Our predictions for the 2024-25 Wisconsin men’s basketball team

Tyler Wahl exhausted his eligibility. AJ Storr moved on to Kansas. Chucky Hepburn transferred to Louisville. Those players leave a major void to be filled for the Wisconsin men’s basketball team. Here are reasons to believe and doubt UW’s ability to overcome those losses plus Mark Stewart’s predictions for the season.

Reason to believe in Wisconsin men’s basketball this season

The Badgers are rarely the sexy pick to surprise or lead the pack, so no one in their camp gave much though to the low expectations given to them in the preseason poll of Big Ten media who tabbed them for a 12th-place finish. UW lacks star power, but it has maturity, great size and experienced guard play. Usually that is the recipe for a high finish in the Big Ten and an NCAA Tournament berth.

Reason to doubt Wisconsin men’s basketball this season

We know this is a new era of college sports, but seven newcomers is still a lot of new faces to blend into a team. Developing the chemistry needed to play well could prove elusive. And who will be the team’s go-to player? What if Steven Crowl, John Blackwell and Max Klesmit can’t handle that role? Scoring could be tough.

Preseason conference prediction

A poll conducted Big Ten media done by the Columbus Dispatch and Indianapolis Star predicted the Badgers would tie for 12th in the conference. None of their players received a vote for the preseason all-conference teams.

Our Wisconsin prediction

The Badgers faces two ranked teams early – No. 9 Arizona and No. 17 Marquette – but overall the early schedule is favorable and should help the team get off to a fast start.

The Big Ten was already rugged, but the additions of UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington make the league ridiculously difficult. A lot of good teams are going to have ugly records. Wisconsin will get its share of wins, take its share of lumps and probably finish somewhere in the middle of the pack, where a series of tiebreakers will be needed to figure out the seeding for the Big Ten tournament.

Our…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/predictions-2024-25-wisconsin-mens-111519761.html

Author : Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Publish date : 2024-11-04 11:15:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.