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NCAA Basketball: Kobe King, best title matchup and other key questions

By Tristan Freeman

PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 27: Myles Powell #13 of the Seton Hall Pirates dribbles the ball against Jermaine Samuels #23 of the Villanova Wildcats in the first half at the Wells Fargo Center on January 27, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 27: Myles Powell #13 of the Seton Hall Pirates dribbles the ball against Jermaine Samuels #23 of the Villanova Wildcats in the first half at the Wells Fargo Center on January 27, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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NCAA Basketball
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 22: Kobe King #23 of the Wisconsin Badgers  (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images) /

How is the Kobe King transfer news being viewed throughout NCAA Basketball? Find out in this week’s roundtable.

Welcome to another NCAA Basketball roundtable, where a group of talented contributors answers some of the burning questions. With the calendar turning to February, all the games and the results will be all the more important. Here are the writers participating in this week’s Q and A;

Andrew Dieckhoff – @andrewdieckhoff

Robert Kennedy – @BlueWhiteRocks

Jason Burgess – @collegehoopsguy

TJ Miller – @timmyjmiller

Jason Belt – @JasonBelt12

1. How does the Kobe King situation affect Wisconsin both on the court and with recruiting?

Burgess

Anytime you have a situation like this that comes out during the season the optics aren’t good, but I’ll be honest I’m not sure how much of an effect it’ll have in the long term. It didn’t hurt them vs Michigan State and a lot will depend on how they finish the year, if they finish strong I’m not sure this will impact them as much as some might think long term, both on the floor and in recruiting.

Belt

Kobe King leaving the Wisconsin program mid-season is not the best look for a program that has struggled to put players into the NBA in recent years. Not only will it limit Wisconsin on the court by losing a starter and a guy who averages double digits, but having a player leave the program mid-season is not a good representation of the culture as well as coaching influence. Since leaving, King has said that he and head coach Greg Gard have had issues since early in his career as a Badger.

He also has mentioned that he isn’t the only player that is frustrated with how they are handled by Greg Gard, which adds to a fairly bad situation and makes it a worse look for the program as a whole. It’s never good for a program to have a home-grown kid, who was Mr. Basketball for the state of Wisconsin in high school, leave in the middle of his sophomore season.

Kennedy

It won’t affect either aspect of Wisconsin’s program much, if at all. On the court, I think Wisconsin provided the answer when they beat Michigan State. Recruiting wise, the relationships that Coach Gard and his staff have cultivated will continue and as to people opining their opinion on social media, this story will pass as soon as Greg Gard signs his next recruit.

Miller

Any midseason departure is never a great look for the parties involved, but I think Wisconsin will be fine. With the Michigan State win, the Badgers don’t look like a team worried about losing one of its top scorers. Wisconsin looked like a tournament team with Kobe King but I think they also look like a tournament team without him. In terms of recruiting, the Badgers should also be okay, although 2021 will be the key year to watch as multiple starters will be heading out.

Dieckhoff

I’m not sure — I think we have to check back this summer to see if there’s any kind of mass exodus in Madison. If you see others starting to follow suit, that could be an ugly mark on Greg Gard’s tenure with the Badgers and could accelerate discussions about his eventual replacement. At this point, it seems pretty clear that Gard isn’t going to be Bo Ryan.

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