Wisconsin Basketball: Why Badgers will be better than Iowa in 2020-21
By Cody Larson
Micah Potter and Nate Reuvers
Luka Garza’s dominance during the 2019-20 season cannot be overstated; he arguably churned out a National Player of the Year performance (had it not been for Obi Toppin) against arguably the most stacked conference in terms of big man talent. He wreaked havoc against the likes of Xavier Tillman, Jalen Smith, Daniel Oturu, Kaleb Wesson; the list of elite big men goes on.
Garza did formidable damage against the Badgers last year as well; nabbing 18 boards alongside 21 points in a 68-62 Hawkeye win. It should be noted, though, that Micah Potter only logged 15 minutes for the Badgers that game (last year Potter only played in 29.9 percent of his possible minutes last year, per KenPom).
Knowing how great Potter was for the Badgers last season (he had a 9.2 higher offensive rating than anyone else on the team), that should be rather perplexing. Luckily, Potter should find himself in a much bigger role next season. Barttorvik projects Potter to play in 63 percent of his available minutes in 2020-21, which is more than double last season’s amount.
This is huge when considering just how great Potter was last season. He averaged 1.071 points per possession last year (ranked in the top 7 percent of college basketball). When lined up next to Garza’s 1.100 points per possession, it becomes evident how on par Potter was (though one also must consider the obvious sample size differences).
Where Garza dominates in the post and off of put-back opportunities, Potter is just as dominant as a role man and spot-up scorer. They do their damage in different ways, but to equal effectiveness:
Garza’s Play Types
- Post ups (42.5% of time): 1.081 points per possession
- Put backs (13.2 % of time): 1.307 points per possession
Potter’s Play Types
- Roll man (23.2% of time): 1.435 points per possession
- Spot ups (16.2% of time): 1.094 point per possession
As opposed to the Hawkeyes, The story in the frontcourt doesn’t stop there for the Badgers. Wisconsin also has the arguably just-as-effective Nate Reuvers in their arsenal. Reuvers shot onto the scene in a big way last year on both ends of the floor. On offense, he is a legitimate scoring threat on the perimeter and has developed a very trustworthy (though simple) post-game. He isn’t on par with Garza with his offense by any means, but Reuvers also thrives on defense.
Per Synergy Sports, Reuvers allowed only 0.696 points per possession on post-up possessions last season; he also averaged 1.9 blocks per game, proving his status as a rim protector. Garza doesn’t thrive on both ends of the floor the way Reuvers can. And while Garza certainly is still the better player between the two; there is always strength in numbers.
Garza might beat the production of Potter and Reuvers individually, but when you combine the latter two (and increase Potter’s workload), I’d then argue that comparisons can commence.