Wisconsin Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Badgers
Key Reserves
Considering so many players were forced to play significant roles last season, Wisconsin should be an experienced on-court team this year. Still, there are still plenty of weaknesses on the roster. The most important of these, in my opinion, is that the team lacks consistent shooters to place on the perimeter around Happ. Because of this, the most important reserves this season will be a trio of potentially strong shooters: Brevin Pritzl, Aleem Ford, and Kobe King.
Starting with Pritzl, the junior guard has not quite lived up to the hype surrounding him as the No. 94 recruit in the 2016 class. Yet, this could be his breakout year. After seeing sporadic playing time early in his career, Pritzl emerged as a rotation player a year ago, averaging 29.3 minutes per game while starting 21 games. In his time on the court, the 6-foot-3 guard averaged 8.9 points (.397/.356/.855) and 3.8 rebounds per game. And while these numbers are not great, he has a strong reputation as a shooter and could greatly improve statistically in that facet of the game.
Next, sophomore Aleem Ford is returning after posting a strong season from beyond the arc a year ago. Although his release is not exceptionally quick nor does he shoot at high volume, Ford was the best pure shooter (by percentage) on the Wisconsin roster last season. In fact, he was the only player on the team who shot better than 36% from distance on more than 25 total attempts. He shot 40.9% (45-for-110) from three on the whole.
And considering the nation overall (351 teams) combined to shoot 35.2% from beyond the arc, King is the only returning Badger who would be clearly defined as “above-average” last season. Davison (35.5%) and Pritzl (35.6%) hovered around the national average as the next best shooters on the roster.
Lastly, Kobe King was showing signs of being a high-quality player last year before going down with a season-ending injury. A top-200 recruit out of high school, King has plenty of size (6-foot-4) and scoring moves to be a dangerous shot creator in the future. In regards to this season, many Wisconsin fans are hoping that he can emerge as one of the top bucket-getters off the bench and his role would increase even more with a consistent 3-point jumper. He shot 7-for-21 (33.3%) from beyond the arc in 10 games last season.
In addition to this key trio of reserves, Wisconsin has a couple of newcomers joining the program that could make an impact at point guard. After sitting out last season due to transfer rules, Trevor Anderson will be eligible to play this season. He averaged 9.8 points (.400/.376/.804), 2.9 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game with Green Bay in 2016-17. Additionally, incoming freshman Tai Strickland could find playing time due to his quickness and athleticism.
In the frontcourt, depth is fairly thin due to Reuvers landing a spot in the projected starting lineup. In my opinion, Happ will play upwards of 30 minutes per game and the center position and Reuvers will cover the remaining minutes. Then, players like Iverson and Ford might need to play up a position or two to cover minutes as small-ball power forwards. The lack of true depth in the frontcourt is a bit worrying.