Wisconsin Basketball: How Badgers move on from Ethan Happ for 2019-20 season

Nate Reuvers

Likely the most well-suited successor to Ethan Happ is the player who will be filling in for his shoes at the center position; that player is Nate Reuvers. The 6-foot-11 Junior has steadily improved his game from when he first stepped on campus, but next season Reuvers will likely be asked to make the largest jump of his career.

The groundwork is there for him to do that. He was one of Wisconsin’s most effective two-way role players last year, providing an attractive combination of rim protecting (1.8 blocks per game) and floor stretching (38.1 percent from three).

It is safe to say that with Reuvers taking up a lot of minutes in Happ’s former role, Wisconsin’s offense will function very differently. On one hand, they will now have a big capable of fading out beyond the 3-point line, allowing for many more pick-and-pop situations. But on the other hand, they will lack a strong-bodied center who can bully his way in the paint.

Reuvers does have a nice touch on his hook shot and can finish it through contact at times, but he struggles to overpower defenders inside like Happ was able to. Fortunately, Reuvers does not need to mimic Happ’s repertoire to be dominant. He can instead add to his inside game via the finesse route (similar to another former Badger, Frank Kaminsky).

Adding a few extra tricks to his arsenal inside could make him a reliable inside-outside scoring threat for Wisconsin. In doing so, Ethan Happ’s absence in the post should become less of a burden, and Nate Reuvers could be on his way to becoming the next great Badger big man.