How Wisconsin men's basketball rebuilt a contender after transfer portal losses

Despite major transfer portal losses, Wisconsin basketball has reloaded and sits in Big Ten title contention. Here’s how Greg Gard made it happen.

Photo credit: David Banks-Imagn Images

At the end of April, things looked bleak for Wisconsin men's basketball. The Badgers had just suffered a brutal series of losses to the transfer portal, with several core players off last season's team leaving for greener pastures—and, in some cases, much bigger paydays they couldn't match.

Second-team All-Big Ten wing AJ Storr headed to Kansas after plenty of speculation about his departure and rumblings of negotiating deals with different programs during the season taking place. Connor Essegian transferred to Nebraska in search of playing time, while Gus Yalden, a player the staff spent years recruiting, wound up at Seton Hall.

But the one that stung the most was losing point guard Chucky Hepburn—a three-year starter, a fan favorite, and a foundational piece of the basketball program this staff developed—who abruptly took off for Louisville.

It was a gut punch for Greg Gard and his coaching staff, who were left scrambling to piece together a competitive roster for the 2024-25 season with the available NIL funds. But rather than push the panic button, Gard took a calculated approach, identifying portal additions that would complement the offensive system he and Kirk Penney had put in place.

After embracing a continuity ball-screen-centric system, the Badgers' offense took a major step forward during the 2023-24 season, ranking No. 17 in adjusted offensive efficiency—the best mark of the Gard era. Despite the losses, the goal was to build on that improvement with the right portal additions and make offense the foundation of this team's identity.

The results? A 19-5 record, a top-four spot in the Big Ten standings, and a team that has actually improved on both ends of the floor. Offensively, the Badgers have climbed to No. 9 in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency, solidifying their identity as an elite scoring offense. Defensively, they’ve taken a step forward as well, jumping from No. 46 to No. 37 in efficiency—making this a far more balanced, unselfish, and dangerous team than many expected.

The re-tool started with key transfer additions. John Tonje, a veteran guard from Colorado State and Missouri, has been a revelation—leading the team in scoring and providing instant offense. Tonje is averaging 18.6 points per game and has scored in double figures in 23 of 25 games this season, with 15+ in 17 of them and 20+ in nine outings thus far.

That production led to Tonje getting named to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s 2024-25 Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List. The 6-foot-5 guard has been one of the top transfer portal additions in the country, seamlessly stepping into Storr's role, and he’s done so at a fraction of the cost for Wisconsin—while being more consistent. Notably, Tonje's points above replacement per game (5.0) currently sits higher than that of Johnny Davis (4.5) during his All-American 2022-23 season, per Barttorvik.

While Tonje has been a home-run addition, the other two portal pieces have had more of an up-and-down adjustment period to life in the Big Ten.

Xavier Amos, a stretch forward from Northern Illinois, hasn’t been what the staff hoped for when they landed him in the portal. But there’s no denying that there have been signs of growth as the season has worn on, and the Chicago native has managed to carve out a role off the bench. Camren Hunter, a Central Arkansas transfer, has battled illness and injury thus far but has added depth and experience to the Badgers backcourt.

While the Badgers added plenty of new faces into the fold this offseason, the true foundation of this resurgence has come from within. Internal development has been paramount, and Gard credits the leadership of returning players like Max Klesmit, Kamari McGee, Carter Gilmore, and Steven Crowl for keeping the team together through a turbulent offseason.

That continuity has led to massive developmental jumps across the board. McGee, Gilmore, and walk-on Jack Janicki have all taken noticeable strides. At the same time, John Blackwell and Nolan Winter—both members of the 2023 recruiting class—have emerged as key starters to build around moving forward.

Winter’s points above replacement per game (PRPG) has skyrocketed from 0.6 to 3.7, while Blackwell has gone from 2.3 to 3.2, becoming an excellent complementary scorer alongside Tonje. Gilmore’s impact has also grown leaps and bounds, improving from 0.6 to 1.7, while McGee has made one of the biggest leaps—jumping from 0.5 to 3.0 and tracking to post the best three-point shooting season percentage-wise (55.4%) in team history.

Crowl has seen his usage dip slightly, but he’s embraced his role, posting the best offensive rating of his career. Meanwhile, despite Klesmit’s well-documented shooting struggles, he's still found ways to make an impact—leading the team in assists (67), posting a career-high assist percentage (17.3), and pacing the Badgers with a team-best 24 steals.

"Well, I've got really good players," Gard told reporters when asked how the team bounced back from the offseason departures. "And you can't win at a high level like this without really good players.

“That's the nature of this era that we are in, especially in college basketball and the transient nature of it."

Wisconsin was meticulous in its approach to rebuilding this basketball team. The new-look staff focused on roster balance, ensuring they didn’t overload on one type of player while neglecting another spot. The chemistry had to be right.

"Our staff did an amazing job of putting together this roster, and who we were going to select in the transfer portal, in putting the team together," Gard said. "And, really, intentionally, putting the roster together, and not having too much of 'X,' or not enough of 'Y,' and vice versa."

Just as critical, the Wisconsin Badgers coaching staff needed the buy-in of returning players who understood the culture and could help new faces adjust.

"I've got a great core of Klesmit, McGee, Gilmore, Crowl, that have been here, and obviously Blackwell and Winter have been here, and then players like Chris Hodges, Markus Ilver—program guys, that are here for the right reasons, because they want to be here,” Gard explained.

Those pieces have helped Wisconsin basketball forge one of the best team chemistries Gard has seen in his tenure.

"You can have a lot of talent, but if you're chemically imbalanced, it won't work. You need to have a lot of talent, and the chemistry within this group is strong," said Gard. "This group loves hanging out with each other. It's a great group of guys on and off the court, and they really have winning number one on the priorities.

"I've been doing this for a long time, and I've never seen bad chemistry, but I've seen some better than others, and this one is really good."

The coaching staff's re-tooling efforts are now paying off in a significant way. Sitting at 19-5 overall and 9-4 in Big Ten play, Wisconsin, picked to finish 12th in the preseason conference polls by the media, is still in the mix to challenge Purdue (19-5, 11-2) for the regular season crown. That battle will come to a head next Saturday when the Badgers travel to face the Boilermakers in one of the more important games of the Big Ten slate.

What once seemed like a disastrous offseason has instead become one of Gard’s most impressive coaching jobs to date—no small feat for a two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year. The Wisconsin Badgers basketball team didn’t just survive the portal losses—they’ve come out stronger on the other side and have an experienced roster capable of making some noise.

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