Wisconsin Basketball: 2023-24 season preview for the Badgers

2023-24 Season Outlook

In the context of modern college basketball, the Wisconsin Badgers feel like a throwback. While rosters elsewhere are turning over at a dizzying rate and increasingly relying on newcomers, the Badgers are set to run back a starting lineup of five players who have seen significant minutes with the program, most with multiple years of experience. Is all that veteran leadership good enough to push them into contention for a Big Ten Title?

I believe that answer is yes. This looks to be one of the most complete teams Greg Gard has had since he took and as mentioned, it feels like the conference third team with Purdue and Michigan State stationed at the top two spots. Of course, you can never be too sure with the volatility of the league, and the injury factor is an important one to note for the Badgers. This was going to be an NCAA Tournament team without the Wahl injury, and Chucky certainly didn’t seem up to his usual stuff, culminating in a late-season knee problem. I believe both those guys are much better than what we saw in 2023-24 and could have bounce-back campaigns. But even if not, Wisconsin will be aided by improved depth throughout the roster, which was missing for the better part of 2022-23.

The schedule could complicate things if the Badgers get off to a slow start, but I think it will end up being a positive thing for this team. It will give them a much better understanding of where they stand before they get into league play, and assess how their bench can fill potential gaps in the starting lineup. The opportunities for resume-boosting victories are aplenty, if they can take advantage.

The Big Ten as a whole has some March demons to overcome, Wisconsin included. I think this team has the pieces in place to do just that, and reach that second weekend goal for the first time in several years. Who knows, with the chaos of March, perhaps even greater things could be on the horizon.