MADISON, Wis. — The pieces of the puzzle are coming together for Wisconsin’s basketball program ahead of a Nov. 4 season opener against Holy Cross. The Badgers opened their doors to reporters on Tuesday for a lengthy practice that featured three eight-minute scrimmage sessions as well as a five-minute scrimmage for many of the reserves.
Here are six observations on where things stand:
1. One of the more intriguing storylines entering this season was what Greg Gard would do with the starting point guard role in the aftermath of three-year starter Chucky Hepburn transferring to Louisville. The top three candidates were returner Kamari McGee, Central Arkansas transfer Camren Hunter and freshman Daniel Freitag. McGee and Hunter earned the bulk of the point guard work for their respective teams Tuesday, with Freitag coming off the bench, and Gard said McGee “has consistently separated himself.”
“I think he’s been the most consistent and quite frankly has played the best over the two-and-a-half weeks so far,” Gard said. “It hasn’t always been numbers dependent. But the leadership, the vocalization that I hear from him, and a lot of that is because of experience. Hunter’s played two years of college, but he hasn’t been here. Kam McGee has a little leg up in that in terms of he knows and he’s comfortable with who he’s playing with and in what we want.”
McGee appeared in 25 games as a backup last season, playing 8.3 minutes per contest. He averaged 2.1 points per game with 11 total assists and eight turnovers. McGee certainly isn’t a big scorer — he didn’t score a point during the scrimmages — but his hustle and quickness are undeniable, both traits that will allow him to play.
During a 4-on-4 half-court drill to begin practice that emphasized defensive stops in late shot clock situations, McGee recorded a pair of steals, knocking one Freitag pass away when he tried to find forward Chris Hodges on a pick-and-roll. Throughout the three eight-minute scrimmages, McGee picked up three more steals. One sequence during the final minutes of the third scrimmage highlighted what McGee can provide.
McGee dove for a loose ball under his own basket after forward Markus Ilver missed a short jumper from the left baseline and found Ilver while still on the ground for a cutting layup. Then, with the score tied at 12 in the final minute, he stole the ball from Hunter in the frontcourt. McGee missed the fast-break layup with Hunter trailing him, but forward Xavier Amos finished at the rim on a follow to give Team White the lead.
One area McGee can work on is demonstrating more of a take-charge mentality in high-pressure moments. He didn’t come back to get the ball after dishing to Amos on the perimeter, which led to a shot clock violation with 4.5 seconds remaining in the final scrimmage. That sequence allowed John Tonje to find Max Klesmit open for a layup off an out-of-bounds set to give Team Red the win.
How much Wisconsin can expect from McGee statistically remains to be seen. Gard can also use Hunter, a lefty with a physical presence, as well as Freitag or even John Blackwell or Klesmit to bring the ball up the floor depending on the situation.
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2. Freitag, a four-star prospect and the No. 11 point guard in the 247Sports Composite, certainly looks like he has the highest long-term ceiling at point guard for Wisconsin. But it is clear he still has room to grow to become a more consistent contributor. Gard said last week that Freitag brings electricity on both ends of the floor but “the electricity also gets him in trouble at times.” Practice on Tuesday offered good examples of both.
In 4-on-4 half-court work, Freitag caught a pass, made a quick dribble to his right and buried a pull-up 3-pointer against McGee on a play that began with just 2 seconds remaining on the shot clock. He followed that up by missing an open 3 on the left wing and then turning the ball over after trying to find Hodges on a pick-and-roll.
Klesmit, who is working his way back from an ankle injury, was able to use his veteran savviness to take advantage of Freitag defensively. During a four-play sequence, Freitag fouled him twice, and Klesmit made a 3 from the left wing.
Freitag’s best play from the main scrimmage occurred when he utilized a shot fake to get his defender in the air and buried a one-dribble pull-up jump shot. During the last five-minute scrimmage session featuring several reserves, he caught a pass in the lane off a backdoor cut and finished with his right hand on an acrobatic reverse layup while drawing a foul. That came a few plays after Freitag got sped up after breaking down a defender, tripped over his feet and traveled.
3. Gard last week compared Blackwell to former Badgers guard Johnny Davis in how he returned for his sophomore season with a mentality to dominate. Davis went on to earn consensus All-America honors and become an NBA lottery pick, though Gard said he wasn’t trying to juxtapose the two in terms of pro potential. It’s easy to understand what Gard meant and why he called Blackwell the best player over the summer.
Blackwell has shown more of a willingness to take charge as a go-to scorer. He led his team in scoring in each of the first two scrimmages and finished with a team-high 15 points. Blackwell buried a pull-up jumper from the right baseline on Tonje, scored off a curl into the lane and on a post-up inside on Hodges.
In the second scrimmage, Blackwell scored inside on Tonje, made a 3-pointer from the right wing with forward Carter Gilmore switched onto him and scored on a strong drive from the left wing down the lane while finishing on the right side between multiple defenders.
4. Tonje and Amos both will have major roles for Wisconsin this season as transfers, with Tonje likely one of the top scoring threats from the wing and Amos providing versatility from the 4 spot.
In 4-on-4, Tonje drilled three 3-pointers, including a long straight-on 3 over Amos as the shot clock expired. In the scrimmage, Tonje made a 3 over Steven Crowl coming off a screen from the right wing and converted a three-point play with a nice Euro step move past Ilver while McGee fouled him at the rim. Tonje also displayed great athleticism when he drove from the right wing to squeeze past Janicki, sailing in for a one-handed dunk. Tonje will be a hard player to keep off the floor.
Amos showed his ability to stretch the floor when he made a 3-pointer from the top of the key after the ball was swung around the perimeter from guard Jack Janicki. Amos also can guard multiple positions. During a sequence late in one of the scrimmages, the white team ran a double screen that switched Amos onto Klesmit. Amos picked up Klesmit and played good defense to bottle him up, which allowed Janicki to steal a pass and finish at the other end for a layup.
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5. Gard is still working through what kind of frontcourt help Crowl will have this season and who could serve as his backup. Options include 6-foot-11 forward Nolan Winter, 6-10 freshman forward Ricardo Greppi and 6-7 Gilmore.
Gard said Winter had been far and away the team’s leading rebounder in practices. He noted Winter had converted more three-point plays in the past week than he had during his first year-plus in the program. Winter scored twice at the rim while drawing fouls Tuesday. Gard also would like to pair Winter with Crowl as a 4-5 combination.
Gilmore has played in 99 games with three starts and will have a role though is undersized to play the 5 spot. He buried a pair of 3-pointers in the scrimmages. Greppi, who arrived this offseason from Italy, feels like a work in progress but is a big body and a willing rebounder. Greppi has mentioned to Gard how much of an adjustment the speed of the game is for him. He is also learning to play with more physicality.
6. One under-the-radar player to watch is Janicki, a 6-5, 198-pound redshirt freshman walk-on from White Bear Lake, Minn. Janicki scored back-to-back buckets with less than a minute remaining in the first scrimmage. Crowl found him for a left-handed layup off a good post pass. Janicki then stole a Klesmit pass and went coast-to-cast for a layup.
Janicki also had a nice drive in the third scrimmage to score on Tonje at the rim and made a good defensive challenge on Tonje that forced an airball in the lane.
Total points across the three main scrimmages:
Team White: Blackwell 15, Crowl 10, Janicki 8, Amos 7, Ilver 4, Greppi 2, McGee 0
Team Red: Tonje 11, Gilmore 10, Klesmit 9, Winter 5, Hunter 2, Freitag 2, Hodges 0
(Photo of coach Greg Gard and guard Kamari McGee: Brad Penner / USA Today)
