and the poor floor-spacing of the team overall. In fact, only two players on the entire roster averaged nine or more points per game last season (Happ and Davison) and only one rotation player shot over 40% from three (Aleem Ford, 40.9%). Considering their star player is a post player that never leaves the paint, adding floor spacing is critical.

King only shot 33.3% from deep but his 21 3-point attempts (2.1 per game) are not nearly enough to draw a conclusion from. His form is solid and his release time allows him to get good looks off before defenders close out. Even though it is unlikely that King will start in a clogged backcourt next season, the team needs him to be the go-to scorer off the bench.

Per KenPom, Wisconsin had the 11th-best offense in the Big Ten (14 teams) and played at the second-slowest pace. In today’s game, both of those need to change. While it is possible for “methodical” teams to be dominant (see Virginia and Michigan last season), those teams need the right system (specifically offensively) and athletes to make it happen.

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King should help solve the scoring issues off the bench for Wisconsin. In college basketball, having a “deep” bench of scorers (two or three guys) is unnecessary for the most part. If King can score 8-12 points per game next season in around 20 minutes, then the Badgers will have another dynamic threat to join Happ, Davison, and Trice.