Big Ten Basketball: 10 key questions for the league entering 2021-22 season

Who leads the Badgers?

It could be argued that the 2020-21 season should have been better for Coach Greg Gard and the Wisconsin Badgers and the argument is, it should have been way better. The Badgers had almost 79 percent of their scoring return from the previous season and over 77 percent of their playing minutes, all from a team that finished 14-6 in conference play, in a three-way tie for the Big Ten Regular Season Championship.

The graduation of senior starters D’Mitrik Trice (13.9 ppg), Nate Reuvers (8.3 ppg), Aleem Ford (8.7 ppg), and part-time starter Micah Potter (12.5 ppg) means four of the Badgers’ top five scorers are no longer wearing cardinal and white at the Kohl Center.

The mass departure of seniors leaves just two others remaining, Cincinnati transfer Chris Vogt (5 ppg) and fifth-year senior Brad Davison (10ppg). There is never a question of the influence seniors have in the locker room, and come tournament time they are extremely valuable on the court.

With 143 career games and 108 starts with the Badgers, point guard D’Mitrik Trice was without a doubt the leader on the court. Trice was the tired cliche of “an extension of the coach on the floor”. With an average of 4 assists per game and a 24 Usage Rate. His under two turnovers per game, Trice was saddled with responsibility while accepting it and being productive.

With Trice and a bevy of other seniors gone, Head Coach Greg Gard will look to Davison as not only the starting point guard but as the new leader of this new look, less talented Badgers team.